Emotional and Cognitive Challenges of Adult College Learners: Evolving Identities - Essay Example

? Emotional and cognitive challenges of adult college learners: Evolving identities through collegiate learning 25 August For returning or first-time adult college students, college is often both an exciting and distressing life experience. In “Emotional Challenges of Adult Learners in Higher Education,” Kasworm (2008) explored the emotional journey of adult learners in college. Her premises are that adult learners have conflicting worlds that they bring into the college learning experience, and throughout their learning process they go through emotional conflicts as they discover and validate their changing identities. Kasworm (2008) argued that “learning is an act of hope” (p. 27), and this hope goes through four emotional phases: hope to enter college, hope to continue college through renegotiating or adapting identities, hope to be one with collegiate learning and system, and hope to find and exploit future opportunities. This paper reflects on this article and finds points of agreements and disagreements. It finds the article’s writing style engaging and organized until the last part of hope, where there is a disconnection between considering future possibilities and describing learning as a context-based journey. This paper agrees that adult learners tend to be more purposeful and resilient in their collegiate experiences than younger adults, and the conflict between the emotional and knowledge-seeking self can have productive outcomes, but with an expansion of the idea of college learners as a contributor not only to the class and higher education institution but also to their families, communities, and society in general. Older adult learners do not have the same kind of indecision as younger adults, and instead they enter college with specific purposes in mind despite potential emotional challenges distinctive to their age group. My primary purpose for entering college is expanding work and life opportunities. With this clear purpose in mind, I am more motivated to enter and finish my classes. Older learners, furthermore, tend to have unique emotional challenges because of their life cycle stages that produce twin home and work responsibilities. This paper agrees with Kasworm (2008) and her ideas about the emotional challenges that impact the first act of hope. She said: “Confident and resilient learners find entry into college often challenging to their identities and their sense of adult competence” (p. 28). Indeed, though I found myself as a confident learner, I felt unsure of my place in college education. At first, I needed to adjust to the school bureaucracy and then to course requirements and schedules. Some classes can be so challenging that I question my sense of adult competence. Whenever I feel discouraged, I ask myself about my learning and career goals, and this helps me become more motivated to finish my courses. Therefore, having clear and inspiring goals helps adult learners engage in the first phase of their collegiate experience. The second act of hope, continuing higher education, is especially relevant, which I believe applies to many, if not all, adult learners with families and work responsibilities, because they have to renegotiate or adapt their identities to persevere in and benefit from their educational process. I agree with Kasworm (2008), who believes that cognitive and emotional dimensions of college education can both undermine and strengthen emotional resilience. She said: “The cognitive and the emotional aspects of their collegiate commitment are intertwined and represent both emotional resilience and emotional vulnerability” (p. 30). I believe it is important to acknowledge that adult learners are emotional beings, too, which is something new that I learned from the article. Emotions are often taken for granted, even when they shape our experiences and identities. In reality, I believe that adult learners’ emotional identity affects their intellectual identity, too. College education is not limited to influencing the cognitive self; it also encumbers and enriches the emotional self. I have three children and I am working, so I have to balance these competing spheres: work, life, and school priorities. I am thankful for my wife and other social and university support resources that help me continue my schooling. I renegotiate my identity, as I learn from my courses and interactions with my classmates and instructors. The emotional self, in my opinion, is as resilient as the learner. Learners should use their classroom experiences and challenges to enrich both their emotional and cognitive identities. At present, I am straddling between the third and fourth acts of hope, because I am in the process of becoming one with collegiate learning. Kasworm (2008) stressed: “The challenge of higher education in serving adults is to create both learning that reflects the current adult learner’s world and creates possible alternative understandings of that world”, which can be related to enhancing “critical thinking, multiple worldviews, and self-authorship” (p.31). I appreciate college education for its ability to open new worlds of thinking and acting through boosting critical thinking opportunities. Critical thinking is related to learning multiple worldviews, which enriches me as a student and as an employee of the Philadelphia Police Department. Nevertheless, I struggle with self-authorship because I need to enhance my writing skills using my distinct voice. Kasworm’s writing style is easy to read but very intellectually engaging, and I disagree with the last act of hope because I feel that Kasworm (2008) has not tackled my expected issues. As regards this hope, she said: “This last act of hope suggests that learning is not just within the adult; it is co-constructed through cultural and social interactions…” (p.33). I agree with her that learning is also contextual, but, more than that, collegiate learning prepares adult learners for something they can be very good at – for directly contributing not only to the class and higher education institution but also to their families, communities, and society in general. College education is a life-changing experience because it helps me do better as a family person and as a member of my community. It gives me the skills, interactions, and knowledge that help me achieve my fullest potential. The last act of hope is the ending of the emotional process, which lasts from entering college to finding opportunities. College frequently presents the means to advance people’s careers. It is a useful choice for improving skills and knowledge that have practical applications. Kasworm (2008) talked about something that not many adult learners or teachers recognize – college education is also an arduous emotional journey. Adult learners endure emotional experiences that they sometimes disregard, which can have negative repercussions of lack of confidence and feelings of loss. I learned that emotional growth is as important as intellectual learning, because the former can sustain the pursuit of the latter, and, at the same time, the intellect enriches the emotional self. Therefore, in order to survive cognitive challenges in collegiate settings, it is important for me to be also aware of my emotional challenges and to resolve them, not always on my own, but by tapping the social resources around me. References Kasworm, C. (2008). Emotional challenges of adult learners in higher education. New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, 120, 27-34. Read More