The curriculum is not imposed by the academic establishment from the top down, but rather formulated by the member-consumers from the bottom up. Many topics are one-time offerings, but some continue for years. The record is held by the creative-writing group that Betty Hodges '31 has offered every term for the last 20 years. At age 88 she has recently acquired a computer and modem and is eager to explore cyberspace. The spring 1997 curriculum presents a variety of study-group topics, including languages, literature, history, philosophy, politics, economics, music appreciation, and science, along with such practical subjects as public speaking and the use of computers for writing, research, and communication.
Readings range from Aeschylus's Agamemnon to today's newspaper.
That the program allows and even encourages this is one of the unique aspects of the third-age learning experience. It dispels the myth that expertise in a subject or discipline comes primarily during late youth and middle age. A good example of this alternative possibility is Margaretta Thuma, who has studied the European Community intensely. Now, she admits with modesty, she has in fact become something of an expert on the European Union. Charles Cook '48 leads a discussion group in one of the Institute's new meeting rooms at 51 Brattle Street.