College Concord NH

 If you've ever taken a social psychology course, you might have heard about Milgram's obedience experiment.  If you haven't (but maybe would like to?  We have them at Granite State College in adult online classes) here's a quick synopsis:

In 1961,  an infamous Nazi war criminal, Adolf Eichmann, went on trial in Jerusalem for his part in the mass deportation of Jews during World War II.  His defense was that he was "only following orders."

Stanley Milgram, a Yale psychologist, wondered just how far people would go to "follow orders."  Before he began, he asked fellow psychologists how much they thought "a normal person" would shock a fellow human being if ordered to do so by an authority.  His colleagues said that only the most disturbed would do so.

Stanley set out to find out.  He set up an experiment where people thought they were shocking another person.  It started out slowly, but continued to increase.  Why did they do it?  A stern, convincing experimenter, dressed in a lab coat and seemingly in authority, told them they "had to do it."  And the amazing thing is, 65% of them went all the way to 450 volts.  (Luckily, the "shock generator" didn't really give out any voltage and the other person, unhurt, was just acting.)  The world was stunned, and social psychology students continue to be horrified.   

Here we are, almost 50 years ago, and this was tried again, this time on a supposed "reality" TV show in France.  Here's a clip of it, and you don't need to speak French to realize that the people in the audience are given the chance to "shock" a person.  It's pretty sobering:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCamiWs-KMs

The director of the TV show was horrified to find that time time, 81% of the contestants agreed to go all the way.

It was reported that "One contestant interviewed afterwards said she went along with the torture despite knowing that her own grandparents were Jews who had been persecuted by the Nazis."

Well, not everything that you learn in adult classes and adult online classes is quite so grim, but I promise you, it's always interesting and thought-provoking!

Give some thought to opening your mind to new ideas by taking a college course.  You can take a course in Concord NH at our Granite State College Concord campus or at any of the other eight campuses we have across New Hampshire, or you can take it in an adult online class from wherever you are.  You can even take it in a combination, where some of the classes take place in the classroom and some take place online.  

What do you do with your spare time? If you are like most people, you probably don't have a lot of spare time. You are probably running from one thing to another. Maybe you have a job and a family and friends that you juggle your time for. But what about in the evening? Are you sitting in front of tv watching commercials for New Hampshire Colleges and Universities? Maybe an add for a Concord NH College, or a Manchester NH University caught your eye. But you say to yourself, "no way, not me, I can't go to college."

But why not you? Do you realize that you could be taking courses at home on your computer instead of watching tv? You could be enrolled in a course at Granite State College right now at home, or you could be in Rochester, Concord, Manchester, or any number of locations sitting in a classroom and learning new things.

Oh, I lost you again. You say to yourself, "I can't sit in a classroom. I am too ____," (old, tired, busy..) But what if you went to class one night a week? Everyone else in the room is just as busy as you. Even most of your instructors are working somewhere else during the day. They know what it is like to juggle responsibilities. So instructors give you work that is geared to help you in your profession, classmates support one another and suddenly, TADA! You have taken your first course.

Give it a try! Granite State is a place where adult learners can grow and learn and only by giving up a tv show or two!

Like much of America, I got drawn in to watching tv's "The Biggest Loser."      I began watching one of those marathon sessions running (conveniently) on New Year's Day, and for the first few minutes I was intrigued by watching the contestants struggle through their rigorous diet and exercise regime, spurred on by the hope of a different future.  Once I began to see evidence of their progress, in the form of lost pounds and found confidence, I was hooked.  I am a bit embarrassed to say that my whole family (ok, not the 4-year-old) allowed this program to chew up the better part of our day, as I sat making food lists with new resolve.  We watched together and cheered on these folks who were moving past the beginning struggle of change, toward the goal, and vicariously shared in their victories.

As I am buckling down to complete the assignments due in my next class, it strikes me that the process of furthering my education is a bit like that diet & exercise struggle.  The goal is important---finishing my degree, and expanding my knowledge.  Although the day to day steps of studying and stretching myself are most often enjoyable, I sometimes go through a cycle of self-doubt --"can I really do this?".  But even in the midst of that process--the struggle leaves me energized.

The first class I took at Granite State College was one of the Concord NH classes "Critical Thinking."  I didn't know what to expect---it had been several years since I had been in school---and actually, I got something I didn't expect ---energy!  I had anticipated being tired, drained, and overwhelmed after class; after all I was sitting down to class from 6 - 9:30 in the evening.  Not exactly my most productive times!  The process of settling into a classroom with no other distractions (no one needed a sippy cup, help with laundry, or input on fundraisers for any committee) but the flow of new ideas, combined with the input from a group of fresh faces was absolutely exhilirating.  I came away feeling charged up and eager to talk.  I sat down with my husband for a couple of hours and chatted with him, had philosophical debates, and just enjoyed the very non-mundane conversations.  

I'd love to say that I came away from that first experience a constantly confident, calm person.  Not quite.  There have been a few classes where I still reach a point of doubt, and a couple of times when I have thrown my papers on the floor, marched out into the living room and announced "I am not going to do this anymore!"  When this happens my husband grins to himself, looks at his watch, and waits for my little "rain dance" to be over.    He knows that within 5 minutes, I will have calmed down, and have gotten back to work.  Funny thing is, after these breakdowns I usually manage to produce a project that turns out very well, and the victory following that initial frustration can't be beat. 




Similar to the discovery that through exercise you actually gain energy; the journey through education and career advancement through Granite State College has brought with it an energizing source of new ideas, as step by step I'm achieving my goal. 

Part of what knits humanity together is the common ground of our shared experiences.  It is on this common ground that we build our relationships.  My job at Granite State College in New Hampshire places me at a crossroads where I meet people who are going through many of the same learning and life experiences I had as a student and  I have the opportunity to share a bit of what I learned, hopefully making it easier for the students. 

Recently, a new student came to the Concord NH office for a meeting with her adviser and to register for her first classes.  She didn't come alone.  This student was accompanied by her father - and her one-year-old twins!  Her dad would care for the children while she attended to the business beginning her journey towards a degree.

As we talked, I learned her twins were preemies, born months too early.  She was surprised to learn that I, too, had a preemie - 35 years ago! - and that my preemie would soon be making me a grandmother for the first time!  Our conversation went off the adult college education track, veering over to the "mommy track," as we compared our experiences.  How early did our babies arrive?  How much did they weigh at birth?  How long were they in the hospital? 

She asked me if I had had a hard time finding clothes for my preemie, did it take long for my daughter to catch up developmentally to the children in her age group.  I told her how in the beginning the hospital took surgical masks and cut them in two to use for diapers.  On the wall in my office, she could see visible proof, my daughter's recent photo, that babies born as tiny as hers grow up to be perfectly normal adults with perfectly normal lives. 

And I, the experienced, older of the two, learned something from her that I hadn't known before.  While identical twins come from the same egg, they each have their own amniotic sac.  Well, almost all of them do.  This student's twins actually shared an amniotic sac which put them in the category of the rarest of identical twin births! 

College is so much more than book learning.  It is "life learning."  In telling our stories we not only share a piece of ourselves, we pass on the benefit of our experiences and in the process make our lives and the lives of those we interact with richer by far.