Shawna has now emerged as a butterfly and developed into a leader in the program. Because she has dedicated the necessary time, energy, and openness for personal transformation, she has continued her fruitful journey towards the fixed center of her spiral cycle towards finding her self.
In Phenomenal Women, a publication of writings by the women in the Adult Learner Program, one learner writes (2001):
I really feel this good feeling about the way things are going this time around. I’ve been in a few different GED classes and none were quite like this. I know I’m going to be just fine with putting myself back together. I have so many goals in 2001 and I’m going to be 30 years old and I want so much not to struggle and hustle. I know life is a struggle but I want to get to a point in my life where I’m comfortable and proud to be me, not someone else. I’ve always wanted to be someone else instead of me because I was never the most confident person when it came to certain situations. But today I LOVE ME! I LOVE BEING ME!
Upon their reentry to school, the low confidence and seemingly damaged self-esteem of the women in the Adult Learner Program is readily apparent, as I have described in vignettes throughout this paper. “Van Waters found that each woman prisoner in her study had been conspicuously humiliated in her community; before rehabilitation could take place, each had to be assured of her own personal worth (Van Waters, 1995 in Stino & Palmer, 1999).”
To feel successful, confident, and worthy, human beings need validation. This point proves especially true for those who have experienced negative criticism along their educational journeys.