Case Study : ' Making Their Own Way ' By Marcia B. Baxter Magolda

College. One word that has people’s minds run like crazy. Panic is one emotion that starts to settle in for high school seniors when second semester rolls by when they realize they are suppose to figure out their future soon. Not only is it a stressful time for the seniors, but also for the parents. Alina Tugend, an experienced journalist, wrote an essay called, “Vocation or Exploration? Pondering the Purpose of College.” Tugend’s goal of this article is to inform the audience of college students and their parents that college is continuously changing its aspect which leads us to different options when approaching college. This is why making the right choices after graduating high school is challenging. She pinpoints great examples throughout the essay and uses a good amount of ethos, logos, but did not have a

College is an opportunity to truly discover who you are. Often enough, you hear people saying “You should really major in this field, I think you would really enjoy this career.” or, “Do you think you really want to study that? Have you thought about what you will be doing ten years from now?” filling your mind with self doubt, uncertainty, and the anxiousness of not knowing what you want to do with the rest of your life. Mark Edmundson wrote an article titled, Who Are You and What Are You Doing Here?, published in Oxford American addressing college students and their families how the most important thing college students should focus on is personal growth. When students take their courses seriously their engagement can help finding out who they really are and which future career will lead not necessarily to great financial success, but to a career and life that is very satisfying. Edmundson wants to inspire his audience and have them take what he is saying seriously. Edmundson uses satirical informal language and hypothetical situations to effectively persuade college students to focus on their personal growth in order to create a life and career that is deeply fulfilling.

The book puts in question what are the important factors to a child’s development all the way until there teenage years. When growing up there are two main group of people that make us who we are; our parents and the outside world. When we are little, before we start school we do not know anything other than our family, this is called the first stage of development. By only knowing your family members this causes you to only act the way you see. However, a few years later, when

Lifespan Developments Theories offer explanations of how the individual changes and develops throughout their lifetime. While this objective is constant, the focus of these theories vary. Erikson’s Psychosocial Development Theory adopts an intrapersonal focus, outlining nine age related stages of the life cycle while Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Stage Theory focuses on five socio-cultural stages within which the individual interacts, interpersonally, over time. This essay will focus on both these theories, their implications in the world of adult education, particularly from the perspective of experience within two South Kerry Adult Education Centres and finally the areas where these theories may concur and contrast.

The life pursuits and subjective judgments of many contemporary young people indicate that the transition to adult roles has become so delayed and prolonged that it has spawned a new transitional period extending from the late teens to the mid-to late-twenties, called emerging adulthood. During the college years, young people often refine their approach to forming their own identity. In these years, young people have left adolescence, but most have not yet assumed adult responsibilities. Many have dreams and those are what guides them in their decision making. In the video, 22 year old Casey describes her dream and comments on her identity development. Casey says that she became interested in Psychology in high school during her junior year when she took a psych course. She knew from then on that was what she wanted to do, but she hadn't picked a career yet. Casey said that she picked a career during her first year of graduate school, when she decided on gerontology. She said her happy and active grandparents had a lot to do with picking a career and wanting to work with the population. Casey thinks her identity was a gradual process and it's only really formed since last year. She feels her parents helped shape her morals and beliefs, but in between her senior year and her first year of graduate school, she started to form her own and integrated some of her own ideas. 24 year old Elizabeth and 25 year old Joel are shown discussing

Furthermore, I found some interesting information on the way a student’s outlook on life can change… “Intellectual and

The transition from high school to college is a dynamic time in one’s life that parallels the change from childhood to adulthood. Both of these changes are dramatic and, as a result, feelings are difficult to put down into words. A messy combination of emotions fills the heart, surfacing in strange ways. Confident high school seniors go right back to the bottom of the chain when entering college as freshmen. These students start all over, just like entering grade school or high school for the first time. The move up from high school to college signals the switch from dependence to self-sufficiency. From a personal point of view, going through the experience of graduating high school and transferring to a residential college campus at STLCOP, made me realize I was no longer a kid and capable of making my own decisions.

This essay is a reflective essay on my learning development from a young age through to my current position as a University Student. I will be relating my learning development back to two theories of human development, Vygotstsky’s socio-cultural theory and Marcia’s version of Erikson’s theory of identity development. I will identify and discuss the challenge I have faced with my identity and how this has impacted on my development.

About one quarter of the UK 's full-time, higher education entrants now includes mature students and, in spite of tuition fee rises, many institutions of higher education are observing higher than ever applications from this age group. Although career change/ expansion is one of the most common motives mentioned by mature students for entering higher education later in life, there is a vast assortment of other influences in play. However, given the vast age-range the term ‘mature’ spans, it’s no surprise that studying as an older student will be far greater an cataclysm for some than for others, and it’s not a choice that should be entered into lightly. Mature students often face exceptional challenges, including juggling academic study with paid work, family and financial responsibilities which can increase the burden to an

This psychological interview analysis will compare and summarize the theoretical applications of Erikson’s Theory of Human Development and Levinson’s Life Structure Approach. The subject of the interview, Charlotte McBeth, will express the challenges that arise in the stable and transitional periods of life in a Scottish family, which she expresses in the various aspects of instability and transitional periods that Levinson defines. The death of an infant brother defines one such instability, which reflects the high infant mortality rate and a sense of guilt that Erikson would analyze through the “Initiative v Guilt” stage of childhood. However, Charlotte had a large and supportive family unit, which allowed her to find intimacy in adolescent with her close friend, Rena. In adulthood, Charlotte was able to transition to America by having a family support when leaving Scotland to find better job opportunities abroad. In essence, a summary of Charlotte’s interview will be accompanied by a psychological comparison of Erikson and Levinson’s life development theories.

For each generation developing in society a common occurrence they face is scrutiny from the previous generation about their trends. If I had the opportunity to create a college course the enduring question would be “What does it mean to grow up?”

From adolescence to late adulthood, our lives change drastically. Our goals, achievements and conceptions of life differentiate as we mature. As we grow older, we no longer concern ourselves with self-identity or the opinions of others, but instead we focus on our accomplishments and evaluate our life (if we lived a meaningful life). From adolescence to late adulthood, we experience different developmental tasks at a particular place in our life span.

This methodology encompasses examining the child’s life through many different contexts, such as: demography, history, sociology, biology, developmental psychology, and economics. ( w. website ) The Life Course Perspective takes the combination of the historical and social factors and sees them in an individual’s course of personal development. A life course is defined as a sequence of socially defined events and roles that the individual enacts over time. ( W. website ) The theory loosely follows the sage old adage, “To know where you’re going, you have to know where you have been.” More precisely, the theory explains that the roles, events or transitions in an individual’s life don’t naturally progress in a structures order, but instead but create the sum of one’s life experience. (website) Transitions play an important role in the life experience.

There are five key features that characterize emerging adulthood. The first s identity exploration. The second is “Instability.” For many the instability is a result of residential changes such as living in a dorm. There is also instability in friendships, romantic relationships, academia, and work. Emerging adults have few obligations, responsibilities, and commitments. Because they have so much autonomy in controlling their own lives the third key feature is “Self-Focused.” One of the most difficult

Throughout a young adult’s life there are many things that can drastically change in five year time period. In fact, I believed to be the age of twenty-three years old waiting to see what the world is about. Like many young adults planning for the future perhaps I can characterize my myself at twenty three irresponsible individual with any goals set for my future . As for my present age of twenty-seven, I feel like a mature butterfly sprung with wings of eagerness and wanting to complete goals. Therefore, the transformation I’ve made in five year period reflected on a more stability lifestyle and engaged me to continue my education journey.