I was having lunch with a few of my fellow GAs before a professional development meeting today and one of them knows that I am closing in on the big 3-0. I was outed today! He says something and then literally the four other people at the table were like "Um, how old are you?" so I say "I'm 29, 30 in April" and they all begin the lovely explanation of "I thought you were 23" "I totally thought you were like 21 or 22." The looks on their faces were pretty priceless although I have come to expect it now.
It was pretty funny. Then it got into a conversation about surrogates and heterosexual viewpoints and well....that isn't out of the norm for our group.
I think it bugs me on some level with just the amount of respect people give you depending on your age. I bring it up a lot on here because people either say it is a bonus because when I am 50 I will only look 40 but then they don't quite understand how it affects me professionally or personally now. There are people in my class that act 22 (and are 22) and wow, I would never want to be thought of as immature or naive. I tend to be kind of quiet, especially in new situations, and am an observer by nature. I watch everything and take it in; body language, eye rolls, tone of voice, social norms, everything. I only like to say something when I need to or feel like I have something important to say. There are people in my class now that absolutely just want to hear themselves speak and it is physically painful to the rest of us. This one person in particular is nice and very experience and involved in student affairs but they are also very lucky someone hasn't put duct tape over their mouth yet!
On another grad school related note: I hate APA format.
APA is of the devil. So horrible.
ReplyDeleteThe people who talk too much-are they younger? Not to be ageist, but I have noticed that often in younger people whereas us older (insert wiser) have grown and know there is a lot to learn in listening-no?
The respect thing you mention is so true. Trissa graduated when she was 19 with her BS in Psych and went into the work field. She constantly struggled with people respecting her thoughts because she was younger. Hard stuff especially when young is often synonymous with immature.
Most of them. I have noticed that some older people are also a bit more know-it-all in class and speak out more to educate the rest of us.
ReplyDelete19 is really young--especially going in to such a prestigious field. It is a good thing she was able to gain more experience and status as she got older. I am older but look young which is where the problem tends to lie at least in my case.