Motivation

What motivates you as an adult learner? How will you motivate those who you will instruct?

Really think about this answer – this is the whole reason you have entered this program!

When I was growing up, my family was broken. We didn’t have much: both of my parents left college to have me and later my siblings. Because of a bitter divorce, my parents did nothing but fight and undermine each other, and I didn’t have a good relationship with my father as a result. The man my mother married was abusive and wasted what little money my mother brought home (he never worked the whole time they were together) on cigarettes and “big boy toys” for himself. Twice in my childhood we were homeless because of his extravagance, though fortunately we had relations who were willing to take us in so we never lived on the street or a shelter.

Through all of this, school was my haven. Easily 95% of any support or encouragement I received in those development years were the result of teachers and school personnel taking the time to nurture someone who clearly loved to learn, and I’ll maintain to my dying breath that the only reason I (literally) survived my high school and early college years was because of the dedication of a certain group of teachers, without whom I wouldn’t be the person I am today. It was because of them and for the people like me that I initially pursued a degree in education as an undergrad, why I continue on with my own education so I can create new programs and curricula to enhance and expand education so that everyone can receive the chances I did.

But it’s more than that; education does not stop, nor can it stop, with the conferral of a high school diploma. Increasingly, it cannot stop with the conferral of an associate’s or undergraduate degree. Grade schools have a plethora of teachers specially trained to deal with the cognitive, behavioral, and psychological components of child and adolescent learning to help those students develop not only the skills, but also the confidence they need to be successful. In a constantly changing world, we need to have more and more instructors with the training neccessary to understand and nurture the adult learner in the same fashion; to understand their needs, their challenges, their obstacles, and their motivations. The world requires higher education now more than ever before in our history: not only does our country’s survival depend on the American workforce becoming more and more educated, but the individual worker’s success increasingly depends on his or her education level as well. And education does more than help line the pocketbook; it can create a structure of support to help end abusive cycles as well as foster confidence and independence. Is it any wonder that the first and most noticeable thing about dictatorships is the closure of schools and the suspension of education?

Education makes the world a better place. It is never too late to learn, but the sooner we can make higher education accessible to the adult learner’s needs, and the sooner we can encourage the educational growth of that individual, the sooner we can make a positive life change not only for them, but their children and families as well.

That is why I am here. That is why I do what I do.