Unanswered Moans

I have to vent my frustration once again...non-traditional students. I am not prejudice against non-trads but the ones that are very proud and vocal about their lives prior to their undergraduate studies make me want to yell.

I will give you the good news first. Tim is a non-trad in my creative writing class. Tim is easy to talk to, easy to work with, and it is easy to share personal work with him. I am sure there are many things Tim has experienced that I have not, but he isn't boastful about them. He doesn't have a superiority complex because he is twice my age. His demeanor makes me respect Tim more than I would respect a Tim that feels obligated to enlighten my poor, unfortunate life with his vast knowledge of the world and experience. Props to Tim.

Enter the complete opposite of Tim, a nameless forty-something woman in my philosophy class. She is always the first to class and often I am the second. Now it took me two classes to know I shouldn't talk to this lady because she would just keep on babbling long past the required response, in hopes that I would collapse to my knees and praise her for her wisdom. Alright, back to the point that I got to class second. I walk into class and act busy immediately. I avoid all eye contact. I don't say "Hi" because I knew even that will set her off like C4. I usually stuff my head in a book and don't look up until I am not the only possible victim in the room. Other students, are not so smart. They come in looking for a good conversation. They are enjoying their morning, why not start it off with a friendly conversation with this adult in their class. An innocent, "Hi, how are you?" comes out of their mouth. They anticipate a good and brief response. Five minutes later, they are wondering how they lost track of that good morning at right about the point they decided to open their mouths. They know now, never to make a welcoming gesture, or to say a happy word to this woman, but they have suffered the pain of her words and will be forever scarred.

And what is with the very loud obnoxious sighs that she makes once I enter the room? I know she doesn't make these noises when she is the only one in the room. I should wait outside the door some morning and listen for the sighs when she is the only occupant. I bet no sighs, grunts, or moans would come out of her. It's as if she doesn't know how to spark conversation with younger generations so she tries to get a rise out of us by making animal noises. This is a good sign that despite her "expertise" and her acquired "wisdom of the world" by not going straight into college after high school (or most likely flunking out the first few attempts), still haven't taught her any communication skills.

So, that was the bad news if you couldn't tell. My appreciation goes out to all the non-trads that humbly keep their wisdom and experience to themselves, except when they are prompted to share about it--which, most of the time, the prompting comes from younger generations who recognize them as an elder to respect.