MIRRORS INTO WINDOWS
"The whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into
windows."
Many of our members have shared in the history
of U3A
Adelaide's development
over the last 20 years. This booklet contains some memories of
those
times, from the viewpoints of several office bearers, tutors and office
volunteers. It offers some background to the formation of the U3A
concept and the start up of our own, and an overview of the activities
during the first years.
This “university” has been providing adult
courses for people
in the
third age (the age of retirement), in an organisation based on the
medieval
university idea of students gathering around scholars with a desire to
understand the world around them, rather than the modern aim of
obtaining
a degree.
The U3A movement had begun in Toulouse, France
in 1973,
offering courses
in the humanities and natural sciences (at moderate fees) to retired
people,
with tutors teaching voluntarily, after retirement from a life of
school
or university teaching or professional life in the humanities or
sciences.
Thus the membership fee would be within the means of most retired
people
and there would be no further cost – beyond items such as language
textbooks
and small charges for photocopying.
The twenty years of our U3A date from the 28
January 1986
public meeting
attended by about 150 enthusiastic potential students and tutors.
The fledgling U3A began with courses in, among other places, the
Burnside
Community Centre, the Adelaide College of Advanced Education and
the State Library. It has moved from those temporary facilities
to
Franklin Street, Currie Street, and now to Pulteney Street.
Membership has grown from the original 160
interested
participants and
6 courses, to 855 members and 176 courses in 2004.
The variety of courses has expanded to cover
many
science-based areas
of interest, in addition to the languages, history and literature of
the
early years. Some examples show just how much our U3A members are
keeping up with the current issues, as they consider the implications
of
genetic modification and the complex problems of the Murray-Darling
river
system. Computing courses meet our needs for understanding such a
major aspect of today's world (and of keeping up with
grandchildren!).
Many of the courses offered at U3A are enjoyed
for their sheer
delight,
for general interest or for ways of ensuring our continued
health.
So, the music, the mah jong, the art and architecture, the walks around
Adelaide and its gardens, the yoga - all help us keep both mind and
body
as active as possible.
The booklet brings memories, too, of names
familiar to many of
us: office bearers, tutors, office volunteers and other members.
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