By Eddie Bauman
I used to think of non-traditional students as part-timers or night-school students, usually people who were taking classes along with working full-time jobs. That’s really not what it means any more.
I am a full-time student taking almost all day classes, but I am constantly referred to as a non-traditional student. Why? Because I took a 26-year break between high school and college. In other words, I’m old.
You don’t have to be as old as I am to be considered non-traditional. You only have to be older than the average student is. So, if you are over 20, you better get used to being considered one of us.
There are probably a lot of kids with green hair, six tattoos and large nose and tongue rings that don’t particularly care for being referred to as "traditional," but that’s what they will be considered while they are here.
When I was young and wild I considered myself non-traditional, but now that I am a respected member of my community and the mother of three daughters, I have gone back to many of the traditional values of the generations before me.
Imagine my surprise when I got to school and was labeled non-traditional. Webster’s New World Dictionary describes tradition as "the handing down orally of beliefs, customs, etc. from generation to generation." Now I am called non-traditional simply for being old enough to be your mother.