The University of the Third Age is meant to be fun.
More specifically, it is a nationwide network of learning groups aimed at encouraging older people to share their knowledge, skills, and interests in a friendly environment.
But essentially it is intended to be an enjoyable exchange of social interactions that stem from crochet lessons through line dancing and even watching movies at a community level.
A few gallant souls take their membership to an even higher level, and actually try to learn something – like languages or – in my case – macroeconomics.
This year I pondered through the enticing menu on offer of Politics and the Economy, The Arab-Israeli Dispute and a delightfully intriguing – Mind Stirrers. My eventual choice of Australia’s Future Challenges and Opportunities was based on the fact that not only had the class been operating for four years, but that most of the two dozen attendees were regulars.
So every Thursday morning I have sat ‘in class’ in front of the whiteboard, as our Tutor presented headlines, concepts, and graphs at an alarming rate. We even had homework – reams of Readings that came regularly each week to prepare us for the ongoing subject in hand. These have roamed from Global Economics, Inflation and Infrastructure, and Diminishing FoodBanks.
This brings me to last week’s subject – the housing crisis: a problem that seems to have been globally relentless in varying forms, but exacerbated more recently by Covid. This has led to subsequent high shortages in the workplace for manpower and products.
Some surprising facts emerged. Apparently, Australia is not doing very well in its policymaking, and we have a lot to learn about how to garner our politics toward long-term policies in order to alleviate many of our nation’s ills. Hence we had, Best Housing Practices in Singapore and Finland
One of our presenters thought to lighten the doom and gloom of these revelations by turning to new technologies that will shape the thinking of all the Gen Z’s and Y’s to come. By feeding in a few ‘ facts he ‘invited,’ or ‘challenged’ CHATGPT to write a light-hearted poem about the situation.
And here it is.
MACRO ECONOMICS – U3A STYLE
April 2023
By – Artie Intel
In Australia there’s a housing crisis so dire
It’s become a topic that all must admire.
The U3A Class set out to explore
How Singapore and Scandinavia tackled it before.
With notebooks and pens, they sat down to learn
And soon the classroom was all astir
They learned about housing that’s affordable and clean
With ample space and gardens so green.
In Singapore they have flats that are high
With shared amenities that will make you sigh
They built them up and not far out
Saving precious land without a doubt.
In Scandinavia, they have social housing,
A system that’s fair and quite surprising
They built for people of all income levels
Ensuring all had roofs of different bevels,
The U3A Class took notes and discussed
And soon they realized they had to adjust
Their thinking, and approach to housing needs,
If they were to solve the crisis in need.
So they got to work and started to plan
To build affordable homes for every man
They looked to Singapore and Scandinavia
And with best practices came up with an idea.
To build up and not out was their first thought,
With shared amenities, they’d give it a shot
To build for all income levels they would follow
To ensure that everyone had their own burrow.
And with hard work and a lot of care
The U3A Class did what was rare
They solved the housing crisis in their town
With best practices from overseas renowned.
Now everyone has a home in which to live in
With green gardens and shared amenities within
Thanks to the U3A macros Class
Their town is now a model one that will last.
This was somewhat daunting to the class, especially those of us with writing or teaching interests. A poem that any poet would work on for days or weeks and be pleased to put a name to, Artie Intel had completed in minutes. Which in turn evaporates all the collective lifetime skills of the U3A members.
But of course, the bigger picture is emerging. False Facts are more difficult to decipher in print, Audio can be decoded and re-assembled and Pictures can be cropped or enhanced to suit. News Media now lies somewhere between Documentary and Creative Fiction.
I wake every day to the joy of a new day but am sincerely thankful that I no longer have to make decisions on anything more exacting than “Do I want fries with that?”
