"you're old as fuck. For this club, you know, not for the earth"
Today, in class, I wrote a story called "too old to be a student". It was about me. I am not too old for anything yet, but, while walking to class, it struck me that I can't befriend these people. Some of these students were born in the '90s. Kurt Cobain and Shannon Hoon's kids could be at this school (Niko Blue Hoon would say "I want to live in the city where my dad died. That would be sooo intense"). I now understand what a generation gap is. However, these are the same young people that I may be competing with in the job market in a few years.
I am not too old to be a student; however, I never really thought I would be one again. I thought my degree was enough, that I would get a job with my degree and I wouldn't be a career student or someone who needed more learning to feel fulfilled, or to push the dollar making ability to the next level. But, here I am, trying to overcome my weary brain and teach it a multitude of new things in a very, very short amount of time. I'm not going to deny science here and say that I am not at a disadvantage next to these Lollapalooza love babies. I am. My brain is wrinkling because of its old age, not its newly acquired facts. I can no longer spell well; I have to stop and remember grammar rules; I read Wikipedia like I'm reading a textbook for the first time. It is a fact that learning a language becomes harder as you get older, no matter how you approach it. There are non-native speakers in my class that can understand spoken Spanish better than me. Why? Because their brains work out the logic automatically while I have to play a logic matching game every time I learn a new word or concept. It's a struggle that leaves me with a headache after most classes.
Can I do this in three or four years?
I don't know, but I'm going to try.
(Now, the Spanish Praxis test in April-that's a different story!)
I am not too old to be a student; however, I never really thought I would be one again. I thought my degree was enough, that I would get a job with my degree and I wouldn't be a career student or someone who needed more learning to feel fulfilled, or to push the dollar making ability to the next level. But, here I am, trying to overcome my weary brain and teach it a multitude of new things in a very, very short amount of time. I'm not going to deny science here and say that I am not at a disadvantage next to these Lollapalooza love babies. I am. My brain is wrinkling because of its old age, not its newly acquired facts. I can no longer spell well; I have to stop and remember grammar rules; I read Wikipedia like I'm reading a textbook for the first time. It is a fact that learning a language becomes harder as you get older, no matter how you approach it. There are non-native speakers in my class that can understand spoken Spanish better than me. Why? Because their brains work out the logic automatically while I have to play a logic matching game every time I learn a new word or concept. It's a struggle that leaves me with a headache after most classes.
Can I do this in three or four years?
I don't know, but I'm going to try.
(Now, the Spanish Praxis test in April-that's a different story!)