Do 30 year olds in your classes make you uncomfortable?

Question

There's this guy in my class, nice guy, but noone talks to him, and I had to volunteer to take him as a lab partner. Is this a freshman thing---do college students mature with time?...... They act like he's a leper, kinda nerdy but not awful.

thanks for the repertoire--he's got a girlfriend--really, I dont ever feel uncomfortable around older people. They're just not my age. I dont see the correlation between being able to let your hair down or not. My dad says kids were nicer in his time (80's). Not sure what to think, but it makes me uncomfortable and think differently about the kids in my class.......... in a bad way.

Answer 1

I suspect you have him in a first semester class. I really enjoy older students, they help change the focus more to the real world and less of the party instead of school mentality of some of the 18 year olds.

Answer 2

I went back to school in my 40s -- getting an MBA from Duke at 45 and a PhD from Berkeley at 49. Almost all of the other students in my MBA class were between 26-29.

I was there to learn -- and didn't care about what the others thought of me. I did ask questions when I had them. I knew that it bothered a few people when I did this. I'd see a few people roll their eyes or make a comment about me to their friends. But I also had classmates come up to me after the class and tell me that they were glad I asked these questions -- because they wanted to know the same thing -- but were afraid to ask.

Some students treated me as a friend. Some sought me out because they thought they could learn something from my experiences. Most ignored me. A few made fun of me. Like I said -- I was there for the education.

I'm sure that this guy would like people to be friendlier to him. I imagine he has a life outside of class and will get by just fine.

It is great that you are making an effort to treat him as an equal. Don't worry too much about how the others treat him.

Answer 3

College students mature with time. There's a big difference in maturity between fish and sophs, and even bigger between fish and seniors. You are to be complimented for being an adult and being gracious. What a good example!

Answer 4

They don't make me uncomfortable but I can't help feeling like they don't belong there..."mature" students usually take evening classes, and during the day-time it's "our" school. I feel like we can't joke around with each other or the professor or talk about certain things because this older guy is going to be annoyed that we're "interfering with his education", even though that's not the case at all. For me, my favorite part of going to classes are the interactions, and when "mature" students are there I feel like it has to be straight lecture with no back and forth with the prof. That being said, you do get used to them being there. And yeah, college students do mature...although it does seem like it happens INCREDIBLY slowly. Hard to believe when you constantly have to hear them screaming and breaking beer bottles and vandalizing your neighborhood, though.