LIVING 60+: Learning continues regardless of age
Published 8:00 pm Sunday, March 1, 2026
Another round of TALK kicked off at Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s campuses in February, bringing special talks and informative courses to locals aged 50 and older.
TALK, or Third Age Learning at Kwantlen, has been running for almost 25 years now, with program chair Jean Garnett getting involved for the first time in 2003.
“It’s good for your brain to learn new things,” Garnett said, and that’s true at any age.
Courses this year include everything from generative AI, to the new hit doctor TV drama “The Pitt,” to the psychology of climate change, through to the history of Ancient Rome, Tommy Douglas, and the poetry of the First World War.
There are also field trips organized each year, to places like the B.C. Legislature, Langley’s own Derek Doubleday Arboretum, Museum of Surrey, and canoe trips from Fort Langley. This year’s field trips will include a guided forest walk in the traditional territory of the Sq’ewa:lxw First Nations People.
There are also the popular Philosopher’s Corner events, which focus on a lively group discussion on topical issues.
This spring’s Philosopher’s Corners will include discussions on the challenges facing Canada and its relationship to the United States, traditional versus alternative medicine, and the ethical implications of AI-generated music and artwork.
Every year also includes a Compelling Conversations event, this one to be held March 11 at the Richmond campus, featuring Lenore Newman, director of the Food and Agriculture Institute at the University of the Fraser Valley.
Newman will be talking about how technological change will affect the future of food production.
That event is free, but attendees have to register in advance.
Garnett said they’re able to host these free events because a former member left an endowment to TALK.
As for their other events, they’re supported by KPU itself. Many of the speakers and course instructors are current and former KPU professors.
The audiences are a little different, however.
Instead of young university students who are often taking a full course load and chasing a degree, they’re seeing people who have come out for no other reason than curiosity.
One geography instructor told her TALK course attendees that she couldn’t quite get used to how everyone was looking at her during her talk, Garnett joked.
Keeping TALK going as a revenue-neutral project for KPU is helped by its low annual membership fees. Those help keep the project going.
The annual membership fee for TALK is $10 a year, with courses $15 to $20.
“Which is why we say TALK is cheap,” said Garnett.