Rewriting Our Lives: Stories of Meaning-Making in an Adult Learning Community

Abstract

The stories of three adult students who completed bachelor's degrees in an intensive learning community are examined. A controlling narrative learned from families and the culture had led them to interrupted educations and lives that failed to reflect their full capacities. With the guidance of faculty mentors and the collaboration of a peer community, they each reexamined, reinterpreted, and rewrote their failure narratives. Once they understood how they and their peers had accepted society's construction of their identities, these three were able to revise those self-constructions. Further contextualizing their experiences through the lenses of history, art, and literature enabled Helen, Ben, and Millie to make dramatic personal transformations. Helen, a single mother on welfare, rejected the hypothesis that an artist must be a genius or a man. Ben, a Vietnam-era veteran, let go of the macho warrior model and adopted a different way of contributing to the human community. Millie, an African American activist, found the common experience that connected her to both White workingclass women and Cambodian refugees.(Adult Learning, Learning Comunity, Narrative, Collaboration, Mentors, Peer Learning, Personal Transformation)

Late for School

“…Ben, a Vietnam veteran, let go of his macho/warrior ideal and adopted a gentler way of contributing to the human community. Millie, an African American activist, found commonalities in her own experiences and those of her White, working-class roommates (Cohen, 1996). From critiquing their outmoded assumptions, they move to more complex modes of thinking as described by developmental theorists (Belenky, Clinchy, Goldberger, & Tarule, 1986Kegan, 1994;Perry, 1970).…”

“…In my pilot study (Cohen, 1996), I traced the postprogram lives of three students, Ben, Millie, and Helen. Like many others, they each felt incomplete because they lacked a college degree.…”

“…She particularly noted the absence of participant voices. Our research has added to this knowledge base, and we have been presenting and publishing our data since our first pilot study in 1996 (Cohen, 1996;Cohen & Piper, 2000;Cohen & Trocco, 2000).…”