The "Transportation" problem was also mentioned by a Native woman. She was a single parent living in a native village a few miles out of town, and there had been some local dispute about use of buses and while this was on, she could not go to school. At that time she was ineligible for social assistance because of her age. However, a year later she got band sponsorship and was able to continue in ABE when the transportation problem was solved.

Discussion

Apart from the "Program-related" arid "Personal effort" reasons, interviews with this population suggest that the reasons for withdrawing are similar to the deterrents or barriers to participation faced by many of the nonparticipants. These withdrawals have to be admired for their resilience and their continuing attempts to follow and believe in their dreams. The fact that so many return to ABE or intend to return shows that ABE does have an attraction for those who know about it and have tried it.

The Doukhobor subgroup and the learning disabled group illustrate two different problems facing ABE - the hard program decisions that have to be made when adequate program funds are not available; and the need for more specialized facilities and personnel to cope with special populations. Are these people dropouts, or victims of other circumstances?

The difficulty in obtaining data and in deciding what constitutes dropout are problems which plague researchers, but there needs to be more discussion within the college system as to what constitutes "success" and "attrition" in the ABE literacy context. Definitions of terms are crucial if they are to influence policies and practice.