Exclusion and learning mark coexistence at the university – 03/28/2023 – Education

What drives Sônia Maria Pereira, 70, to look for new courses is her desire to learn and be with others. It was thanks to this driver that she completed three graduations, four specializations and a master’s degree. It is also what she is looking for in the doctorate that is in progress, but the exchange of experiences and the formation of bonds no longer occur as before.

“I’ve always been very communicative and very ‘tiny’, looking younger, so even when I did my last graduation, at 40, age wasn’t a problem. I didn’t feel that difference until I got my doctorate”, she says.

The professor says that she started her doctorate at Unifesp (Federal University of São Paulo), but decided to look for another institution because the schedule of activities coincided with the classes she taught. The change came as a shock.

“I really wanted to tell my experience, the transformations in education in recent decades, but I’m elderly and people didn’t want to listen to me. I felt excluded”, she reports.

Even in the works, she claims that she was chosen to partner with a student who could listen and did not know if she would continue the disciplines. “There was prejudice from the teacher himself”.

Segregation made Sônia drop out of the course and readjust her schedule to return to classes at Unifesp, and the return became a reason for questioning even among friends. A younger colleague, also a professor, asked over coffee if elderly people were allowed in the doctorate and ruled that no one would accept mentoring her.

“Of course there is a limitation, but the prejudice is much greater than the limitation. I could have continued, but I was excluded the whole time I was there. What if it was a scholarship? What if I depended on it? The prejudice it takes away your dream, so you always have to have another one. I had another one, I’m going to continue”, says the teacher.

Jean Tudy dos Santos, 49, has thought about giving up a psychology degree a few times, but remains because he wants to show his 11-year-old son that one should not give up on plans in the face of adversity.

In the 1990s, when he studied law, the chief was one of the most popular students in the room. Now, he claims to be passed over by colleagues for stigmas related to police officers and for exposing his personal values.

“I find it difficult to get into work groups and I’m not old enough to be running after, begging”, comments the student, who is in the fourth year of the course. According to the latest Higher Education Census, only 29,600 people between 50 and 54 years old graduated in Brazil in 2021, against 461,400 between 19 and 24 years old.

Another difference, says Jean, is the openness to debates. In the past, there wasn’t as much freedom for discussion. On the other hand, there was no fear of displeasing and being cancelled. “I end up encouraging other people to think in a different way and I changed a good part of my position. If you don’t have flexibility, it’s difficult and many don’t speak for fear of cancellation”.

Carolina Santos de Oliveira, 22, reports that this fear is observed even when the subject is the behavior of the class. In the last week, when the noise in the classroom disturbed the class, it was up to an older student, in her 40s, to try to put things in order. “She was the only one who proposed to ask everyone to be silent. I wouldn’t have the courage, they could pick a fight with me”.

At 19, Caroline Taborda wants to talk, but she is not always taken seriously. The youngest in the pedagogy class, she is often told that she is too young and does not have the skills to address certain subjects. Kauany Evellin de Faria, who is 26 years old, observes that younger colleagues expect greater seriousness and responsibility from her.

The three young women do not have older colleagues in their circle of friends, but they see benefits in their presence in the classroom. “We can have this exchange, what they lived back there and what we are living today. I teach a lot about current events and, as they bring the vision of what happened back there, I learn from it”, says Oliveira.

“There’s a gentleman in my class who told me: ‘I dropped everything and I’m living my dream’. I’m fulfilling mine at 26 and he’s at 46. It’s a discrepancy of 20 years, but it’s our dream, so the people fit in at some point in life”, observes Faria.

The possibility of connection, with the younger ones learning to position themselves and the older ones making their worldviews more flexible, is the richest thing about intergenerational coexistence in higher education, argues Cristiane Marcelino, coordinator of the pedagogy course at Universidade São Judas Tadeu, where the girls and Tudy go to school.

“In the labor market, they will deal with these differences”, he emphasizes.

Another benefit of living among students of different ages is the possibility of bringing together different experiences. “The older ones immerse themselves in a universe to which sometimes they only have access through their children. In addition, young people are very passionate, engaged. to bring back the sparkle in their eyes”, ponders Celina Bartalotti, general coordinator of graduation at Centro Universitário São Camilo.

Nursing student, Luca Marins de Oliveira, 18, points out yet another learning factor with older people: focus. Colleagues over 30 are more centered, says the young man, who was “adopted” as a son by the more mature female students, another recurring aspect in the relationship between generations.

Regina Célia Ribeiro, 43, is one of the mothers in the nutrition course. She divides herself between daily training, graduation and work as a podiatrist and scolds anyone who dares to say they don’t have time to take care of themselves – or insinuate that for her it’s past time.

“I saw the case of that student in Bauru and was horrified. I had never thought about this question of age. When I enrolled, I knew there would be a lot of young people and I loved it”, she confesses. “I’m proud of the wrinkles, of those white hairs. I don’t care”.

For her, there is room for all ages and women can occupy any place they want, including the floor of a prom. “With a green dress all around the waist, wonderful!”, She advances her.