September University: Summoning Passion for an Unfinished Life - Tapa blanda

In 2029, the last of the baby-boom generation will turn 65. Numbering in the tens of millions, this age group clearly has the demographic muscle to renovate society. The movement is barely underway, but the dynamics of aging suggest profound social changes ahead: the search for meaning will intensify, the psychological effects of death and dying will be reexamined, the concept of legacy will be transformed, and the subject of economic justice will be reexamined. September University as an idea is a metaphor for intellectual maturity. It represents an ambitious quest on behalf of posterity. September University, the book, is a call to action, a social forecast, and above all a passionate pronouncement that a bright future depends upon the experiential wisdom of aging citizens. The exploration within its pages has the potential to alter worldviews, heighten aspirations, and elicit reflections about each person s legacy. Readers have the opportunity to discover new ways to find meaning in the last few chapters of their lives.

Author and publisher Charles D. Hayes is a self-taught philosopher and one of America's strongest advocates for lifelong learning. He spent his youth in Texas and served as a U.S. Marine and a police officer before embarking on a career in the oil industry. Alaska has been his home for more than 30 years. His book Beyond the American Dream: Lifelong Learning and the Search for Meaning in a Postmodern World has received recognition by the American Library Association's CHOICE Magazine as one of the most outstanding academic books of the year. His other books include Existential Aspirations: Reflections of a Self-Taught Philosopher (in-press), Training Yourself: The 21st Century Credential; Proving You're Qualified: Strategies for Competent People without College Degrees; Self-University: The Price of Tuition is Desire. Your Degree is a Better Life. In 2003, he published his first novel, Portals in a Northern Sky. Promoting the idea that education should be thought of not as something you get but as something you take; Hayes' work has been featured in USA Today, in the UTNE Reader, and on National Public Radio's “Talk of the Nation” and Alaska Public Radio's “Talk of Alaska.” In 1989, Hayes inaugurated Self-University Week, held the first seven days of September every year, to celebrate the joy of lifelong learning. His web sites provide resources for self-directed learners--from advice about credentials to philosophy about the value that lifelong learning brings to everyday living.