Granada Hills : SAGE Society Classes Stimulate Intellect

Somewhere between a philosopher’s dream and a struggling student’s nightmare is the SAGE Society, which operates in connection with Cal State Northridge’s Office of Continuing Education.

The program, which will be spotlighted at an open house Friday at First Presbyterian Church in Granada Hills, provides a forum for mostly retired residents of the San Fernando and surrounding valleys to engage in discussions on a variety of intellectual, social and artistic topics.

There are no tests, no instructors and no grades. Course topics are created at the request of the participants, who are in turn assigned to research individual subjects and provide a thorough report to their peers--all for the purpose of sparking discussion. “It’s stimulation, mental stimulation,” said Frank Coony, 71, who commutes from Simi Valley to participate. “One of the things I really get out of it is the mix, the different backgrounds of people when we get into discussions.”

Most of the SAGE Society’s 100-plus members are retired, which gives them time to participate in the 10-week course sessions on topics that range from medical ethics to comparative religion to the rise and fall of the great powers.

“You have to be curious,” said Morrie Cutler, a Northridge resident who launched the group in 1986 after discovering a similar one at UCLA. “You have to read. You have to be willing to talk about it.”

Ros and Sid Goldberg of Sherman Oaks joined this year, and have participated in three different courses so far.

“We didn’t feel we were getting this kind of intellectual stimulation,” said Ros Goldberg, 68. “You don’t have the motivation to go to the library and research something if you’re not going to present it.”

“It’s been fun because it’s an informal give-and-take sort of thing,” she said. “It keeps you alive.”

The open house is scheduled at 10 a.m. Friday at Lee Hall auditorium of the church, 10400 Zelzah Ave. More information is available by calling (818) 831-5064.