Three of the men were active in their communities. One had ran for political office and was respected by his peers. Another was on the Board of Directors of a community group and an active church member. Another was also active in his community, especially in teaching crafts to children. Many of the men were quite talented. One was a painter, another worked with ceramics and his work was in demand. One person had taught himself how to play the violin and also enjoyed photography. Two people played the guitar. Two of the men enjoyed "tinkering" with mechanical parts and cars and one of these also built house models. One of the men also enjoyed baking bread.

Of the total sample of ten in this group, maybe half of them would consider going to an ABE Literacy program. One of the men was acting as a househusband While his wife went back to ABE to pursue her goal of becoming a nurse. He had two pre-school children to look after. He would have liked to go to school on a part-time basis, but said he was told by MSSH that he could not attend school part-time. Daycare and transportation were also problems.

Three of the men were considering taking advantage of one-to-one tutoring programs which were just getting established. Two of the men wanted the flexibility of arranging their own time and place and wanted to go at their own pace. (Both of these men were the ones who said they were dyslexic.) The third man was so afraid of having his "cover" blown and being thought "dumb" by those he knew, that the privacy of the one-to-one arrangement appealed to him. One of the other men - the fisherman - wanted to upgrade his math to get into a trades course but found course scheduling did not fit his seasonal work schedule. He was free from May to October.