Life-Long Learning Requires Boomers as Teachers and Students

One trend we expect to see growing rapidly in the coming years is educational opportunities for Boomers -- so they can keep learning new things.

Unlike previous generations, who were educated in the first 20 or so years in life, and then plied a trade until retirement, Boomers have kept on learning. The education has been both formal in the classroom with advanced degrees, or informal like cooking classes or photography at local community colleges.

As Boomers reach age 50 and beyond and find themselves with more time for mental self-improvement, we (and others) expect life-long learning to take off. Already we're seeing some local community colleges developing new curriculum to attract Boomers. One college even got a grant to develop such a program.

Now there's a new Web site starting initially in Seattle called TeachStreet that is a match-making service to link together local teachers with people looking to learn something new. The options range from the obvious -- language skills, cooking, piano -- to the not-so-obvious -- rope tricks, surfing, poker. Read this description from the sharp eyed people at Springwise.

This idea, if executed well, should take off, and Boomers will be the biggest benefactors both as teachers and students.