An Exploratory Experiment in Adult Educational Guidance

T HOSE of us who are engaged in adult educational work in the Uni-versity of Minnesota General Exten-sion Division have long been of the opin-ion that there is a field for definite guidance and orientation among our adult students. We knew that a large number of our students with very high ability and high aptitude ratings were engaged in oc-cupations requiring relatively little ability. Our college ability tests showed that a considerable proportion of our extension students with the native ability and intel-ligence of professional people were doing the work of clerks or common laborers. We felt that these students could, with proper guidance, be stimulated to go fur-ther up the educational ladder. We de-tected in these superior but misplaced in-dividuals symptoms of mental restlessness. We found definitely from aptitude tests given them that students with high col-lege aptitude come to our adult extension classes in disproportionate numbers-in other words, there is a larger proportion of the population with high ability than with low ability that come to extension classes for adults. Possibly it is because of their exceptional intelligence that these individuals seek attachment to the Uni-versity. The conclusion that adult education classes attract people of superior ability from even the low ranks of occupation was further verified by a study made at the University of Minnesota in 1929-1930. This study was initiated to determine the college ability of extension students in comparison with that of the younger gen-eration of students in the day time classes of the University, and to find out the nature of the educational interests of these adult extension students. Three instruments were used in this study. They were the college ability test, the Minnesota Reading Test, and a personal data sheet. Certain of the con-clusions drawn from these tests by Dr. Herbert Sorenson are as follows: I. Two-thirds of the women and four-fifths of the men students in adult classes. have vocational objectives