Australian Phyllis Turner is not one to sit back and kick up her Easy Spirits. The 94-year-old great-great-grandmother—the world’s oldest recipient of a master’s degree—has officially put many working professionals to shame.
In the face of this sweet, cane-toting granny’s accomplishments, who can offer up any excuse for not pursuing a graduate degree? Turner, who’s practically guaranteed the title of oldest Master’s recipient in the Guinness Book of World Records (although she has yet to apply), began her graduate studies at the age of 90.
This fearless rule-breaker is proof that you’re never “too cool for school,” or anything else for that matter.
Granny Rocks Academia, Not Her Front Porch
The silver-haired Turner received her master’s degree in medical science from the University of Adelaide in Australia last week, and her professors think she could more than handle the mental rigors of a doctorate degree. But she thinks it’s time to get out of the fast lane.
“I feel very, very happy after five years of study, but sorry that I am just a little bit immobilized," Turner told Australian media in an article by Rob Taylor picked up by Reuters (“Australian Granny, 94, Becomes World’s Oldest Master,” Aug. 1, 2007).
“Mentally she was like any other student. You couldn’t tell her thinking, her enthusiasm and her interests apart from somebody who was 25. She has a lively mind,” her degree supervisor, professor Maciej Henneberg, is quoted as saying. “She used to wake up at five in the morning and think about something, and then ring to say she wanted to check on it.”
Getting an Education Not Just Business, It’s Personal
People usually expect women Turner’s age to spend their time crocheting doilies or playing bridge and bingo with other seniors, not studying alongside college students 60 to 70 years her junior. But for Turner, getting an education was about taking care of unfinished business.
As a 12-year-old, she was forced to quit school to help her mother take care of her siblings after her father abandoned them. Then she raised seven children of her own and two stepchildren.
But once her children were grown, she enrolled in night school because, as she told a local radio station in The Associated Press coverage of her story, “I love study,” (“94-Year-Old Woman Gets Degree,” Aug. 3, 2007).
She means it too. “At 70, she enrolled at the University of Adelaide and at 72, she won a 12-month scholarship to study at the University of California,” the AP reports.
After studying in the Golden State, Turner enrolled at the Australian National University and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in anthropology. Then following the death of her husband five years ago, she decided to go for her master’s.
And if her family or her body didn’t have a say in it, she feels she could keep going and get her Ph.D. “The only trouble is, I'm short of years,” she tells the AP.
So common excuses like “I don’t have time,” “I’m too old,” or “I’m just too busy,” won’t fly anymore for all those slackers who have yet to make good on their goal of a graduate degree.
Are you willing to let a grandma from the Land Down Under show you up? Explore the financial aid options and loans available to you and make it happen.
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