The Correlation Between Academic Persistence and Demographical Outcomes in Adult Education - Dissertation Example

Persistence is the period that adults stay in education programs while engaging in personalized studies when forced by circumstances to withdraw from attending classes or lecture lessons. He additionally stated that the adult students should return to attending the lectures when their lives demand so. Previous surveys carried out on adult students in the United States indicate that the adults who have previously been involved in vocational training, self-studies, and other forms of education were more likely to have academic persistence than those who had not (Rudy, 2003).

They also indicate that adult students who have specific needs are more likely to persist than adults attending these institutions but with no specific goals. The institutions proving adult education programs should provide more learning options such as distance learning to those adult students who are no longer willing to join classes or attend lectures (Hubble, 2000). Adults can be engaged in better understanding while managing the forces that advance or affect their learning activities through a perspective that is learner-centered so as to effectively support their persistence (Ziegler & Durant, 2007).

There are several factors that have been identified as affecting adult students’ academic persistence. These factors have been identified as ranging from different situations, institutions, dispositions, demographic factors along with emotional or relational forces. The situational problems that affect an adult's persistence in education include problems associated with their employment, finances, the support of their children, families, transport, and health issues along with abuses from their fellow learning mates (Reder & Strawn, 2001).

The institutional forces that hinder the adults from persisting in education programs include the level or contents of the program, its location, and attendance or reentry guidelines that are utilized in the institution (Hubble, 2000).