Barriers to adult education

Merriam, in “Learning in Adulthood” identifies a number of barriers to education in adults, including cost, time and motivation. It seems like one of the biggest, though, is confidence.

At 33 years old, my friend Sara has a GED and is now considering going for her undergrad. She had her first child this year and realizes she needs to go to work to help support her family. She knows she needs a degree to do this.

Now, if I read the paragraph above, I might think that Sara came from a poor, low income family and that she may not have strong intellectual abilities. However, both her parents and two siblings have their masters. Her 2 younger brothers are both finishing their undergrad in their late 20s.

Both Sara and one brother have learning disabilities and were deemed below average by more than one teacher. Further testing showed that they had extraordinarily high IQs, but were performing poorly in the standard academic setting. Their parents made the decision to home school. As a result, Sara probably is one of the most self directed learners I’ve met. Her father, being a chemist, even set up a lab in their basement. They joined up with others in the home schooling community for field trips and were active volunteers at the local living history museum. She also was seriously studying the violin and considering a career in music. At the age of 19, her family moved to Israel, where she mastered a second language, earned a brown belt in jiujutsu and picked up gourmet cooking techniques from working in resturants. Because of her many health problems, I actually call her first when I feel sick before I go to my own doctor. She is that knowledgeable. I’ve even seen her wipe the floor with a gastroenterologist that was not a specialist in her particular disorder.

It is interesting now to see that despite all her learning experiences, she, as well as potential employers, view her as un-educated. Her parents made the decision to take a path that would actually give their children a better education than was possible in their own well respected school system, and yet, all three have returned to the traditional path because in most cases, a degree is a pre-requisite in this society to obtain a professional, well paying job.

While Sara has many of the typical barriers that adults seeking to further their education (time, money), I realize now that I can help build her self confidence, that crucial barrier that needs to broken. I plan on sharing my view of her story with her and hope to support her in her endeavors.