Every Thursday, Marsha Glatter has class at the Martin J. Whitman School of Management. She hears speakers and participates in discussions, just like any other student.

But she doesn’t have to buy textbooks, never has to do any homework and doesn’t live in a campus residence hall.

 

Glatter is one of 10 senior citizens within the Syracuse chapter of Oasis, a national nonprofit organization that allows adults ages 50 and older to participate in life long learning and enriching activities, such as introductory courses on Microsoft Word and yoga. The chapter in Syracuse currently has about 8,000 members, with 1,200 paying for college classes. Glatter is enrolled in professor Margaret Thompson’s honors history course, ‘Religion and American Politics.’

 

This is the first year Thompson has taught the course, but it is not the first time she’s taught a course integrating Oasis members. In 2008, she taught a class on that year’s presidential election and new media.

Though the age difference between the undergraduate students and Oasis members is as wide as 65 years, Thompson said she does not view the gap as an issue.

 

‘What we have is a broad range of participants bringing different perspectives into the classroom,’ she said.

Mary Buckley, an SU alumnus who graduated in 1965 and a member of Oasis, has taken both of Thompson’s courses. Buckley said she feels comfortable learning around younger generations, mainly due to her daughter, who graduated from college in 2006. She believes interaction and connection between generations is very important.

 

Although there is a diversity of life experiences in class, the students and senior citizens share common worries, Buckley said.

 

‘All the students in the class are invested in our country’s and planet’s future and focused on political and social concerns of today,’ she said. ‘Senior (citizens) just have more life experience, so they have a longer range of input. But the students are very knowledgeable and are concerned.’

 

Glatter said the religion and politics class caught her interest because it was very different from others she had read about in the course catalog. The topic hit close to home for her because politics was commonly discussed between her husband and daughter, who graduated college with a degree in religion.

 

The class meets two times a week, but the senior citizens only attend the Thursday classes, which usually features speakers and discussions.

‘It was a perfect mix of a collegiate atmosphere and without the requirement of work,’ Glatter said.

 

Senior citizens and the undergraduate students have integrated well. The Syracuse University students and Oasis members are mixed throughout the class, with no clear sense of segregation, Glatter said.

‘It is all natural now. In the beginning, it was funny,’ she said. ‘Many of the topics we can identify with, and we’ve lived through certain milestones.’

When the class touched upon the topic of abortion, the Oasis members had all lived through a time when it was illegal, and if anyone wanted one, she had to do it illegally. This is where the cultural differences come, as the option of abortion is something only younger SU students have known.

Because the undergraduate students are still living in a collegiate world, they offer different life perspectives and outlooks from their older counterparts, Glatter said.

Their different life experiences have led to numerous class discussions, such as the undergraduate students’ lack of experience in the workforce. Through this mix of perspectives, Glatter said the class is more rich and engaging.

‘They haven’t lived in the real world yet,’ she said.

cabidwil@syr.edu

 

Published on November 14, 2010 at 12:00 pm

Contact Colleen: cbidwill@syr.edu