Interview With Student, 58

By Ashleigh McCune
One of the unique aspects of college is when people of all ages decide to further their education. West Virginia residents who are 65 and older can receive reduced rates and can audit a class for $50. This does not cover fees. They can also take classes for credit at half the instate rate. According to Registrar Cecelia Malhotra, there are only three students who are 65 and older who attend West Virginia University at Parkersburg.

I have had the pleasure of having News Reporting I with John Hickey, a 58-year-old student, this semester. His wiseness and knowledge truly amaze me sometimes and he is proof that older adults can be great people to look up to. I interviewed him to find out more about why he is attending WVUP.


Q: How old are you?

“I’ll be 59 Dec. 24.”

Q: What classes are you taking and what is your major?

“I am taking Journalism 215 and Journalism 225. I have no major.”

Q: Have you previously attended any other colleges or universities?

“I attended LaSalle University in Philadelphia (LaSalle College when I was there), which was run by the Christian Brothers, a Roman Catholic order.”

Q: What made you decide to attend WVUP?

“I wanted to get more professional in my writing. I have been studying the structure of English and the elements of writing for more than forty years, I’ve done some free-lance editing and some writing in recent years (some of which I’ve published at http://stmichaelsgate.blogspot.com/), and I’ve begun to identify myself as a writer and editor.

“I have learned Chicago style, which is used in book publishing and some other academic writing, and I’ve familiarized myself somewhat with APA (American Psychological Association) style, which is used in some academic journals. I wanted to discipline myself in Associated Press style and get more experience in putting together a newspaper. (I worked on a few hippie newspapers years ago, but we had no software - we just hung double-page size sheets of paper on a clothesline along one side of somebody’s basement and pasted stuff up on them until it was ready to go to the printer.)

“I also am feeling my way along to see if I want to apply to the master’s program in journalism at WVU in Morgantown. I think I would like to have the time to put together a book (as a master’s thesis), which I tentatively have titled Signals: Punctuation as the Structuring of Expectations, to make the case that a writer’s choice of punctuation should in every instance be based entirely on the actual effect the punctuation will have in structuring a reader’s expectations, so that the reader will be led like a dancer through the music the writer hears to the clarity the writer sees.

“In almost every case, I hasten to add, the punctuation one chooses on this basis will be exactly the punctuation now prescribed by the “rules.” My aim is to ground the choice in its effect instead of having the rules just float out there as rules.

“The book would take, from the New York Times, the Associated Press and other news organizations, passages that use punctuation in a way that throws the reader off. I will lay out some of the unintended (and hopefully humorous) sentences the reader might think to be emerging from the clumsy punctuation, and then present the passages edited to structure a reader’s expectations more felicitously.

“I think I could apply a similar analysis to radio. I notice that especially on NPR stations, like WOUB out of Athens, Ohio, people often speak pieces that they obviously have written down and then memorized. Because they have not learned, as actors do, to speak from the heart, they sometimes use stress patterns which imply something different from what they intended when they wrote the piece. It can throw the listener off, sometimes jarringly. I think I might be able to do an audio piece playing clips, pointing out the implications of the stress patterns the speakers are using and then speaking the piece in the way the writer probably originally intended.”

Q: Do you have any advice for younger students?

“My advice would be to never do anything just because some old fool tells you to. Blessings on you.”

Q: What is the best aspect of attending school now and the worst aspect?

“I like doing a lot of writing and editing, and I love the students. The worst aspect is me. I tend to stick my two cents in when maybe I should keep quiet sometimes.”

Q: How long have you attended WVUP and for how long are you planning on attending?

“This is the first semester I have taken any courses at WVUP. I do not know how long I will be here.”

Q: Do you have any previous degrees?

“In June of 1968 I earned a B.A. in Philosophy after four years at LaSalle.”

Q: How did you end up in this area?

“After taking care of my folks in New Jersey during the last years of their lives, I had been living in Philadelphia since 1993, but last year I decided to head out to West Virginia. My brother Neil lives here and I like it here.”

Q: Do you get any special benefits for attending as an older student?

“I think there may be benefits available - I gather the Regent’s Bachelor of Arts gives credit for life experience - but I have not explored them.


“I think some students at WVUP might not realize what a good thing they’ve got here. Many schools have a grim atmosphere, a faculty that is distant from the students, and tension between students. WVUP seems to me to have a warm atmosphere, friendly faculty (like Dottie and Paul Bibbee), and students who are nicer to each other than students at many schools are. I think it makes for a good learning situation, though some students might have to watch out that they don’t get too relaxed.”