Learning in retirement

Modern societies recognise education to be a lifelong process in which senior citizens can also participate well after retiring from full-time work. Given the increase in longevity, an Australian retiring when in their sixties can hope for an active retirement for 20 to 25 years to follow. That means, learning in retirement needs to be planned on the basis of the retirees’ interests and talents.

Modern education is designed to be broad in scope, covering the humanities, sciences and creative arts. It expects knowledge of not only one’s own country and culture, but also of other countries and other cultures. Such education contributes to a better understanding of the world’s peoples and hopefully leads to peaceful co-existence. European universities encourage their graduates to have a broad perspective of learning. If, for example, an individual graduates in one of the sciences, he or she is obliged to produce a smaller thesis in a very different area, preferable the humanities.

There are two levels of learning where an individual can involve himself or herself in completely different fields. Some who have specialised in one area may also excel in another completely different area. The majority of learners, however, may seek to expand their horizons by learning different subjects, though not specialising in them.

Two highly successful contemporary writers of fiction are also renowned academics. They are Umberto Eco, amongst other things a social anthropologist and Alexander McColl-Smith who is a professor of medical law. Damodar Kosambi, who excelled in the USA and in India in mathematics, is said to have revolutionised the writing of Indian history; he was honoured in 2008 through a postage stamp. Harvard University established the Harvard Institute for Learning in Retirement where retired academics engage in lifelong learning,

When working full-time and bringing up a family, it would have been difficult to find the time to pursue learning, unless it was related to one’s work. However, on retirement, with abundant time on hand, one can indulge in learning or in developing skills which have lain dormant for many years. Australia provides myriad learning opportunities for senior citizens. Community colleges which are spread over metropolitan cities, offer numerous courses for gaining knowledge as well as for honing skills. These can range from courses like Australian history and politics to yoga, tai chi and bonsai planting.

Take for example the creative arts. Courses exist for both beginners and advanced students in drawing and painting. It is amazing to see seniors in such courses discover talents which they did not realise that they possessed. This writer found such courses to be particularly helpful in relaxing and discovering the variety of mediums used in creating artworks.

On the other side of the coin, when seniors retire, they often find that they have talents which they can put to use in helping others. They find, for example, that that they can share with other retirees their unique knowledge. Many of today’s Indian retirees came to Australia with high qualifications. Chris Evans, Immigration Minister recently noted that although become unfavourable over a long period, the ground becomes fertile for leadership challenges and leader replacement. migrants make up only a quarter of Australia’s population, “they account for around half of our doctors, dentists, IT specialists and chefs, and more than a third of our pharmacists, geologists, mechanical engineers and painters and decorators. Just imagine where Australia would be without them.”

Of course, polls can get it wrong. All polls have a margin of error. Larger samples, that is, a larger number of people surveyed might help to reduce such margins. Australia has some electorates which are known to be strong Liberal, Labour or National party constituencies. Then there are the swinging electorates which have voted different parties over the years. It is swinging electorates which need to be surveyed if the people’s choice for the next government is sought to be predicted.

Late swings are particularly noted close to the election itself. As elections draw close, things often get summarised through mantras. For example, those working for the opposition might say it is “time for change” whilst government supporters might use the “better a known devil than an unknown devil” argument.

In certain societies, like in the last general election in Italy, general apathy kept a substantial number of voters away from the polls. This affected election results and poll predictions. The last general election in India had a high turnout for a country where voting is not compulsory. In Australia voting is compulsory, and that is why poll predictions can more often get it right. As elections draw to a close, poll results are eagerly awaited to see if late swings are visible.

Those Indian retirees who have an academic bent can offer to lecture in a variety of places such as community colleges, in the “University of the 3rd Age” (U3A) and to retirees associations. Once registered with the U3A, for a fee it provides free courses in a variety of topics to senior citizens. There is even a U3A Online which claims to be “a world-first virtual University of the Third Age delivering online learning” which is powered by Griffith University.

Indian migrants will find that courses dealing with Australian topics help them to better understand the country which they have made their home. On the other hand, they might like to know things about India which they might not have had the chance to study. They will be surprised to learn about the variety of Indian topics on offer, ranging from yogic asanas to deeper academic subjects like Indian philosophy.

Courses on Indian philosophical topics, for example, are quite popular in Australia. The Theosophical Society is one body offering occasional series of lectures on Indian topics. Indian migrants might be pleasantly surprised at the number of individuals in Australia who are greatly interested in their country of origin’s civilisation, and who are able to offer new perspectives.

Besides enlarging one’s mental horizons, courses for seniors help one to socialise with a variety of people and thus integrate better in Australia.