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Andrew Brookens
Stefan Britt
English 111
4 November 2015
Adult Learning in the 21st Century
The importance of a college education plays a huge role in todays society. It provides a
limitless amount of information for students in the 21st century. However, knowing how
important it is can be dangerous. If students only go to college because they feel like they need
to, they will never realize the full importance. Pushed by parents and the pursuit of money, kids
feel forced to attend college to get good grades and move on. It is possible to obtain knowledge
throughout college, however the goal of most students is not to enrich the mind like it used to be.
The importance of a high GPA has changed the motives of learning, and has therefore resulted in
students who are uninterested in the material, pupils who are mostly quantitative, and learners
who are unqualified.
The required high school material that is covered are the general education classes that
are deemed necessary for everyday living and common knowledge. Students spend four years of
their educational career learning this material. However, once students start their college
education, they quickly realize their first two years are spent on the general education classes
they seemingly took in high school. Of those classes, some of them may not even be close to
tying into the students future or degree. This can make learning very repetitive, yet students are
willing to endure these boring, humdrum classes in order to move on. Finishing these classes and
achieving an A is the only thing on their mind. This is not an effective way to successfully learn

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in any environment. Being able to know a subject well takes more time than most students
realize. As John Tagg says, Because almost all genuine mastery is achieved over time, this
attitude seriously disables a students capacity for quality learning. (Tagg 7) Students who get
too bored with the amount of time to complete classes will lose interest and that can therefore
hinder their learning ability. This leads into Paulo Freires article, Banking Concept of
Education he introduces the idea that A problem-posing education affirms men and women as
beings in the process of becoming - as unfinished, uncomplete beings. (Freire 249) With the
constant need for knowledge, it isnt beneficial for students to be finding shortcuts in order to
earn an A. This leads to an obstruction in the quality of learning in a young adults mind at a very
crucial time in their education.
This leads into the next major problem in adult learning. Students arent interested in the
classes, so they dont feel the need to actually learn. They tend to memorize as much as possible
in order to get by, however this causes them to retain little information. Students aspire to get
good grades and dont feel its necessary to actually understand the information. As John Tagg
puts it, the students become grade oriented instead of performance oriented. (Tagg 6) The
difference being that students center their goals around achieving a higher grade instead of
bettering themselves and their performance. This idea leads into another John Tagg idea, that
students are mainly turning out to be quantitative learners in preference to qualitative
learners. (Tagg 4) Adult learners are willing to memorize facts and numbers because they know
it will help them out on a test. However, they dont bother actually learning or knowing the
importance of why the material is being taught to them. This method of memorization only
prepares learners for the tests. After this, they are free to dispose of this knowledge that they
have just learned. Education thus becomes an act of depositing, in which the students are the

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depositories and the teacher is the depositor. (Freire 240) Students memorizing the information
required of them correlates to the teacher making a deposit. The students providing the teacher
with the information needed is parallel to the teacher making the withdrawal. This transaction
occurs without the students even thinking about the information they had just provided. School is
about more than just tests. Our society needs to realize all of this, but it is nearly impossible to
accomplish when schools primarily focus on the importance of grades. It causes pressure to the
students, who then feel forced to memorize the information in order to pass.
A big issue that leads to memorization is the fear of failure. Students are scared to fail
their classes because they will not only be cheating themselves, but also their parents. A large
majority of students, and kids in general, tend to feel an obligation to their parents to do well in
school. This results in them passing their classes, yet still not understanding the material.
Forgetting the information as soon as they walk out the door leads to trouble not only in their
future classes, but also in the workforce. In Mary Sherrys article, In Praise of the F Word
she says that Passing students who have not mastered the work cheats them and the employers
who expect graduates to have basic skills. (Sherry) An employer could look at a college
transcript and be tricked into thinking the adult actually knows the required information. The
material that students fail to learn thoroughly could haunt them in many years after college.
All of these problems stem from the significance of achieving an A. The value of
achieving good grades has changed drastically over time. Instead of the focus being on becoming
more knowledgeable, our society has become obsessed with the notion that good grades equates
to a successful future. I believe that there should be a way to measure someones knowledge
without pressuring them to use unconventional and unethical methods in order to score well on a

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test. The system that is in place in todays society creates a false value in the GPA, and therefore
leads to boredom, memorization, and unqualified adults.

Works Cited
Tagg, John. Why Learn? What We May Really Be Teaching Our Students. 2004. Print.
Friere, Paulo. The "Banking" Concept of Education. Print.
Sherry, Mary. In Praise of the "F" Word. Print.