The Process of Learning and the Social Change - Essay Example

In the modern world, as increasing numbers of mature adults and even senior citizens find the need to go to college, the demographic makeup of colleges may change to an extent where mature adults form a significant part of the student population (Back2College.com, 2007). This would mean that certain changes to the social processes associated with college life might need to be changed.

For example, the same methods which are used to recruit young adults or adolescents coming out of high school may not be good enough for targeting more mature individuals. Colleges might have to change their approach to how they offer their classes and what services they provide on campus to their students (Back2College.com, 2007). Additionally, those who come to college with a few decades of real-world experience with them may have quite a different opinion of how things operate in the real world as compared to those who have remained in college for most of their lives. For any given college, such a student can have a useful impact on class discussions and the resulting knowledge gained for other students in the same class.

At the same time, there would be a great impact on the workers who choose to go back to college since it is quite an adjustment going from a regular nine-to-five job to the college environment where class schedules and deadlines determine working hours rather than scheduled project plans (Back2College.com, 2007). Such workers may need time to adapt to the environment and would need help from the college itself. Some colleges have established specific offices to help adult learners but a lot more remains to be done in this respect since the growth in numbers of older college students shows a rising trend.

Perhaps the most significant impact of the social change would be on the recruiting companies that use colleges as their hunting grounds for new members of the company. While these companies have traditionally used colleges to seek out entry-level employees from the bachelor’s level programs and mid-management from the master’s programs, they could now seek out employees to come into senior management positions right out of college simply because these employees have the experience, the maturity as well as the latest educational tools to give the company a competitive advantage (Back2College.com, 2007). Read More