Adult education online and it’s benefits

What comes to mind when you think of eternal learning? Hopefully not going to school forever. At least not in the literal sense. Our minds are wired to learn so, we need to continuously learn new things. Some of that happens within the traditional institutional structure, but a lot of it happens everywhere else. For the parts that need to be within our understanding of what a school is, sometimes we feel we might be “too old” to “go back.” Those would be two false assumptions because we are never too old, and additional schooling can only be an asset for progression.

At first the thought of always having to learn or relearn something might be daunting but over time it becomes a welcome idea. For people who feel like they might have hit a ceiling in their careers, the solution might be getting a new qualification or adding something extra to your existing expertise.

The Life Marathon

There is always going to be the possibility for self-improvement the only question is whether we want to take it or not. The time it will take, and personal effort required tend to be the barriers (though sometimes financial), but with the internet a lot of opportunities are present and a lot of the costs are greatly discounted or circumvented completely. It is important to understand that growth and progress require time so the sooner you get started, the sooner you get to the result.

The ongoing process

Learning never ends, in the traditional sense of the word. Even if institutional learning may have a time limit. But keeping a growth mentality and an open mindset for continuous self development is essential to doing whatever might be needed on the journey of self-improvement.

The present of the present

No matter where we are in life, as long as we have the present we always have a chance. There are several factors and possible reasons why people were not able to finish their high school education from work, to family, and a host of others. But regardless of the circumstances that led to this moment the opportunity of the new is evident. Taking hold of that and seeing where next it can take you is an exciting and promising prospect!

There are many benefits to mature students returning to school but here are just a few of them:

Job potential

Statistics Canada in a recent survey of the labour market established a credible correlation between education level and employability.

A sample of the survey showed increased employment rate with increased high school grade completion: 63% for men who completed grade 8 or lower; 67% for grade 9 or 10; and 68% for grade 11 to 13 non-graduates.

We can always be cautious about putting too much credibility to statistics and making assessments from them but there is a safe correlation that earning a high school diploma increases employability.

Young men and women without a high school diploma (statcan.gc.ca)

Self confidence

The psychological benefits of setting tasks and completing them is invaluable to a sense of self. A high school education is a task that was started at an earlier stage in life but got sidetracked. It may not be too much of a stretch to assign some intrinsic value to completing this unfinished task.

Mental well-being

In the WHO active ageing framework (WHO 2002) there is an acknowledgment that lifelong learning coupled with formal education and literacy are important factors for health and security as people grow older. The research centers around older members of society but this only highlights the importance to physical, emotional and mental wellbeing that is derived from constantly learning and staying challenged.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5848758/

One of the best features of going to school online is the flexibility it allows the student. The classes are self paced, so they fit into your schedule and work around your lifestyle and learning comfortability. With the courses happening online, you don’t need to worry about the social aspects of your “classmates” and can simply focus on getting your work done.

You can get the course done sooner or take as long as you need.

In order to get the best out of the limited time allocated to the pursuit it is best to finetune study habits and practices by allocating a study space and time. Other useful things to keep in mind are to get as much rest as possible, plan appropriately to maximise retention, and ask for assistance where needed.

With all those points to consider I hope these helped you along your decision making and wish you all the best in whatever endeavors you pursue.

This post was written by Abdulhakeem Yusuf. Abdulhakeem is the content writer at SOC Online Academy. He has over 6 years of professional writing experience.

If you are interested in gaining all of these benefits from learning at SOC Online Academy, go here to learn how to apply.