by Betty Tesh

Created on: January 23, 2009   Last Updated: February 06, 2009

Going back to school can be a challenge to any adult who hasn't been in a classroom for some time. The anxiety one feels can range from butterflies in the stomach to sheer terror.

The first anxiety is whether or not you'll look foolish in the eyes of your younger classmates. Twenty-somethings are techo-savvy; they speak a different language; they are beautifully, impressively, agonizingly young! The more mature learner may dread appearing like some musty, fussy, senile old crockpot in the eyes of his or her classmates or even the professors (who may well be barely out of their teens themselves). Once adult learners get past the first shock of realizing that the Challenger Disaster, the first Star Wars movie, and the entire H.W. Bush presidency is ancient history to most of the people sitting in the classroom, their worry about looking stupid fades. They appreciate the wisdom they have gained over the years; they rejoice in the fact that they are self-confident, obstacle-overcoming adults who have accepted their strengths and weaknesses.

The next anxiety concerns the whole process of learning. Young people can scan six chapters and feel confident about taking a pop quiz. They can whip up a research paper in two hours. They can memorize 126 anotomical terms overnight. The mature learner, on the other hand, may feel like a tortoise trying to walk through molasses. Here again, it doesn't take long to realize that life has provided a framework for understanding new facts and information. The adult learner has learned to plan ahead, divide an overwhelming amount of knowledge into manageable pieces, use connections and mnemonic devices. Once mature learners accept the fact that they are no longer sprinters, but cross-country runners, they can settle down into their own time-tested processes of acquiring information.

The final hurdle for adult learners is the anxiety that always accompanies the presence of growth. Sometimes it's disturbing to find out that what you thought was true has changed. Many adults will cling to the safety of an outdated idea rather than face some startling new information. When confronted with new concepts, adult learners have to resist the tendency to skitter back into the comfort of What-Once-Was. This is the final frontier of anxieties: Accepting the possibility that facts once faithfully committed to memory may have been superceded by newer facts. The adult learner who can face down this fear shows true wisdom and moves from being a student to becoming a scholar.

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