Education of an Aged Woman

Florence Sephton is 77 and lives in Delaney, North Wales. She is reading for an arts degree. "I'm more of a creature to polish my mind than polish my furniture. The house takes second place while I put the studying first."

"I was very happy at school and had wonderful teaching. I passed the university entrance examination and was ready to go to university, but with World War I, I went into banking. I was paid £1 a week. Manchester University kept my place open for three years but I was enjoying the money and the freedom so I turned it down.

Mrs. Sephton is now in the second year of her Open University course and is finding it hard work. She underestimates her ability. "I'm feeling tired more frequently. I can't do more than an hours work at a time. The memory is shocking. I'm supposed to be revising and I look up notes I did earlier this year and think, 'Have you read this before?' So I'm doing it very slowly—one credit a year, so it'll take six years."

"At the moment the greatest reward is simply the increase in knowledge—and the discipline. I had an essay failed this week. The professor said I hadn't answered the question. I've been thinking about it all week. I know I haven't got the facility for essay construction. I just let myself go and get excited. I feel more emotionally than I do mentally. I'm very ordinary really."

While claiming to be ordinary and lazy, Mrs. Sephton is still working hard daily at her assignments. Mrs. Sephton sees her studies as keeping her fit and independent. "Because of my life I've been self-sufficient. It's not a very nice characteristic. It means I don't care enough about people. I can't say I find comfort in what I'll be learning, so I'll be interested to see if there's a life ahead."