Blog X: Devil’s Advocate to Andragogy

Knowles’ assumptions of andragogy are well thought out and I think relates to the vast majority of adult learners out there, including myself. That being said, as an adult learner, I’d like to challenge myself this time and play devil’s advocate to Knowles’ assumptions about adult learners. I think many his assumptions relate more strongly with learners who are not only willing to learn, but are open to learning as well. These are the adults who are usually easiest and most enjoyable to work with; however not all adults are like this. In this post, I’ll do my best to describe scenarios where some of these assumptions can have the opposite desired effect.

“As a person matures, his or her self-concept moves from that of a dependent personality toward one of a self-directing human being” (as cited in Penfold Navarro, 2018)

This assumption is likely true for most adults because as one ages, one has to make more decisions about not only themselves, but for others who are dependent on them such as young children or older parents. However, I argue this can also have a negative effect in a physical learning environment as well because as learners, they will have to be dependent on their teacher during the process of transferring knowledge to some extent. Since adults are used to being independent and controlling their narrative, this may hinder their openness to new information, particularly information that counters their understanding of a subject. This discomfort about being unfamiliar can equate to feelings of losing control over their environment and may restrict their receptiveness to the material being taught.

“An adult accumulates a growing reservoir of experience, which is a rich resource for learning” (as cited in Penfold Navarro, 2018).

Experience can be a great asset particularly when it comes to solving problems that are similar to ones solved before. However, this may also hinder one’s ability to learn material much different from his or her past experience. For example, an operational manager may have a harder time understanding advice from an HR consultant who recommends giving employees flex days in order to better stabilize their work-life balance. From his perspective, this undermines his work philosophy of maximizing production from employees and may  not be as receptive to this recommendation.

“Adults are mostly driven by internal motivation, rather than external motivators” (as cited in Penfold Navarro, 2018).

While ideally teachers and leaders would hope everyone they teach or mentor is driven internally to learn, in reality I don’t agree this is the case. External motivations can be a powerful tool as well and many learners can get a strong grasp of certain topics if the external reward are strong enough. For example, take the case of a father who was formerly a top electrical engineer from a third world country moving to Canada in search of a better future for his family. He may be strongly motivated to switch career paths and earn a basic I.T. diploma if many of his friends recommend it as a great way to earn money quickly due to its high demand and short program length. Ideally, the father would like to continue his profession as an electrical engineer because his brilliance and enjoyment of it but may decide against it due to the cost and time it would take to re-certify his credentials.

Now in the spirit of Knowles making assumptions about adult learners, I will make one myself: The more you mature, the more you realize how complex life can be.

References

Cleaver, J. (Creator). (2016). How to handle the devil’s advocate. [Blog Post]. Retrieved from https://www.irishtimes.com/business/work/how-to-handle-the-devil-s-advocate-1.2531082

Penforld-Navarro, C. (2018). Unit 6 Notes. [Blog Post]. Retrieved Oct 29th, 2018 from https://create.twu.ca/ldrs500/unit-6/unit-6-notes/