I don’t buy it, personally. There were plenty of older folks in my college program who thrived in their studies. Plenty of older folks at work who adapt to new training just fine.
Personally I feel more focussed and capable of picking up new skills now than I ever did in my twenties. I just can’t believe your capacity for learning necessarily decreases with age.
Yeah I’m aware that we observe a correlation. You know what I think actually happens? You remember back in school, teachers would always complain about the “summer vacation effect”? Kids would come back to school after break and it would be a huge slog getting them habituated back into productive learning. Year after year, affecting children at every age. The effect is noticeable after they disengage for only a couple of months.
Now what happens if you go years or even decades without really challenging your adaptability? How hard would it be to get back into things, then? And because this effect required the passage of time to take hold, would most people not just assume it’s an inevitable part of getting older? What if it isn’t, and nearly everyone has the capacity to claw their way back?
That’s my view. Ultimately it’s up to each of us how we want to handle our own journey of aging. I would recommend against believing your “ship has already sailed” at thirty years old, considering the success people find when they refuse to accept that.
My apologies for making such a rant, and with such emotion haha. Your short comment didn’t really justify it, and this isn’t really directed at you. Just some stuff that’s been on my mind a lot as it is a very common sentiment.
But to close out my train of thought, I would also add that most people consider sarcopenia to be inevitable as they get older. However, we now know that the effects are completely reversed in virtually everyone who engages with strength training into their old age, enabling them to walk around in their eighties with the same strength as an average 30 year old. But in order to receive these proven benefits, you need to believe that it is possible for you personally, and you need to try.
Yeah I went back to university at 29 and holy shit I was so much better.
It’s just my experience, but when you are motivated to be there, know your are working towards real income requirements AND enjoy the content, school is trivially easy. They literally tell you 90% if the answers! (In class! You have to go to all the classes!). They will literally answer all your questions and thoughts (in office hours! go to them all! They normally are just sitting there alone!)
Digging ditches and running a chainsaw for years after my bogus, C’s get degrees bachelor’s had me feeling like a classroom was a spa, and studying for tests was a privilege. I never thought I’d be a straight A student but it just felt like doing my job professionally.
Anyway the end of my train of thought would be as you get older you are sure what your motivations and goals are, and that can be very empowering, resulting in high learning performance irrespective of baseline neural plasticity
I think the STEM fields very well supports this. There are entirely new protocols, software, structures, algorithms, technologies and tons more coming out year over year.
All those fields aren’t exclusively supported by fresh college students. Those are people who are having to constantly learn to stay in their field. If you don’t keep learning, the entire industry becomes inaccessible.
There is a lot to be said about the maturity of someone taking classes at a later stage in life. I went back to get my CS degree after my time in the military. In high school I was a solid C student, in my associate degree before the military I was a B+ student, after the military I graduated Summa Cum Laude and the only two classes I didn’t get an A in were classes that I missed the first two weeks of school because I was deployed with the National Guard. The self-discipline makes a huge difference.
I don’t buy it, personally. There were plenty of older folks in my college program who thrived in their studies. Plenty of older folks at work who adapt to new training just fine.
Personally I feel more focussed and capable of picking up new skills now than I ever did in my twenties. I just can’t believe your capacity for learning necessarily decreases with age.
Yeah I’m aware that we observe a correlation. You know what I think actually happens? You remember back in school, teachers would always complain about the “summer vacation effect”? Kids would come back to school after break and it would be a huge slog getting them habituated back into productive learning. Year after year, affecting children at every age. The effect is noticeable after they disengage for only a couple of months.
Now what happens if you go years or even decades without really challenging your adaptability? How hard would it be to get back into things, then? And because this effect required the passage of time to take hold, would most people not just assume it’s an inevitable part of getting older? What if it isn’t, and nearly everyone has the capacity to claw their way back?
That’s my view. Ultimately it’s up to each of us how we want to handle our own journey of aging. I would recommend against believing your “ship has already sailed” at thirty years old, considering the success people find when they refuse to accept that.
My apologies for making such a rant, and with such emotion haha. Your short comment didn’t really justify it, and this isn’t really directed at you. Just some stuff that’s been on my mind a lot as it is a very common sentiment.
But to close out my train of thought, I would also add that most people consider sarcopenia to be inevitable as they get older. However, we now know that the effects are completely reversed in virtually everyone who engages with strength training into their old age, enabling them to walk around in their eighties with the same strength as an average 30 year old. But in order to receive these proven benefits, you need to believe that it is possible for you personally, and you need to try.
Yeah I went back to university at 29 and holy shit I was so much better.
It’s just my experience, but when you are motivated to be there, know your are working towards real income requirements AND enjoy the content, school is trivially easy. They literally tell you 90% if the answers! (In class! You have to go to all the classes!). They will literally answer all your questions and thoughts (in office hours! go to them all! They normally are just sitting there alone!)
Digging ditches and running a chainsaw for years after my bogus, C’s get degrees bachelor’s had me feeling like a classroom was a spa, and studying for tests was a privilege. I never thought I’d be a straight A student but it just felt like doing my job professionally.
Anyway the end of my train of thought would be as you get older you are sure what your motivations and goals are, and that can be very empowering, resulting in high learning performance irrespective of baseline neural plasticity
I think the STEM fields very well supports this. There are entirely new protocols, software, structures, algorithms, technologies and tons more coming out year over year.
All those fields aren’t exclusively supported by fresh college students. Those are people who are having to constantly learn to stay in their field. If you don’t keep learning, the entire industry becomes inaccessible.
Or you become a manager
Yup. Learning new things increases neuroplasticity, which in turn makes it easier to learn, which again increases neuroplasticity, etc.
Don’t underestimate the momentum of daily education.
There is a lot to be said about the maturity of someone taking classes at a later stage in life. I went back to get my CS degree after my time in the military. In high school I was a solid C student, in my associate degree before the military I was a B+ student, after the military I graduated Summa Cum Laude and the only two classes I didn’t get an A in were classes that I missed the first two weeks of school because I was deployed with the National Guard. The self-discipline makes a huge difference.