What callers to the ALCC have identified as barriers:

  1. Anxiety about attending classes:
    1. the class will be full of people much younger than they are
    2. they won't be able to keep up with the rest of the class
    3. past failures in school will be repeated

    Learners currently attending classes have commented on the following:

    1. having to miss classes because of other obligations
    2. inability to keep up with the rest of the class when classes are missed
    3. not receiving enough individual attention from the instructor - instructor is "too busy"; instructor doesn't "pay enough attention to me" (school districts)

    A woman attending a school district program dropped out and gave the following reasons.

    The course required attendance two nights a week. She was forced to miss a number of classes because of other. commitments in her life and demands on her time and she found herself falling behind.

    The course was too hard for her. She "can't write worth a darn" and "Every time he talked about writing an essay I just about panicked." She sometimes couldn't understand what he was saying or follow his instructions - "what we were learning I was never taught."

    There were too many students in the class (about 10) and the instructor - "it's not his fault" - was too busy to check her work.

  2. Lack of information - not knowing "what to do, where to go, where to turn, how to start"

Continued on next page....



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