CAPILANO COLLEGE PRESS RELEASE

APRIL 21, 1972

Four Northshore women, all "housewives" with children, have been,
in their view, "revitalized" by their experience in the Capilano
College special General Studies Program.

Tia Strachan, Alexis Musson,

"Jimmy" Tait, and Julie Thrift., have all been part-time "mature"
students in the two semester "CAP A" general studies program.

This

program, which is similar to the Arts I Program at UBC and the new
General Studies degree program at SFU, carries a bundle of academic
credits transferable to the universities.
However, university transfer was not the main motive of these
. women in registering the program.

Like many others over the age of

25 who signed up -- the 45 students in the program ranged evenly from
18 to 55

they were timidly looking for some stimulation and new

horizons in reading.

The result?

Jimmy Tait, one of the older of

the "mature" students exclaimed, "the program has given me a tremendous
amount of confidence in ~ e l f .

I had left school at 16 and soon

was into marriage and children.

Ever since I have felt thwarted

regarding my education and my ability.
all that,

But this experience has solved

Now I am propagandizing everyone I meet about the College

program and urging them not to wait to go back to school."
Musson put it this way.

Alexis

"I didn't even think I was smart enough to

write an essay as it was so many years since I had gone to school.
I know that I can write a good essay

Now

and can read and discuss things

I never dreamed of tackling before."
The four women were part of the total of seven in the program
including a 50 year old businessman, who registered as "mature"
students.

Capilano College encourages the registration of such students,

regardless of previous school standing or non-standing, as long as they
are over 19 years of age and "in the opinion of the Registrar can
benefit from instruction."

In this regard Tia Strachan, who felt the

program and the reading had changed her attitudes and outlook, explained

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"I had been wanting to go back to school for years.
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I had always

regretted not having gone to high school, thinking all along that I had
to have at least my grade 12 before the College would touch me.

I never

knew such a thing as a mature student existed.
The General Studies "CAP A" Program was offered for the first time

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this last Fa ll.

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It is a one year, two semester program consisting of

nine hours of instruction-discussion each week, mainly related to a
series of r eadings from Plato through to the present and all geared
to exposing the student to a varie:7of different life styles and ideas,
One of the instructors in the program, Dr. Francis Burstein, indicated
that next ye ar the central theme would be the images of man,

In an

interview a l ong with the f our students she also spoke with warm
enthusiasm of the contribution of the mature students to the success
of the CAP A program.

"The mature students became completely integrated

into the group at an early point, with age becoming of no importance,
I also was de lighted at the markedly high leve l of achievement of the
mature entry stude nts, who r eceived all of the 5 As given in the first
semester of the program,"
Now that they have completed the two semester program all the
women are eage r to do more work and reading.

All of them were keenly

disappoint ed that the College does not ye t of fer a 2nd year of this
special program, claiming they wouldn't hesitate to sign up for it,
Two of the women now plan to take other courses at the College next
semester.

Al exis Mus son,the one who originally felt she couldn't

write an e s say a nd incide ntally got an A in the program, hopes to
transfer into the Gene ral Studies degr ee program at SFU.

Julie Thrift

another A student has no definite plans for future courses; '' I just
want to do a lot more reading.

I am now reading things I would never

dared try b efore and e njoying them tremendously.

I have kept lists of

all the books r e f e rr ed to in the program that looked interesting
and now I just can't wait to get at them."
So how about you out there?

There is another "CAP A" program

starting at Capilano College this September,

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