Life is a Continuous
Education 
(Last updated March 27, 2008)
Shortly after we arrived in Australia I began hearing about a very interesting continuing education program called The University of the Third Age (U3A), whose origins are French but which is now worldwide and has blossomed to more than 100 branches in Australia. And it’s not hard to understand why. It’s a terrific program for retirees and over-55s, and I’ve become quite active in it, both as a student and a lecturer/tutor because I believe that education, in one form or another, is something that should continue right up until it’s time to go toes up in a pine box. It can be travel education, book-reading education, museum-education, theater-education or even classroom education. The point is, if you stop learning, it’s time to pack it in. That’s what I think, anyway.
The fundamental principle of U3A is that members with a
background or expertise in a particular subject share their knowledge by conducting
classes as volunteer tutors for other members. Some volunteer tutors have a background
in academia and teach courses they taught in university, but most of us are
simply relying on decades of hands-on professional experience before retirement.
A typical U3A curriculum includes foreign languages (from French and other
romance languages to Chinese), political science, current events, history,
philosophy, creative writing, computer sciences, crafts such as pottery and
silversmithing, art, music
and a host of other courses. For several years I’ve periodically
tutored a course titled “Behind the Headlines: Understanding the News Media” in
which I lecture for 1 ½ hours each weekly session on journalistic subjects
ranging from the decline of the print media and the emergence of the digital age
“new media;” how war reporting is conducted; political reporting, the extent of
systemic bias in news reporting, government spin-doctoring and other topics.
It’s a popular course and I enjoy the lively interaction with participants who
are not exactly lacking in opinions on how the news business performs. I also
teach a course, “American Influence,” in which I lecture about some of the more
enigmatic social, political and economic characteristics of the United States and how the U.S. influences nations far and wide, including Australia. Some typical
topics of discussion are: why Americans feel so strongly about the right to
bear arms; how the Electoral College system and presidential primary and
general election campaigns work; hot-button issues like abortion, illegal
immigration and why church and state are intertwined; the U.S. and the Israel-Palestine
conflict---stuff like that.
I originally joined a U3A branch in Hawthorn, near where we first lived when we moved to Australia in 2001, but have moved to another branch in the city center, closer to our new home in North Carlton. The Melbourne City branch is affiliated with the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT), which allows U3A members to enroll as non-credit students in selected RMIT courses. Also, the RMIT Library is available to U3A members.
Following is a brief blurb from the U3A web site about the continuing education program, which can be found at: http://www.u3a.org.au/index.html
“The University of the Third Age (U3A) is an
international organization, embodying the principles of life-long education and
the pursuit of knowledge for its own sake, in an atmosphere of mutual learning
and teaching. Each U3A is a learning community, organized by and for people who
can 
best be described as being active in retirement - the so-called
Third Age of their lives.
“The term University is used in the original and medieval sense of an association or community of teachers and scholars, united in the pursuit of knowledge. Third Age refers to the life period of active retirement, which follows the first age of childhood and formal education and the second age of working life, and which precedes the fourth age of dependence.
Origin of the Universities of the Third Age
“The concept of U3A was developed in Toulouse in 1972, to bring older people into contact with academic programmes at the University. It spread rapidly through France and throughout Europe. Many universities either arranged for older people to participate in existing academic programmes or established new programmes specifically designed for Third Age students.
“The first British U3A was established in 1982 at Cambridge. In contrast with the French experience, where U3A have a close association with traditional universities, as providers of educational programmes, the British U3A have developed only outreach links with the universities.
Instead, they have embraced principles of self-help and self-determination, structuring programmes and courses to meet the wishes of members and drawing on resources available within the membership as far as possible. These same principles have been adopted by U3A in Australia.
Development in Australia
“In July 1984, a public meeting was arranged in Melbourne to gauge public
interest in U3A. As a result the first U3A was
established in Melbourne City, followed by another in Hawthorn and the first
courses were offered at the beginning of 1985. During that year two other U3A,
one at Monash and one at Ringwood, were inaugurated. There are now some 62 U3As
in Victoria with some 16,000 members and more than 100 Australia-wide with a
total national membership exceeding 40,000.
“Whilst there are common objectives shared by all U3A, there are also broad differences of interest patterns, structure and organization, determined by the particular needs of each U3A and the resources available locally to meet those needs.”
