It might have been over half-a-century since the Adelaide grandfather has stepped into a classroom but Steve Reisinger wasn’t going to let that stop him from fulfilling his dream of doing year 12 maths, and in a beautiful turn of events he is attending the same school as his grandson.
“I suppose it sounds a bit weird, but I woke up one morning and thought, ‘what if and can I still do it?’” he told Woman’s Day, before clarifying it was just the one subject.
“It’s the only thing on my bucket list! It was case of not finishing year 12, it was case of doing year 12. And it’s only maths I’m not doing the whole year 12 course.”
“I’ve still got all my faculties! It [Maths] is what I do for mental stimulation. I don’t jog, I don’t swim, play sport, fish or even go camping. I love puzzles. And doing year 12 maths is what I wanted to do next,” he chuckled.
When Woman’s Day asked Steve why he didn’t complete his schooling back in 1959, he explained rather frankly that he simply got a full-time job – something that was very common in late Fifties and early Sixties.
The now-student couldn’t be happier to be back in the classroom and says the transition has been a lot easier than you’d expect.
Luckily, the 71-year-old is on the governing council for Christies Beach High and they had discussed adult education.
“I asked, ‘could I come back and do a subject?’ and they said certainly! But you’ll have to join the current class filled with 17 and 18 year olds!”’ And the rest is history!
“It really doesn’t bother me. In fact it has turned out really well because I have got an insight to what they really go through in their final year. Which really suppose it’s not pretty. It’s hard!” He wisely pointed out.
Steve back in his final year of school in 1959.
For the retired-Telstra worker, the biggest obstacle wasn’t returning to school but using the calculator.
“I didn’t even know how to switch on the calculator. There’s no on button! I had to press something called ‘ac’” he laughed, adding now he can use it with no problem thanks to a technique he learnt back in school in the Fifties.
“I’d write notes and examples and that’s how I learnt it! In fact I study the same way I did back in the Fifties – by repetition,” he explained.
“If you didn’t learn it the nuns back in the day would give you a whack over the head!”
Now, three weeks shy of his 72nd birthday, Steve is set to sit the Maths Applications exam on November 5, along with his fellow year 12 classmates. This will make the granddad the oldest student to sit a written exam this year in South Australia.
Steve goes to school three days a weeks and it just so happens to be the same school as his grandson, Sam.
The 17-year-old is also in Year 12 but isn’t studying maths, with Steve recalling Sam was originally “horrified” but has since come around to it.
“You know how grandfathers are, but it was cool and he got along with my friends which made it a lot easier,” Sam explained to The Messenger.
“I don’t ask much about his classes but I’ve heard he’s just like one of the children, a rather jokey fellow.”
While Steve isn’t sure if he’ll return to school for any other subjects, he is very excited to find out his results.
So what does the inspirational grandfather want other potential mature age students to know? “If I can do year 12 maths, then anyone can.”
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