There are actually a number of top challenges, one being the indecision - what degree should I get and at what college? What is it I really want to study? For an adult learner, this question relates to their passion, but that is usually countered by the very real concern of is it going to pay off, relating to job viability.
Once someone can bring focus to the "what" and "where", then there are the financial considerations, the how am I going to afford it? Often these three top considerations — the what, where and how — play off against each other.
When an adult learner gets past these larger issues, which often takes some time to research and process, then there’s the next block – pure, unadulterated fear! The adult hears the inner voice of the critic with low self-esteem, “I don’t have what it takes to be a student again; I’m a crummy writer; I can’t do tests; I won’t be able to keep up.”
Adult students often say to me with terror in their voices, “I don’t even remember how to do footnotes!” It’s ironic because footnotes really aren’t used anymore in higher education, having been replaced by in-text citations, but who knows that if one hasn’t been in school for the last 20 years?
The other piece that comes into play for the adult student nervous about returning to school is, “How will I make the time in my life to attend classes when I’m already so busy and not even attending school?” The life-balancing act comes into play and adult students can use some support and coaching about how to prepare for their return to school; also adult students need to re-think organizing time and resources to be successful.
Once they’re actually back in the classroom, or even before that, adult students will benefit from a refresher course on effective academic skills such as analytic reading skills, note-taking, academic writing and critical thinking, especially as these relate to their individual learning approaches.
What would you say to an adult considering a return to college?
Each of us has a preferred approach to learning, organizing and producing academic material. There is no one cookie-cutter approach that works for everyone, yet earlier schooling would have many of us believe that there is only one way to write a good essay or take notes or find the “right” answer they think the teacher wants to hear. People believe that if it didn’t work before there’s a really good chance that it won’t work again – “it” being the whole school experience.
The joy of being an adult learner is that you get to employ your best strengths in accessing the education that you choose now. If the writing approach you learned in high school doesn’t work for you in college, there are other writing strategies you can learn that will work better for you as an adult. The reading habit of skimming indiscriminately that got you into trouble again and again in college the last time you tried it in your twenties might actually work really well for you now that you are a busy adult juggling many things – with a little focus of course.
Article comments
1 - goingback2school
Thanks..........you have no idea how I needed to hear this.....thanks so much again :)