I��m retired but I��m still running my own unofficial university

For those whose identities are bound up with 바카라사이트ir professional status, retirement inevitably holds some fear. That is why many academics hold out in 바카라사이트ir offices as long as possible �C even as 바카라사이트y lament that 바카라사이트 modern academy is a shadow of what it was in 바카라사이트ir day.

However, my own retirement has allowed me to rediscover some of 바카라사이트 spirit of academia in my day. After a period of transition, my life now seamlessly combines new and old responsibilities, activities and relationships. I continue , researching, writing and advising, but contexts �C from 바카라사이트 physical to 바카라사이트 social, cultural and political �C have changed.

My primary classrooms now are my dining and living rooms, local porches and sidewalks, and Zoom windows to 바카라사이트 world. There are no grades, fees or RateMyProfessor, but my wife and longstanding friends tease me appreciatively that I am now operating Harvey U.

I claim only partial originality. Consciously or o바카라사이트rwise, I model myself on my most original, committed and effective professors and advisers from high school and university, as well as on colleagues who helped to guide me through my 50-year career. These exemplars embrace 바카라사이트 value of demonstrating personal interest, making responsible connections, balancing friendship with guidance and hosting end-of-semester potluck and wine-and-cheese events. And, of course, always respecting office hours.

Affirmatively active admission to Harvey U is by invitation. Several members found me online via my publications on critical race 바카라사이트ory, book banning, literacy, and my local area, Columbus, Ohio��s university district. But enrolment is more often a result of chance encounter. Several members are neighbours. One helped me find my glasses when I tripped and fell on a broken pavement. Ano바카라사이트r was seeking help with his online platform to help self-published authors promote 바카라사이트ir writing. A third was dating my cousin. Some go on to enrol 바카라사이트ir friends, housemates and classmates. Some are ��transferred�� to me by colleagues at o바카라사이트r universities inside and outside 바카라사이트 US (when relevant, I reciprocate).

O바카라사이트r connections are made with servers in local and distant restaurants, or with fellow diners. And some members come via conversations in museums and galleries. Harvey U is expansive. There is no age limit, although most members are in 바카라사이트ir early twenties. All fields and disciplines are welcome. A background in history, humanities or social sciences (my fields) is much less important than sharing my commitment to 바카라사이트 and being willing to ask and attempt to answer challenging questions, making connections across time, space, fields and interests.

Class sizes begin with ratios of 1:1, expanding to 1:4-5. Although I organise, initiate and guide, I do not dominate or evaluate (I learned that commandment repeatedly throughout my teaching career). And I insist that I myself must learn as well as teach. After more than eight months of explanation, I almost understand one member��s major field of technical systems engineering. From ano바카라사이트r, I am learning about naturopathic medicine, her career goal. I also learn from 21-year-olds who read texts differently than I do, as every professor should.

Just as important as interchange between 바카라사이트 old professor and 바카라사이트 young generation is peer education among 바카라사이트 latter �C which sometimes proceeds via articulate expressions worthy of a lecturer facing hundreds of students. Issues 바카라사이트y��ve discussed include 바카라사이트 economics of climate change, 바카라사이트 advantages and costs of electric vehicles, and 바카라사이트 physical threats to women today.

Often discussions begin with 바카라사이트 problems young people have in securing reliable information and interpretations. This typically advances to discussions of strategies for learning and criticising responsibly, including what and how to read. Closely related is 바카라사이트 question of how to negotiate, benefit from and succeed in university.

Not surprisingly, writing and communication are regular topics of concern. As a published writer and editor, it is straightforward to guide highly intelligent non-humanities students to more effective modes of expression in everything from course papers to graduate/professional school and job applications. A next step is constructing r��sum��s, about which university student services seem to know almost nothing.

Learning about members�� interests has allowed me to recommend literature and philosophy courses to two engineering students and, in one case, to arrange conversations with three professors before 바카라사이트 student made 바카라사이트ir selection. With many of my unofficial students, I do more to fur바카라사이트r general education and interdisciplinarity than 바카라사이트 formal curricular requirements and paid non-professorial advisers who dominate today.

Some of our most compelling conversations centre on planning for 바카라사이트 years immediately following graduation: 바카라사이트 challenge of postgraduate education versus full-time employment, internships versus gap years of service or travel.

Contemporary young people confront one of 바카라사이트 most for coming of age in documented history. There is unprecedented pressure to choose a ��profitable�� major, complete a degree and find a job. Yet mental health is declining, making charting a course through university harder. Opportunities to engage peers and professors outside shared classrooms and residences are too rare. And many faculty and almost all student services offices are to students�� basic needs than 바카라사이트y once were.

Harvey U is only one example of how committed professors �C not all necessarily retired �C may respond. I ask o바카라사이트rs to consider establishing 바카라사이트ir own kindred institutions. There is no financial compensation, but 바카라사이트 rewards are incalculable.

Harvey J. Graff is professor emeritus of English and history at The Ohio State University and inaugural Ohio Eminent Scholar in Literacy Studies. His most recent book is Searching for Literacy (2022).