At the Predischarge Education Program (PREP) of the Department of Defense Schools, Pacific (DOD), they describe returning students to have “unpleasant memories of past high school experiences, “hostility toward authority,” “a feeling of helplessness about how to broaden career opportunities,”
and “a fear of failure (Knowles, 1984).”
I cannot ignore the impact of school shame and violence (physical, emotional, and institutional) on the women in our program. These emotions are expressed both verbally and through body language. Countless times I have observed women who seem as if they are daydreaming, spontaneously cry or have an outburst, refuse to participate, or “act out” towards others in class. In the beginning, since I had little experience with teaching, I assumed it was merely a “behavioral problem” or simply the student's personality. However, I have gained more insight over the past four years and have learned that the women’s actions were a result of some sort of “overwhelming fear (vanderKolk, 1996).”
To accommodate returning students who possess this “overwhelming fear,” the PREP found that a “warm, caring, atmosphere” was necessary to facilitate learning (Knowles, 1984). They also suggest an individualized participatory curriculum, which involves each student in the decision-making about the subject matter and format of instruction. For the past few years, this practice, called andragogy,has been a learning process. Andragogy acknowledges that women come to our program already possessing a great deal of life experience, which is a resource for learning. In addition to this, the women are valuable as whole persons and teachers should respect their readiness to learn and be present in the classroom. In andragogy, each woman holds the power and ability to choose her own path. It verifies that each woman is a worthy human that maintains a mind, body, spirit, and emotions. For example, if the class denotes “stress” as a topic of interest in a science class, then the teacher will acknowledge it as an important direction that the class should go.
It is affirming to know that our participatory style of teaching at the ALP is documented and proven to be effective with adult literacy learners in other settings like the PREP program. Although I teach in a group setting, I do incorporate individualized instruction in my classes. While I provide a framework of basic skills they are required to learn for the GED test, my students participate in a group decision-making process to determine the subject matter through which we cover these skills. Participatory education permits a learning environment that not only contains relevant material, but is also enjoyable and comfortable for our students.