Learning new things never gets old
Idon’t remember a lot about my first years of school, but I do recall that I had to bring a tiny manila envelope to kindergarten every day. In it was a dime to buy juice. The choice was orange or tomato. In elementary school, I hated music class because I couldn’t (and still can’t) carry a tune. But I liked having friends to hang out with in the penny candy store after school. (Tiny Tootsie Rolls and peanut-butter-flavored Mary Jane candies were my favorites.)
When I was 9, I started to like school because I was learning French, which made me think school might be useful. And so it has been. Seven decades later, it still is.
New learning is good for an aging brain. I know this intuitively: As a graduate school administrator for more than 30 years, I sat in on multiple classes in music, literature, and leadership, among other subjects. Now, continuing to learn (and, in some cases, relearn) whatever interests me is a gift of my retirement years. I’ve taken such classes as “Guns in the US — A Love Story” and a political philosophy course called “Justice — What’s the Right Thing to Do?” I just audited an undergraduate course in the classics department at Harvard called “Loss,” a topic I know more about than I wish I did. And I am trying — not too successfully — to add Portuguese to my repertoire with Duolingo’s free app.
Even if I don’t become fluent in Portuguese, it’s the effort that counts. Marc Milstein, author of “The Age-Proof Brain, New Strategies to Improve Memory,” suggests that because we “lose” things we know, we must learn new things — a language, a sport, to paint — to “cross-train” our brains. Milstein says we can do this by mixing mental and physical activities. He suggests learning something by listening to a podcast or taking a course; doing something where you learn through movement (pickleball, anyone? or dance or yoga); and making regular social engagements. Social interaction has been associated with staving off dementia, says Milstein, who also advises setting a goal to try to learn something new every day.
In 2019, Scientific American reported that when a research team asked a group of adults aged 58 to 86 to devote an average of 15 hours a week to three to five new classes, participants increased their cognitive abilities to levels similar to those of adults 30 years younger after just a month and a half of coursework.
Opportunities to learn are available to all and have become even more accessible since COVID forced so many classroom experiences online.
Your local public library has computers available for all its visitors to use at no cost, and many branches offer a range of classes, often at no cost, in exercise, art, language, meditation, and more.
Coursera, a massive open online course provider, offers some 3,000 free online courses in cooperation with many universities. (I think of these as online versions of what used to be called correspondence courses.)
And learning opportunities for elders abound in Greater Boston.
Suffolk University’s Personal Enrichment Program offers people 65 and over access to both undergraduate and graduate classes in person on campus at no cost. (These courses are non-degreebearing and pending instructor approval.)
Osher Lifelong Learning Institutes have affiliations with 125 colleges and universities around the country. Tufts University, UMass Boston, and Brandeis have such programs themselves and offer courses on subjects ranging from literature to current events.
Boston University’s Evergreen program is open to those 58 or older. Enrollees may audit as many classes as they like (with instructor permission) over BU’s three semesters per year for a fee of $500. In addition to access to the regular curriculum, there are seminars offered exclusively to Evergreen participants. Ruth Coblentz is one of them. The 73-year-old former Pilates instructor has been attending classes at BU for six years and calls the program “a lifeline” that “keeps you interested, keeps you young, keeps you lively.”
Across the Charles River is the Cambridge Center for Adult Education (CCAE), an early adopter of the lifelong learning cause. Established in 1870, CCAE runs classes year-round, and offerings range from arts and cooking to language, literature, and more. CCAE’s director of programs, Francesca Ferraris, says that she finds that especially for older people, adult education is a chance to escape isolation and to interact with other generations. She has watched with pride as friendships developed between class members of all ages.
One such student is Don Kalischer, who, at 80, has taken close to 60 classes at CCAE over the past two decades. Many of his classmates have also become his friends. He now lives in a retirement village, attends classes via Zoom, and says that he still finds the experience socially engaging. The difference is that now he is joined by people from all over, including Japan.
I’ve had enriching experiences at CCAE, too. Years ago, I took a beginning Spanish class there and befriended a fellow student who was a painter. The artwork I bought from her has moved with me three times.
Although it takes some effort to find the right fit for your learning needs, it’s worth it. Sharpen your pencils and tune up your brain.