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[eyetoeye]

Yes, I have had older students who seemed to have a chip on their shoulder. Why do you ask?

Turning a conversation about an issue into one about personality of an individual misses the point of the thread. If you have a question about the point of the thread feel free to ask me.

[scheherazade]

You're wrong. I understand everything. All the time.

This part made me laugh out loud.  It has that special quality of petulance and immaturity that I so came to adore in my high school freshmen.  For the amusement purposes, of course.

Eyetoeye, this is definitely a problem with you, not your professors.  It's evident from all of your posts, not just on this thread.  You have a chip on your shoulder the size of the Grand Canyon and think you're better and smarter than everyone.  Get over yourself - perhaps your profs are trying to take you down a notch for your future survival in academia.  Sorry for the blunt response, but there it is.

[goingcrazy]

Either you are a troll or you are out of your mind. Do not post "rants" and "questions" if you don't want reasonable responses. You DO NOT know everything. I do not know everything. We are all here to teach and to learn. Your attitude will be your downfall. Good luck.

[minorleaguer]

You're wrong. I understand everything. All the time.

[/quote]

Do not pass go, do not collect $200, go straight to the posting hall of fame.

[red_queen]

For heaven's sake, OP. If you won't join LarryC's class in the fall, please join mine.

[shamu]

You're wrong. I understand everything. All the time.

At any rate, this isn't an anecdote about your experiences with older students.

Si taciusses, philosophus mansisses.

[eyetoeye]

I didn't realize eyetoeye was in your class trying to assuage your insecurities, I assumed it was someone else.  I guess I should take these exchanges much more personally.

This makes no sense, or maybe it's just too clever for me. Insecurities or not, I still don't understand why one would knowingly ask pointless questions.

For the OP, I agree that you are likely overanalyzing the situation. My philosophy is to only ask genuine and relevant questions, especially in class, at conferences, etc. If your professors know that you perform well and produce results, they will be impressed.

This misses the point.

If your dissertation advisor tells you to do something you think is a bad idea--no questions--your choices are to do it or to find a new dissertation advisor. I don't have a long time to reeducate my teachers--if they would allow me to do so. I cannot quit every class this happens in, so when in Rome....

[red_queen]

I don't have a long time to reeducate my teachers--if they would allow me to do so. 

Yes, because of course this attitude will go over very, very well.

[eyetoeye]

You say that you are trying to make the best of your cynicism.

Try not to be cynical.  Once a hardened cynicism sets in it is difficult to break.  You've had some bad experiences.  So have a number of us.  We don't always see eye to eye (to use your signature) with all of those who teach us.  Nor do all of the courses we have to take to complete degrees necessarily inspire us.

The key is to find a way to navigate your way through the courses and personalities and to earn your degree.  When cynical you will burn a lot of negative energy that could be better spent on more productive work.

Also, no one wants to be around a cynical person, whether it is a colleague, a student in a classroom or a thesis supervisee.  There is a choice as to whether to be positive but occasionally critical of particular classes or professors or generally negative and cynical about your program. 

You usually have some choice about who you work with.  Although we don't always 'click' with all of our instructors/professors, usually there are at one or two with whom we do have good working relationships.  It is a heuristic process and you have to work your way through the courses and personalities.  Keep your eye on the final goal and good luck with the completion of your degree!

I personally like being around people who aren't naive. It's true that we have some choice about who we work with--but when there's a pattern of behavior, it limits one's choices. Plus, it gets time consuming, expensive, unwieldy to drop courses, distinguish the welcoming professors from the others. I work, and time is money, money is money, an incomplete that has nothing to do with academic performance has to be explained somehow.

[eyetoeye]

You're wrong. I understand everything. All the time.

This part made me laugh out loud.  It has that special quality of petulance and immaturity that I so came to adore in my high school freshmen.  For the amusement purposes, of course.

Eyetoeye, this is definitely a problem with you, not your professors.  It's evident from all of your posts, not just on this thread.  You have a chip on your shoulder the size of the Grand Canyon and think you're better and smarter than everyone.  Get over yourself - perhaps your profs are trying to take you down a notch for your future survival in academia.  Sorry for the blunt response, but there it is.

This was an ironic comment.

[eyetoeye]

Either you are a troll or you are out of your mind. Do not post "rants" and "questions" if you don't want reasonable responses. You DO NOT know everything. I do not know everything. We are all here to teach and to learn. Your attitude will be your downfall. Good luck.

It was an ironic comment. Why would someone affect omniscience? Even the narrative style fell out of favor in the early 20th century.

[eyetoeye]

I don't have a long time to reeducate my teachers--if they would allow me to do so. 

Yes, because of course this attitude will go over very, very well.

Because teachers have nothing to learn from students? I think education works in both directions. For example, many people didn't see my comment was ironic, and I've now told them.

[eyetoeye]

People, if this thread affected omniscience, my name would be something more biblically-sounding and there would be a voiceover that sounded like James Earl Jones or Thomas Hardy.

"As they carried on their everyday lives over the next ten years, they wondered that the bright woman who had risen to such heights had subsequently fallen to such depths. Then they stopped wondering and returned to their ordinary lives--raising the cows, plowing the fields, mending the thatched roofs. All returned to normal in the county of Wessex."

My thread has a late twentieth century ironic quality because I've avoided references to mending thatched roofs.

 

[testingthewaters]

Darn. I thought I'd find a serious discussion here on older students in class- I've had great experience with older students, though they did intimidate me when I first started. But I see we've digressed into omnipotence and whether or not cynicism is a personality trait.

Eyetoeye, give your instructors a fair chance. Breathe in, breathe out. Pay attention. And for heaven's sake, don't patronize your instructors: ask questions only when they are real questions.

[zharkov]

Darn. I thought I'd find a serious discussion here on older students in class- I've had great experience with older students, though they did intimidate me when I first started. But I see we've digressed into omnipotence and whether or not cynicism is a personality trait.

Eyetoeye, give your instructors a fair chance. Breathe in, breathe out. Pay attention. And for heaven's sake, don't patronize your instructors: ask questions only when they are real questions.

Looking over the interchange here, I have to wonder is the issue isn't more about the OP's communication style rather than age.  If a student has an unusual communication style, I'm apt to pay a bit more attention to him or her to make sure that the material is being understood and that the person isn't holding on to unanswered questions.