I am in the middle of an assignment and was looking for an old paper from my Uni days and stumbled across this rant. I was obviously having a really bad day!
Anyway, I thought I would share. I’ve forgotten how hard I used to work. And I wondered why I eventually got sick.
Study Difficulties for Mature Age Women
Motivation: knowing how. If you are unsure, you procrastinate. Training courses teach you step by step practical approaches on how to do things, whereas uni gives you an assignment, or essay on an impossible topic. You must then find out the information using an impossible library system, sort through the data, and write the essay by a due date or you will suffer the consequences. Ie (disappoint your family, your bank!, your employer, and finally yourself)
How do you write an essay? Guess; or trial and error. How many chances do you get before you’re out? Research! Yes, you even have to research how to write an essay; how to reference; where to find the information and how to hand the completed assignment in!
Motivation – either a reward or a consequence. The consequences of uni are wasted fees, time etc…
If you know how to do something you are excited at being able use that knowledge, excited about what’s ahead, eager to grasp further knowledge. Whereas, uni is more about the consequence.. You want to learn the subject but mostly you have to teach yourself. If you do not produce this damn essay or assignment in the right format, referencing the right way, acknowledging everyone down to the guy that made you your coffee, then you will lose marks. And Uni is about the mark! Not about the learning…. My experience at Curtin….
So – fear of failure is huge… You must not only pass, but excel. Everyone must be proud of you! Or you have wasted a huge amount of money, time and potential income. No wonder students fail… this is a huge amount of pressure.
And the pressure on mature age students is greater. No matter what the school leavers believe. I’ve heard both sides of the story. Mature age students have family responsibilities. And as most of them are women, then the responsibility is greater. Because like it or not, women having careers is still believed as being self indulgent. Women are still the primary carers of their children and their spouses. Yes, spouses! So when a woman is studying, she must make sure that all her familial duties are firstly taken care of. Unlike a school leaver, who can place study as the highest priority and plan their study times around their biorhythmic cycles. Mature age women also are expected - probably because we in still in the transition stages of equality - to contribute considerably to the family income. Ie, the family must not experience too much financial distress due to the self-indulgent studying of the lady of the house.
I have read articles congratulating busy supermothers on obtaining their Masters in this and that, explaining their success on setting their alarms for 3:30am and studying for 2 hours before the family stirs and the demands of the day begin. And then going to work for 10 hours! Returning home from work to prepare meals, children’s clothes, chores etc… Why do we applaud this?
Self-care
What is that? When in the busy schedule of the superwoman is there time for self care. How many women visit the dentist every six months? How many women have their health under control, visit the gym, dietician, have a holiday? And country women have the additional handicap of travel. These women have to drive several kilometers just to get a carton of milk. Study is difficult for these women. So the superhuman skills must once again be tested.
Wow, I was seriously peed off! I hope this isn’t offensive to anybody.
Does this strike a chord with anyone else? With International Women’s Day in March, maybe this is worth some discussion. Do mature age women do it tougher at University?
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