A popular program at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver allows seniors from all walks of life to hit the books
Published: The Globe and Mail, Jan. 4 2007
By Deborah Jones, Vancouver
For some people, the "golden years" represent relaxation, golf and travel -- and perhaps the odd community-centre course in crafts or fitness. For more than 1,800 seniors in Vancouver, retirement means a return to school.
An unusual program for seniors at Simon Fraser University, now in its 35th year, offers rigorous academic courses in the humanities, arts and religion. The program's mission "is to get people to do a lot of thinking, and use whatever spare time they have in a creative way, that gives them a new meaning to life," director Alan Aberbach said.
"You don't stop learning when you grow old; you grow old when you stop learning."
The program is part of the continuing studies department at Simon Fraser, and fits in with the university's broad mandate "to offer facilities for lifelong learning," said Dr. Aberbach, 74, who retired nine years ago from teaching history.
Students -- all more than 55 years old -- arrive in the program from a range of backgrounds, including homemakers, a retired university professor of psychiatry and a former ballet dancer at Radio City Music Hall in New York.
The program began long before policy makers started fretting about the greying of Canada's population and the fact that within two decades, one in five Canadians will be 65 or older. And it was attracting students long before neuroscientists discovered that keeping mentally active enhances mental fitness.
Indeed, its director regards the age of the students -- and himself -- as almost incidental.
"I've never thought of myself in terms of age," Dr. Aberbach said. "What I'm doing, my thoughts and such, are exactly as they've been for 40 to 50 years. Perhaps because I've always been in an academic atmosphere, I never think about age, except when I accidentally look in the mirror."
The program confers a similar perspective on the students, he said. "It has made them feel young again. They enjoy the atmosphere, and they enjoy the social aspect of it as well."
For some, the courses are a chance to pick up threads dropped earlier in life. Delia Visscher, 76, said when she was a young ballet dancer in New York, "you either went to university or you went on stage." She chose the stage, eventually making it to Radio City Music Hall and later working as an assistant concert master* at the Julliard School of Music. Despite her success, she wanted more, and took her first degree as a mature student at Columbia University, before eventually moving to Vancouver for family reasons in 1970.
When Ms. Visscher retired from show business a decade ago, it seemed natural to continue her academic education. "You have to do something -- you can't just sit home and twiddle your thumbs," she said, laughing. "I decided that all the things I could have learned, I could do now."
Recently, she graduated from SFU with her second degree, in general studies. The advantage of lifelong education, she said, is that students "keep the brain active and have a social outlet. You are with people who have the same interest, and it's challenging.
"It's important that you still have challenges in life . . . and it's not selfish, because you're doing it out of love of learning."
The program includes introductory courses restricted to seniors for the 200 students currently working on formal degrees, who apply for admittance and can enroll in regular university courses. The rest of the students, numbering as many as 2,000 a year, take either non-credit courses or courses toward a certificate in liberal arts.
The difference between SFU and the scores of community-centre courses, night schools and other programs aimed at seniors, Dr. Aberbach said, is that "all of our courses are intellectually and academically challenging."
Offerings this year include "The Emergence of the Muslim State: The Caliphate and its Institutions"; "Modern, Antimodern and Postmodern Art: Or How a Urinal, a Box and a Dead Shark Became Art"; courses on Russian cinema; the Grail legends of King Arthur and human "rights and wrongs."
There's also an eclectic course called "Please be seated," which traces social conditions and popular tastes in chairs and furniture from ancient Egypt to today.
The program is financially independent, Dr. Aberbach said, and last month it received $1.5-million from an anonymous donor, which SFU will match to create an endowment fund to permanently pay for the salaries of the program's director and program assistant. Tuition is free for students 60 and older, and courses last just eight to 10 weeks, compared with 12 weeks in a standard academic semester.
The program, until now based on SFU's three campuses in Greater Vancouver, intends to apply its experience teaching seniors elsewhere. This spring, Dr. Aberbach said, lectures will begin at the Vancouver Public Library for 75 to 300 people. He and Ms. Visscher are working with SFU's outreach program to distribute free recorded lectures to community groups throughout the province, and help arrange moderators to lead discussions.
And Ms. Visscher and other SFU senior students recently formed a new provincial society dedicated to lifelong learning.
"Seniors today are more financially secure. Many have gone to or graduated from university, and they want to use their brains," Dr. Aberbach said.
Senior students also tend to be more dedicated than their younger counterparts, he said. Low attendance forced institutions throughout Greater Vancouver to cancel many classes during a bus strike in Vancouver a few years ago. Not one of the university's classes for seniors in downtown Vancouver was cancelled.
"Even people in White Rock found a way of getting in," Dr. Aberbach said. "They were not going to miss class for anything."
* The published story incorrectly said that Ms. Visscher taught at the Julliard school.
Copyright Deborah Jones 2007
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