lifelong learning narrative: a case study jessica weimer

Running head: LIFELONG LEARNING NARRATIVE 1

Lifelong Learning Narrative: A Case Study

Jessica Weimer

Western Washington University

Winter 2014

LIFELONG LEARNING NARRATIVE 2

Overview

This narrative is a summary and analysis of a research project, completed as a

requirement for a course on learning in adulthood, a part of the Continuing & College

Education program at Western Washington University. One participant, referred to in this

paper as Rick, was interviewed twice for a total of 90 minutes on February15 and March 3,

2014. The purpose of these interviews was to investigate the nature of and elements

influencing his learning throughout his lifetime, and to identify any struggles he has had

with his learning. This is a case study in lifelong learning for his demographic: a low-

income single-father in his early 30’s from a multi-racial background living in the Pacific

Northwest.

“Adult learning does not occur in a vacuum” (Merriam, Caffarella, & Baumgartner,

2007). As such, we must look at adult learning within the context in which it occurs. Rick’s

lived experience provides a means through which we can identify factors influencing or

impeding adult learners, as well as apply theories of adult learning to practice. In order to

do this effectively, the decision was made to first present Rick’s story in full, and then an

analysis of his narrative in light of adult learning theories. Effort was put to present Rick’s

story through his own perspective, which is why quotes from the interviews are used

throughout, in order to allow his voice to come though instead of the authors. The analysis,

however, is written from the author’s perspective.


Narrative

Rick is a recent graduate from a local technical college, where he completed a

program in Instrumentation. When asked what that is, he smiles and says, “A lot of people

don’t seem to know what it is, I wasn’t a hundred percent sure until I was already in the

program.” He goes on to elaborate that Instrumentation and Control is a program that for

technicians who calibrate machinery in production facilities, and requires a background in

electronics and mathematics. Since his recent graduation, Rick is actively seeking

employment and, as a single-father, taking care of his 8 year-old son.

Although he is part Native American, Rick did not grow up on a reservation and

instead spent his childhood moving throughout different parts of Whatcom County, located

in northwest Washington State. His parents split up when he was very young; through

elementary school he and his two brothers lived with his mother in many different rental

homes. As he puts it “We lived in low-income housing. My mom had help from the state to

raise [us]… we moved around every couple years.” As a young child he was very engaged

in school and while not on official teams, loved playing sports. Despite the instability of

moving from home to home to frequently, he felt stable in always having his mother and

brothers with him, as well as his friends, with whom he would walk to school every day.

In middle school, things changed a lot for Rick, which led to him not doing well in

school and becoming very depressed. In describing his life at that time, he said:


My dad ended up getting custody of me and my brother, and then the 3rd son my

mom had, he was a half-brother, he went to live with his dad – my mom had

drinking problems and such so, that was kind of the leverage he used to get custody

of us.

From this quote, one can see that he did not want his father to have custody of him and his

brother, as he felt that some sort of leverage was used to force them into that living

situation. However, in further reflection Rick admitted that his mother’s drinking exposed

him to people using drugs and alcohol at a young age, and that she was likely not able to

care for her children to the best of her ability.

In addition to the hard transition of moving from his mother’s care, he also became

the target of bullying at his middle school. Being bullied by his peers in middle school made

Rick’s depression worse, which in turn caused his school performance to suffer. His father

and stepmother tried to help him with school, but when they were unsuccessful, they

stopped trying.

When he entered high school, Rick made a lot of new friends and had a better

experience, but his school performance was still low. After being bullied for being smaller

than the other boys in middle school, he was motivated to take Strength & Conditioning

classes in high school. He excelled in those classes and set school records in weightlifting.

Taking an early morning Strength & Conditioning class was, at points, his only reason for

going to school. It motivated him to get to campus and once there, he stayed for his other

courses.


Rick and his high school friends were, as he puts it, bad influences on each other.

They would drink alcohol or do drugs and encourage each other not to attend class. Most of

his friends finished high school within four years, but he had to stay for a 5th year to finish.

Because his friends were no longer at the same school, he chose to attend an alternative

high school within the same district for his last year. In contrasting the two, he said he

much preferred the alternative school, because of the smaller atmosphere and lesser

expectations for homework. He “just never really wanted to take the work home.” Home

was a different context for him to work in, and while he did the work at school without

issue, homework never got done due to various reasons, such as distractions or loss of

motivation.

After finishing high school, Rick spent about a year living with his parents and not

working. He would drink or party with his friends and sleep most of the day. Once his

father and step-mother were fed-up with his actions and kicked him out, he would go to

live with his mother until she did the same. He “ended up moving back and forth. Just

testing their patience, back and forth.” This ultimately resulted in Rick being homeless.

As a homeless youth, Rick was able to access resources through an agency in

Bellingham called Northwest Youth Services (NWYS). NWYS provides housing and helps

homeless youth find employment with the goal of helping them become self-sufficient. Rick

was partnered with a room-mate and was able to obtain some production work, which he

did for a few months before quitting.

Through NWYS, Rick met new people, including the woman he married. He

describes their relationship:


She actually had this friend of mine, who was also in the program, and they ended

up having a child together. Things between them fell apart so we ended up getting

together and we got married and I had a son with her. It was kind of a spontaneous

thing, we got married a little too quickly, maybe after about like 6 months of

knowing each other we got married. So, we rushed into that and it ended up not

working out of course. So, I was married for – I’d say we were together for about a

year and half.

In the above quote, Rick paints a picture of a very turbulent time in his life. His focus is on

the immediate things in his life, and not on what will happen in the future. During this time

he also developed a severe drinking problem, which was made worse by his spouse’s

substance abuse.

Eventually, Rick found himself at his own, self-described, rock bottom. He woke up

in jail, after being arrested the night before, intoxicated. His ankle was broken, though he

didn’t know it at the time. They did not give him medical treatment, because at his arrest

they thought his ankle was sprained. He was released, so he left the jail with his belongings.

It was cold and wet out. He didn’t have a coat, only a t-shirt, and he didn’t have any one to

pick him up. Rick had to walk on a broken ankle for multiple blocks in the cold, not

knowing what to do. It was at this point that he realized he need to do something.

There were a lot of other changes to his life after that. When his wife was pregnant

with his son, he started a job in production at Icicle Seafoods. The environment of the

production plant was one that Rick described as sterile and working on the production line

was isolating. Rick did everything he could, including reading instruction manuals on his


breaks, to learn about the production process and was promoted into Quality Assurance,

where he later became supervisor. Rick attributes his son to his success at work. “When I

kind of realized that I was … completely responsible for another life, not just my own, that

really changed something in me,” he said, “ It made me strive towards the future, to

improve myself in any way I could.”

Rick was a Quality Assurance supervisor for two years at Icicle Seafoods, until the

plant was shut down and all of the workers were laid off. They were notified in July that

they would be losing their jobs at the end of October. During that time, Rick’s employer

held job fairs and workshops to help the employees find new work or go back to school.

This was how Rick decided he was going to enroll at the local technical college:

I found out that there were programs to help people that were laid off retrain to get

– you know, to go back to school, basically. That’s when I decided that I was going to

go back to school and I did some research and stuff. All the programs and their pay

scales and stuff, and decided that I was going to go into instrumentation and control.

He wanted to train for a good career so that he would be able to provide for his son, which

was why he looks at the jobs and there pay scales before deciding which program to enroll

in.

Rick had pre-requisites to take and was on the waiting list to get into the

Instrumentation program. He “had to take the standard English and Psychology and [he]

took Math 98, 99 and Pre-calculus before [he] got in.” Math was especially a difficult subject

for Rick, as he only completed through Geometry in high school and did not do very well,

but he was determined and utilized the resources that were available to him in order to


succeed. This included going to the tutoring center at the college three hours before class

every day to study.

Even if I didn’t feel that I needed the help – I would make it a point to go in there

before my class, about three hours before, to study on my own, because then I knew

if I had a question, I wasn’t stuck at home with no solution, I could ask somebody

how to do it.

Through his persistence in studying math, he eventually got to the point where he felt

“pretty confident in math.”

Once he finished with the pre-requisites, Rick entered the Instrumentation program,

which he describes as very difficult. There were long lectures and labs to attend. It

challenged him, but he knew from his experience that he could do the work if he applied

himself.

What I liked about the program is it pushed you to think, you know, use logic in

every way, think in ways you haven’t thought before to figure stuff out. So, it was

challenging, but once I had the study skills from learning how to do the math, then it

just came naturally. I knew what I had to do, even if I didn’t understand something, I

could figure it out – it just took time.

Rick also mentioned that as time went on, he grew closer to his classmates and they relied

on each other for support in the program.


Another factor that helped Rick be successful was organization. Organization played

a large part in his success in the program, and will even help him once he finds a job in the

field.

The program instructor coordinates with the different industries to cover the stuff

that they want us to cover, so it’s very prudent to the jobs that we’re going to get in

the field. So, I just filed it by class in my binder, day by day, and just kept everything

tabbed, kept everything precise and organized. I felt that was the key to my success,

I wouldn’t be able to do it if I didn’t keep track of all my paperwork, and know

exactly where to find it when I needed it. I figured it would be key, even when I got

the job, to be able to go back to a certain subject, you know, and be “okay, it’s right

here” open it up, have something to refer to.

Scheduling was a large issue for Rick, however. Once his son was on the bus to

school, he would go to school and study before class. One downside to the program

schedule, however, was that many of the courses extended into the evening, getting over

about 6pm. Rick had to arrange for childcare for his son, which ranged from family and

friends to even one of his neighbors he paid to watch his son after school.

After three years, Rick graduated from the Instrumentation and Control program

and is now seeking employment in the field. He is still on unemployment while he looks for

work. Most of his days follow the same routine of getting his son ready for school, looking

for work and doing household tasks, then spending time with his son in the evenings. He’s

optimistic about his future and thankful that he was able to navigate the system and make

it through college.


Analysis

As Merriam, et al. (2007) aptly describe, whenever one asks an adult about their

learning experiences, “they first picture classrooms with ‘students’ learning and ‘teachers’

teaching in a highly structured format” ( p. 27). When Rick was first asked to be an

interview participant, he expressed trepidation that he would not be a good candidate.

Despite his recent degree completion, he didn’t feel that he had enough experiences in a

formal learning environment to be of use. Throughout his life, however, there are many

formal, non-formal, and informal learning experiences that took place.

Formal learning occurs in a highly structured environment, and is what we usually

think of when we hear the term “education.” Non-formal learning is an educational

environment that is less structured, short-term, voluntary, and “has few if any

prerequisites” (Merriam, et al., 2007, p. 30). Informal learning is learning that occurs

outside of these environments, usually throughout the course of living without conscious

awareness of the person. “There will always be overlaps among the three [forms of

learning]” however, which becomes apparent when looking at an individual’s learning

narrative.

An example of this is the many different forms of learning Rick experienced in his

life. Of course, there was formal learning that occurred in his school environments, from

public schooling to his college degree. However, he also participated in other learning

experiences, some of which were self-directed. An example of this was how Rick studied

instruction manuals during his breaks at his production job, in order to learn more about

the guidelines and processes. He was practicing self-directed learning, which is “the


independent pursuit of learning in natural settings” (Merriam, et al., 2007, p. 37). However,

in addition to his informal learning, there were non-formal trainings that he also learning

from for his job. The information gained from both of these settings was utilized by Rick in

order to gain promotions at work.

When examining learning, one also need to examine the learner is, and how that

affects their learning experience. Rick was selected as an interview participant because of

his unique experiences relevant to his demographic, as he is very different from the author

of this study. Rick is a multiracial male, who grew up in poverty and struggled with

substance abuse issues, but the most intriguing demographic factor is his role as a single-

father, and this had the largest impact on his lifelong learning.

According to Cook (2004), single fathers are the fastest growing subset of non-

traditional students. Despite this fact, their needs are overlooked in favor of single mothers,

and many of them do not know how to access resources to help them. In his doctoral

dissertation, which was a qualitative research study, Cook found that these single fathers

also faced social stigma, lacked support systems, and did not feel as if they mattered to

institutions or society at large (2004). Many of these themes were present in Rick’s story as

well.

When asked about what support he uses in parenting, Rick said he pretty much does

it on his own. He looks up information on the internet if he has questions about child-

rearing or development, but other than that the only resource he has is his parents, who

don’t offer much support. This was typical for the men in Cook’s (2004) study as well.


The concept of a support system lends itself well to McClucky’s Theory of Margin.

“His theory is grounded in the notion that adulthood is a time of growth, change, and

integration in which one constantly seeks balance between the amount of energy needed

and the amount available” (Merriam, et al., 2007, p. 93). The amount of energy needed is

the “load”, while the amount available is the “power” and both are derived from internal

and external factors for the individual. The margin in this theory is the ratio of load to

power, and the more power available the greater the margin. Using this theory to look at

Rick’s experiences, one can see how at points he had little to no margin in his life, making it

impossible for learning to occur, but as he overcame his drinking problem, got out of toxic

relationships , learned coping and study skills, he increased his power and was able to

succeed in formal learning.

Rick, along with the men interviewed in Cook’s (2004) study, had to fight with the

court system to get custody of his son, despite his wife’s substance abuse issues and

inability to care for the child. He said he felt that the system was bias against men. Rick was

not given any assistance with tuition or childcare, despite his status as a single-parent,

though these programs are available for single-mothers at the college he attended.

While there has been a lot done recently for gender equality in society and

education, one could also argue that men are somewhat overlooked in education in favor of

women. According to Chenoweth (2012), there is a “sex-gap” in academic performance that

has been occurring for the past 50 years. Males develop in different ways from females, and

“in terms of the tasks we set before our pupils, the dice are loaded against the boys”


(Chenoweth, 2012, p. 12) The author wonders whether this factor would have affected Rick

more if he were not in a professional program that is a typically male-dominated field.

In fact, while it seems to be an obvious statement, being male shaped much of Rick’s

learning experiences throughout his life. Daloz (2011) describes how men are

indoctrinated to believe that they need to be autonomous in order to be masculine, and in

seeking their masculinity they withdraw from their “feminine realm of home” (p. 80). In

Rick’s story, we see him withdrawing from his parents, trying to be tough in order to be

manly by doing weightlifting, in addition to experimenting with drugs and alcohol to gain

the allure of that crowd. In taking on the responsibility of raising his son, he let a lot of this

go. He was even able to identify the need for support in taking care of his son while he was

in school.

Like many single parents, Rick wants to be a good provider and role model for his

son. Rivera (2008) describes this motivation for women to return to school and get their

GED in her research on women’s literacy and poverty; many of the women she interviewed

want to finish their education to be a role model for their children and in order to get good

jobs and support them. Despite societal stereotypes that single fathers are generally better

off than single mothers, many single fathers see education as their only way to provide for

their children (Cook, 2004). This was also true for Rick, who was living on unemployment

and food stamps while attending school.

While his role as a single father was a great motivator for Rick to participate in adult

education, it was also his greatest struggle. There were many times where he wondered if

he could make it through the program, but he found a lot of support through his classmates.


This is a testament to the importance of collaborative learning environments. Collaboration

is “a practice where individuals share knowledge, expertise, and perspectives in an effort to

support learning.” (Drago-Severson, Cuban, & Daloz, 2009, p. 140). An added bonus of

collaboration is that it “also serves as an emotional support in the learning process”

(Drago-Severson, et al., 2009, p. 140). This was the role it served for Rick during his time in

the program.

When he started taking classes in the Instrumentation program, we was part of a

cohort of about 13 students; over time some dropped out, leaving about 10 that went

through the entire program together. They attended all their classes together and

completed their labs as teams, which led to a strong relationship developing between them

all. Rick expressed that when he felt like dropping out one of his classmates supported and

encouraged him, and he did the same for others when they needed it as well. This

collaboration stemmed from their prolonged interaction and focus on shared goals within

the program labs and assignments. This is an effective way to structure collaborative tasks

to engage diverse learners (Lee, Poch, Shaw, & Williams, 2012).

A recurrent theme and barrier for Rick in his learning was regulations and

paperwork. For him, the process of enrolling in the Worker Retraining, applying for

Financial Aid, and registering for classes was “in some ways, trickier than some of the first

year classes.” All of the paperwork was hard for him to navigate and keep track of; one

quarter he even missed a form that needed to be submitted and his financial aid was

delayed for 6 weeks.


Outside of his formal schooling, there was a lot of paperwork and regulations to

abide by in order to continue getting unemployment, and in applying for food stamps and

medical coverage for his son. Rick described going to DSHS as a very humbling experience,

but one he disdained. In going there, he described feeling like no one wanted to help him,

being treated like a number, not a person, and not knowing if he was doing any of the

paperwork correctly.

Rick’s struggles with policy and paperwork are echoed in Desjardins & Rubenson’s

(2013) analysis of public policy in Europe, and its effect on participation in adult education.

Their findings show that in cultures where education is valued as a gainful activity, and

things like childcare are funded by the government, participation in adult education is

higher. People like Rick in America are trying to get by on a low income from

unemployment or welfare, find childcare for their children, and attend school at the same

time. In order to do this they need to navigate through a large amount of paperwork, with

no one there to make it any easier. In fact, it was noted in a class discussion about this topic

that in Worker Retraining or Unemployment, the employees of the Employment Securities

Department cannot even clarify what is being asked on applications (personal

communication, February 21, 2014). This policy shows that the government is more

concerned about the possibility of someone taking advantage of their programs than

someone who needs the help not receiving it because they don’t know what they’re

supposed to do.

There are multiple changes that could be made at different bureaucratic levels to

help people like Rick gain access to education. Some of the same changes could be made at


different levels, as well. The author of this study proposes that efforts be made to assist

with the navigation and completion of paperwork for social programs, that social programs

be expanded to better help those in need and promote education. It is also of utmost

importance that single-fathers be recognized and assisted to the same extent as single-

mothers; colleges should look into developing grants and assistance for this specific non-

traditional population.

Through the process of completing this research project, the author has undergone

reflection, and learned a lot about adult learning and education. Her perception of what

makes a learner, and what constitutes learning has changed, as well as the factors that

influence adult learning in our society. Interactions with Rick have developed an interest in

advocating for single-parent students, most especially single-fathers who are returning to

school.


References

Chenoweth, G. (2012). The cultural bind on the american male. Journal of college

admission, (214), 12-17. doi: EJ992664

Cook, T. S. (2004). Forging their way: The experience of single fathers on a community college

campus. (Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Oregon State University)Retrieved

from https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/xmlui/handle/1957/29364

Daloz, L. A. (2011). Mentoring men for wisdom: Transforming the pillars of manhood. New

Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, 11. pp. 75-83.

Desjardins, R. & Rubenson, K. (2013). Participation patterns in adult education: the role of

institutions and public policy frameworks in resolving coordination problems.

European Journal of Education, 48. pp. 262-280.

Drago-Severson, E., Cuban, S., & Daloz, K. (2009). I got your back: Looking closely at women

learners’ collaboration and leadership in three studies. Adult Basic Education, 3(3).

pp. 140-150.

English, L., Kennedy, K., Irving, C., & Davidson, T. Canadian Council on Learning, (2006). A

review of the state of the field of adult learning: Gender and adult learning.

Retrieved from website: http://www.ccl-

cca.ca/pdfs/AdLKC/stateofthefieldreports/AdultEducationGender.pdf

Lee, A., Poch, R., Shaw, M, & Williams, R. (2012). Engaging diversity in undergraduate

classrooms: A pedagogy for developing intercultural competence (pp. 83-101). San

Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.


Merriam, S. B., Caffarella, R. S., & Baumgartner, L. M. (2007). Learning in adulthood: A

comprehensive guide (3rd ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Rivera, L. (2008). Laboring to learn: Women’s literacy and poverty in the post-welfare era.

Chicago, IL: University of Illinois Press.


Appendix A

CONSENT TO PARTICIPATE IN RESEARCH

TITLE: Lifelong Learning Narrative

INVESTIGATOR: Jessica Weimer

PURPOSE: My name is Jessica Weimer. I will be interviewing you today. I am a student in the

Continuing and College Education program at WWU. I want your permission to interview you

about your lifelong learning story. We can talk about any concerns or questions you have before

we begin the interviews. I will interview you 2 times for 45 minutes each. I want to thank you for

volunteering for this interview.

RISKS AND BENEFITS: I think it is important to know about these issues so that programs

and policies can better meet people’s needs. This interview will be casual. It will be at a time and

place that are good for you. You won’t be asked to share anything you do not feel comfortable in

sharing with me. The interview will be taped, with your permission. I will explain how it works

and any questions you have about the tapes. You are welcome to stop your participation and

withdraw from this interview at any point if you desire. Do you have any questions?

CONFIDENTIALITY: At the end of interview I will write a paper about it and make a

presentation to my peers in the course. However, these tapes will not be presented. If you should

provide me with a picture of yourself or something that represents your lifelong learning, it

should not identify how you look now or recently. All persons’ names that you mention will be

changed to protect their identities as will your name. After the research is completed, you may be

asked one additional time to clarify certain points you made from our last interview, with your

permission, but I will not bother you if you do not have the time

VOLUNTARY CONSENT: I understand the above statements and what is being asked of

me. I also understand that my participation is voluntary and that I am free to withdraw my

consent at any time, for any reason, without penalty. On these terms, I certify that I am willing

to participate in this research project.

_________________________________________ __________________

Participant's Signature Date

_________________________________________ __________________

Investigator's Signature Date


Appendix B

Interview #1: February 15th, 2014

Jessie: Could you describe a typical day in your life right now?

Rick: Right now? Right now I just graduated school and a single parent of an 8 year old. So

right now I’m just trying to find work and take care of my son.

J: Could you describe in detail what you do every day – from when you wake up to the end

of the day?

R: OK, I wake up at 7am, then wake my son up, then get him ready for school. I take him out

to the bus about 7:45, then after that I come home, job search, do things around the house –

just try to fill the day with every day activities and stuff, until he gets off the bus around

3:15. Then we just spend some time together and unwind from the day, cook dinner, spend

more time together and he goes to bed at 9pm every night.

J: So, we’re going to start from your childhood and kind of move through your life. Where

did you live as a child?

R: I was born and raised in Bellingham. I briefly moved to Lynwood, when I was about 1

until the time I was about 3, and then I moved back with my mom to Ferndale. Basically,

I’ve lived in Whatcom County my whole live. We moved to Ferndale when I was about 3,

then back to Bellingham for Elementary school and I’ve been here ever since.

J: Could you describe the different houses that you’ve lived in?

R: Yeah. When I was about 4 or 5 we lived in low-income housing. My mom had help from

the state to raise me because her and my dad broke up pretty early on. And then, let’s see –

so we lived in low-income apartments and then we lived in some duplexes, stuff like that. A

lot of rental houses – we moved around every couple years but stayed in Whatcom County.

I had two younger brothers, so it was a single mom – she had a boyfriend here and there –

but a single mom with three boys, didn’t have a lot of money and stuff, but we had what we

needed.

J: What type of activities did you like to do as a kid?

R: I liked to play outside a lot, which you don’t see a lot now. Playing in the woods, climbing

trees you know, typical kid stuff.

J: Did you play any sports or anything?


R: I was really active. I liked playing sports but I wasn’t on any official sport teams or

anything. Just playing things with my friends.

J: Could you describe your first school?

R: I went to Skyline Elementary for kindergarten – let’s see, it’s kind of hazy now, it’s been

25 years or something. I can’t really recall too much about it, just a standard school…

J: Are there are memories that stand out from that school?

R: I remember when I had to leave that school I was sad because I had to leave my best

friend there. I can’t remember his name now, but… That stands out to me.

J: And where did you go after that?

R: Then I went to North Bellingham School until I was 3rd grade and then I went to

Sunnyland to finish out elementary school. I have a lot of memories of Sunnyland. I lived

right across the freeway from it, so I took the pedestrian bridge to school. It was just three

blocks away, so I would walk there every day with my friends.

J: Did you have a favorite teacher?

R: I did. 2nd grade I had this teacher, Mr. Brink, he was kind of a hippy-ish teacher. He was

just kind of a compassionate, understanding guy – he understood how kids thought.

J: So you liked him because we have understanding of you?

R: Yeah.

J: Were there any other teachers that you remember?

R: Well, I remember all my teachers. A lot of them were pretty old at the time, I remember

my 1st grade teacher, she was almost 80 when I had her, I think she retired the year after –

so I just remember her being really old. (Laughs)

J: Would you consider yourself a good student?

R: Initially, I was a good student and then… Let’s see, elementary school I was a good

student, and then middle school, I went through a lot of life changes around that age and

time. My dad ended up getting custody of me and my brother, and then the 3rd son my mom

had, he was a half-brother, he went to live with his dad – my mom had drinking problems

and such so, that was kind of the leverage he used to get custody of us at the time. And so,

after that, after the move and all the changes and stuff, that’s when I kind of got depressed

and my school performance started slipping.


J: That sounds like it was a tough time for you.

R: Yeah, it was.

J: So did you attend the same middle school the whole time?

R: Yeah, I attended Shuksan Middle School all three years… Yeah, I wasn’t – I didn’t do –

Middle school was probably the roughest patch for me. I was kind of a smaller kid and I

tended to get bullied a lot. That just makes it worse, it makes you not want to – it kind of

contributes to depression, and motivation or whatever and you don’t even want to be

there. So that’s kind of what I went through there.

J: Did you have friends in middle school?

R: Yeah, I had a few friends. Not as many as I did in high school. High school kind of turned

it around a little bit. But not my academic performance.

J: Could you describe a day in your life in middle school, just a general day?

R: I’d catch the bus about three blocks from my dad’s house and go to Shuksan. It’s kind of

hard to remember some of that stuff. Middle school is kind of when things start to change

and they try to start prepping you to start to get you ready for high school and college – so

they’re introducing different teachers for different subjects. So I remember doing that... 6th

grade is kind of the transition from having one core teacher to having multiple teachers. So

that’s really what was the biggest change there… I had a few friends there, but I was easy

prey for bullying and stuff because I was small. It’s harder to defend yourself and stuff.

That’s kind of the nature of kids at that age.

J: Were they physically violent?

R: I think I got punched once at school, but beyond that not really. They just kind of gang up

on ya and, I don’t know, exert their power I guess. I never experience real physical harm

out of it, but you know, it was demeaning I guess. Made me feel inferior. It’s self-esteem

issues, I guess, which I overcame later on.

J: So what was high school like?

R: I went to Squalicum High School all four years. Because of my poor academic

performance, I actually had to do a 5th year of high school, which I went to Options for.

Because at that point I didn’t have any reason to keep going to Squalicum, all my friends

had graduated. So I went to Options.

J: What was your favorite class in high school?


R: Definitely Strength & Conditioning. During high school I got pretty into lifting weight and

stuff.

J: Do you think that’s because of the bullying you experienced?

R: Yeah, I think it played a lot into that. Being small, so I decided to do something about it. I

ended up setting school records in stuff. I turned that around – I went from being one of the

smallest and weakest kids to being pretty much the strongest. And I think that definitely

had to do with the inferiority complex that developed over years of insults.

J: So what do you remember about high school? What would you do before or after school?

R: Later on in high school I started taking Sunrise Strength & Conditioning, so I’d get there

about 6 in the morning. I seemed to do better once I was taking that morning class,

because, you know, it kind of wakes you up. It gave me a reason to go to school, really, at

that point. That and seeing my friends, I made a lot of friends in high school.

J: And what would you and your friends do?

R: The first couple years I was pretty into video games, you know, I was really into video

games and stuff with my friends, watching movies – pretty innocent stuff. Until the later

years of high school, I started experimenting with different drugs, pot, drinking, you know

stuff that kids do. But, at that point, it definitely didn’t help with my homework or study

habits, that’s for sure.

J: Is that why you needed to stay for the 5th year of high school?

R: It definitely played a role. I just wasn’t ambitious in high school, I didn’t have that spark

in me that made me want to strive for tomorrow, you know. It was just kind of the day to

day. I definitely had the capacity and intelligence to do well in school, I just didn’t follow

through with it.

J: Could you compare the two high schools you attended – Squalicum and Options?

R: Yeah, definitely. Squalicum was a lot more – you know, your standard high school

experience, which is a lot more than just the works you’re assigned. You know, you have all

the cliques, you know, the whole social aspect was completely different. Squalicum, when I

first started there, there was almost 2,000 students because Bellingham High School had

just closed down, so they had a lot of us stuffed into one school and it was unswallow-able

with students. It was almost distracting, you know, there was just so many people there.

Just trying to walk through the hallway was a chore. Then at Options there was, maybe 70

students total at any time of the day. So, a lot smaller of an atmosphere. And the biggest

difference for me was Options didn’t have a lot of homework expectations – you showed up


and did your work at school, and that was it. I seemed to do a lot better with that aspect. I

just never really wanted to take the work home with me.

J: So what happened after high school?

R: Let’s see, so after high school, for the first year or so, I didn’t really know what to do with

myself so I – let’s say I didn’t make my parents proud. I made a lot of bad decisions up until

I was about 20. Then I finally got my act together and started working full-time. But on the

side of that, I was also developing a, what became a severe alcohol problem.

J: So before you started working full-time, what would you do during the day?

R: A lot of the time I was recovering from making bad choices at night, out with my friends

drinking and partying, and stuff like that. At that point I kind of swapped back and forth

between my dad’s and my mom’s house. I kind of ticked my parents off at my dad’s house

and had to move in with my mom, then the same thing happened there so I moved back and

I ended up moving back and forth. Just testing their patience, back and forth.

J: Was there an incident that happened, that made you decide to start working?

R: It just became, to the point where it was inconvenient to continue that lifestyle and I

realized I had to grow up a bit. I don’t know, just something clicked in me a little bit, made

me be more responsible at that point.

J: So what type of work did you do?

R: When I first started working I did factory-production work in the food industry. I

worked in an imitation crab factory for about 8 months before I then eventually got tired of

it and just walked out. So, I had kind of a problem with committing myself. I didn’t know

what I wanted to do with my life, so I didn’t really try too hard to dedicate myself to

anything. I don’t know why, but… Then that led to me eventually seeking and getting a job

through another factory that did the same kind of work and around that time my wife was

pregnant with my son. I started at Icicle Seafood’s and wound up being pretty successful. I

was promoted twice during that time. I worked there up until the plant closed down.

J: So what were those jobs like? Could you describe them for me?

R: There’s a lot of different types of tasks you do, they’re just repetitive production work,

where it’s just over and over again making the same batches, over and over for like an 8- to

10-hour shift. And so I didn’t really like the repetitive aspect of it, it was just boring.

Eventually, I got into a Quality Assurance job and I liked that a lot more. It allowed you to

work a lot more with your mind. You’re kind of all over the place, doing a bunch of different

testing and tasks.


J: So what did you do in the Quality Assurance position?

R: Basically, we had a lot of government regulated forms and stuff for the FDA and this

program called HATSA, which is just a regulatory system. I would do testing and fill out the

paperwork on a time-scale, like every hour or so we had to check different product weights

and stuff like that to make sure they meet specifications. So it’s a lot of just different food

safety testing, just overall quality testing. I felt it was more a – just more varied of work so

you never really got bored like with a repetitive task.

J: Could you describe the place where you worked – like the warehouse or production

facility?

R: Yeah, those atmospheres are kind of sterile, and unnatural-feeling, but you know, but a

lot of fluorescent lighting and machinery going constantly, so you have to wear hearing

protection. And a lot of different – that’s kind of what I was thrown in to – a bunch of

different ethnic groups tend to work in those environments, so you kind of get to know a

lot of different people. A lot of East Indians, Asians, Hispanics. So, your broken English gets

really good.

J: What types of interactions did you have with them?

R: It’s kind of really a blur with all the machinery. It’s hard to get to know people there.

When I really started to get to know people was when I was promoted and working in the

Quality Assurance department. One of the workers was East Indian and actually she’s still a

friend of mine today, we’re good friends. I learned a lot about her culture and the different

food and stuff – I felt I gained their respect. ‘Cause you know, working in those places, most

people, if they’re not East Indian, then they’re Hispanic.

J: You mentioned your wife – how did you meet her?

R: Oh boy. I actually met my wife due to this Northwest Youth Service program I took part

in briefly. When I was 19 years old, I forgot to mention this earlier, but I left home for a few

months and I tried living through a youth housing service that provides housing to, like,

troubled youths that don’t have anywhere else to go, and I managed to pull the right strings

and talked my way into getting in there just so I could get out of my parent’s house. And she

was in that program. Later on, she actually had this friend of mine, who was also in the

program, and they ended up having a child together. Things between them fell apart so we

ended up getting together and we got married and I had a son with her. It was kind of a

spontaneous thing, we got married a little too quickly, maybe after about like 6 months of

knowing each other we got married. So, we rushed into that and it ended up not working

out of course. So, I was married for – I’d say we were together for about a year and half but


I didn’t get the divorce finalized until about 4 years later. We were completely separated

for a lot more time than we were together.

J: What happened after that?

R: Well, I was getting into trouble with my drinking and stuff, and she played a role in it.

She was a huge enabler in that; she was not good for that situation at all. She was kind of a

trigger, I guess, for me to drink. She kind of brought out the worst in me.

J: When your son was born, what happened?

R: I think that really played a role in my success through Icicle Seafoods. When I kind of

realized that I was responsible for, completely responsible for another life, not just my own,

that really changed something in me. It made me strive towards the future, to improve

myself in any way I could. So, when I was on the job, I started out on swing shifts, and it was

only a half shift, so I had a lot of down-time. I started studying the manuals and studying

different texts and stuff they had in the lab. I educated myself to the point where two years

later I was promoted to supervisor of the QA department. I did that for a little over two

years and the plant closed down, due to economic reasons, I guess.

J: So you were laid off?

R: Yeah, the entire plant shut down, and it still shut down to this day. It’s just an empty

building.

J: What happened when you were laid off?

R: That’s when I decided that – I found out that there were programs to help people that

were laid off retrain to get – you know, to go back to school, basically. That’s when I

decided that I was going to go back to school and I did some research and stuff. All the

programs and their pay scales and stuff, and decided that I was going to go into

instrumentation and control.

J: Could you describe what that is?

R: Yeah, instrumentation – a lot of people don’t seem to know what it is, I wasn’t a hundred

percent sure until I was already in the program – but, it’s basically… Any kind of plants or

factories or anything, that have automated systems, they have to have control points and

set points, calibration done to all their equipment, and basically an instrument tech

calibrates, maintains all the equipment to make sure that processes meet standards and

specifications. So, say you’re producing food and you have to cook it to a certain

temperature, well basically you’re calibrating the equipment, the transmitter, to make sure

that it’s reaching that temperature – stuff like that. It’s a lot of electronic control systems.


J: What type of classes did you need to take for that program?

R: It actually took me a full year before I actually got into that program, a full year of pre-

reqs and waiting to get in. And I had to take the standard English and Psychology and I took

Math 98, 99 and Pre-calculus before I got in. It’s a math-intensive program and in high

school I didn’t really push myself to do well in Math or anything, I think I made my way to

Geometry, so just starting out in college, I was already a little behind.

J: So, was Math a difficult subject for you?

R: Yeah, it was. It was incredibly difficult at first, just because, you know, I didn’t have the

study skills and repetition, the previous background in intensive mathematics, so I

dedicated pretty much 3 hours per day while I was in school for the entire three years. I

finally got to the point where I was pretty confident in math.

J: Were there any other resources that you used, besides studying on your own to learn

math?

R: Yeah, there was a tutor center at BTC that I would – even if I didn’t feel that I needed the

help – I would make it a point to go in there before my class, about three hours before, to

study on my own, because then I knew if I had a question, I wasn’t stuck at home with no

solution, I could ask somebody how to do it. So I felt that really helped.

J: When you were in the program, were there any other courses that you had difficulties

with?

R: It was a tough program. I’d say – from what I’ve heard – it’s one of the toughest

programs, two-year degree programs, there is. Basically, yeah, the first obstacle is getting

over the math thing and, what I liked about the program is it pushed you to think, you

know, use logic in every way, think in ways you haven’t thought before to figure stuff out.

So, it was challenging, but once I had the study skills from learning how to do the math,

then it just came naturally. I knew what I had to do, even if I didn’t understand something, I

could figure it out – it just took time.

J: Could you describe some of the classes you took and the instructors for the program?

R: I’d say the first year of instrumentation – the official program – it’s the same as

electronics, the first year. So the electronics students and instrumentation take the same

first year. And so then, you just learn all the basic concepts of electronics and how they

work, all the different theories that have been studied for hundreds of years now, but you

just learn the basics from the ground up, all the way from the atomic-level to the – all the

way up to the stuff we use every day.

J: What were the instructors like?


R: My first year instructor was an older guy, he was probably about 67, he had been in the

industry for a long time himself, having worked directly in the instrumentation field. He

had a master’s in – I’m not sure what – but had an extensive background in electronics and

stuff. He was a knowledgeable guy, but he was – you could tell he was on the tail-end of his

career – and he was kinda monotone in his lectures. We’d have two-hour lectures every

day. So, sometimes it was kinda hard to stay focused, you know, he’d just speak in

monotone basically the whole time. [Pause] Yeah, it was interesting. Second year was a lot

better. Second year is where you really start to take all that stuff and apply it to the field

you’re going in to. Second year is a different instructor, he was actually the mastermind of

the whole instrumentation program. It’s kind of interesting, because he didn’t have an

actual teaching degree, but he was one of those guys that’s basically self-taught. He’s one of

the most intelligent people I’ve probably ever met. I’d say definitely a genius-level IQ. He

came into that program and re-designed the whole thing, wrote the whole 2,000 page

textbook that we actually used for all of second year and continue to have access to.

J: Would the same instructor teach all of the classes?

R: For lecture, yeah. First year we had one instructor and then we’d have our scheduled lab

time, and that kind of changed, like our lab instructor would be different from our lecture

instructor, for that part of it, in first year. My first quarter it was actually a second year

student who instructed our labs, you know, because it was basic circuits – stuff that you

had to have – basically, you had to know the fundamentals to how they work, so they were

more than able to teach the first quarter, and then after that we had another lab instructor

that actually works for the school the second and third quarter. And then second year, we’d

have the same instructors for the lab, but there was a – I should start with the second year,

it was a different format. It wasn’t a straight-up lecture, like most college classes are. He

used what he called a Socratic method, which is basically you come to class with all your

work completed to the best of your ability. Then we’d do a half-hour exercise on

troubleshooting, and from then on we’d have two and a half hours to check off and ask

questions. And then he would come – him and another lady that worked there – would

come and basically have a Socratic discussion with you, and test your knowledge to make

sure you understood all the outside problems. So it was definitely a different kind of

learning experience for me. It was pretty effective. Because it held you accountable to learn

the material the night before the best you could, and then come to class with your

questions, discuss it back and forth with your instructors.

J: Could you describe a typical school day for you in this program?

R: When I first began with my pre-reqs – I hadn’t been to school in over ten years. I was just

getting back into the routine, and school, you know, re-learning how to go to school. And

yeah, I’d just go to my classes and go home and try to do the homework just like high school


works, and a lot of college courses work. You get, you go over the stuff in class and go and

do your homework that night and come back and repeat. Then when I went into first year,

it was kind of similar to that, and continued on that, we’d go over the problems in class. And

we had the student workbook we’d work out of to do that. In addition, we’d have an extra

packet of homework we’d have to do every week. And then second year, I’d say my

schedule went – after I got my kid on the bus, I’d go almost straight to school. I would study

from nine to noon. Class, the lecture time, started at noon. And then that would go to three.

And then from three o’clock to six o’clock was our designated lab time. So it was, yeah, nine

hours for school every day. About three hours of studying a day. And then over the

weekend I would study. Ideally, I would study 2-3 hours Saturday and Sunday, but it

usually turned into studying 5 hours on Sunday.

J: How did you organize yourself in school and keep track of work or assignments?

R: Organization was definitely key for me. I would file all my classes in different binders,

which I’ve kept to this day. ‘Cause I figured that the stuff we were learning was the stuff we

were gonna need on the job. The program instructor coordinates with the different

industries to cover the stuff that they want us to cover, so it’s very prudent to the jobs that

we’re going to get in the field. So, I just filed it by class in my binder, day by day, and just

kept everything tabbed, kept everything precise and organized. I felt that was the key to my

success, I wouldn’t be able to do it if I didn’t keep track of all my paperwork, and know

exactly where to find it when I needed it. I figured it would be key, even when I got the job,

to be able to go back to a certain subject, you know, and be “okay, it’s right here” open it up,

have something to refer to.

J: Did you experience any difficulties while in the program? Was there any point in time

where you thought about quitting?

R: That’s kind of come and go. There were tough parts of the program; I mean a lot of it, not

just myself, but in my peers. You know, everybody has doubts. People express that

differently. But, yeah, there’s definitely times where I questioned if I’d actually be able to

finish. As a single-parent that was one of the largest obstacles to overcome. You know,

coordinating my kid to go to school and from school and making sure there was someone

there to watch him while I was there at night. It went all the way to 6 o’clock and he would

get out at three, so I’d have to coordinate that every day and make sure somebody was

there to get him off the bus.

J: How did you do that?

R: I had a lot of help with family and friends. Even, at one point, I was paying some of my

neighbors to watch him for the three hours after school.


J: Could you describe the registration process at the school? What was it like for you?

R: Actually, I felt that part was, in some ways, trickier than some of the first year classes I

took. It can be pretty confusing with having to go through all of the financial aid stuff – most

of it’s online now – but there’s just so many different forms that I had to keep track of and

make sure I got everything in. There’s a couple points in school where I didn’t get my loans

on time because there was a paper I was supposed to sign or something that delayed it 6-8

weeks. That made it tough sometimes.

J: Were there any staff members you interacted with frequently?

R: Not too frequently. There was a registration office there that I was in and out of there as

needed, to figure out what I had to do. And during the course of me going to school they

actually streamlined it quite a bit more and made it easier to see what you needed to get

and they had the full list online towards the end. It showed, if you were missing anything,

what it was.

J: What was it like before that?

R: It just seemed more all of the place. Like you were never sure what you were supposed

to have in. You would think you had everything in and then you would find out you were

supposed to sign this piece of paper and it delayed everything 6 weeks. It was kind of

nerve-racking, to see if you were gonna get your loans on time or not.

J: Walk me through the process of when you first decided to enter this program and how

you got enrolled.

R: We found out we were losing our jobs in July and then we were officially laid-off at the

end of October, so there was a bit of leeway there. So, I used all that time to make sure I’d

get in Winter Quarter. So I started early with my paperwork and I was also doing a

commissioner retraining program, for dislocated workers, which basically, if you get laid

off you can continue to get unemployment benefits while you’re in school without looking

for a job as long as you meet the criteria for credits. So I started out early, just doing all the

paperwork I could early, and got all that squared away before I even started. So the first

quarter went pretty smoothly, just because I had like 4 months to prepare. I had to register

with Worksource, so I had to go to some of their meetings and stuff. They talked a lot about

all the different stuff you have to do – the different paperwork you have to fill out – I can’t

really remember the paperwork off-hand, like I can’t really describe it, ‘cause it was like

thousands of papers ago. But yeah, you know, it gets pretty intensive and you have to make

sure you dot all your I’s and stuff. There’s a lot of different papers to do.

J: What did you feel like at that time?


R: I felt it was pretty overwhelming, just because you weren’t really sure. You know, not

having been to college before, I didn’t really know if I was doing it right. I just kind of

assumed I was, because I got confirmation e-mails and stuff. I just kind of kept my fingers

crossed and hoped I was getting it all in and doing it right.

J: What were your family and friend’s reactions to you enrolling in school?

R: It was all positive. The only negative part, I would say, was my step-mom. Maybe

because I didn’t do well in high school and I don’t think she believed I would actually go

through with it and finish. In fact, I know she didn’t. Even after I told her I was enrolling in

school, she kept suggesting different jobs I could get and stuff. Despite I said I was going to

school full-time. She seemed like she didn’t really believe in that. That almost just kinda

fueled my fire more, made me want to prove her wrong.

J: What’s her reaction now that you’re finished?

R: Oh I just get praise from everybody now. Once you’re finished, you kinda have to eat

your words a little bit if you weren’t supporting the person.

J: Are there any activities that you do outside of work or school?

R: Weightlifting and I like to go hiking. I play the guitar. I’m somewhat of an artist. I

wouldn’t say I’m a pro by any means, but I enjoy it, that kind of thing. Drawing, stuff like

that.

J: How did you learn the guitar?

R: My dad played the guitar. He’s played guitar for over thirty years. He taught me the

basics and I just kinda took it and ran from there. Just studying, looking stuff up online

when I didn’t know. Learned tablature – I can’t read music, I could when I was in 5th grade

but not anymore. I played the violin in 5th grade. It’s funny how much easier that stuff is

when you’re a kid. I tried to go back and learn music and music theory but it’s confusing.

J: How old were you when you started learning guitar?

R: Actually, I didn’t start learning until I was 19. So it’s been about 10 years now, off and on.

It’s just a consistency thing, with guitar and musical instruments you have to be consistent.

I don’t always practice every day, you know, things happen. I just do it for fun anyway.

J: So, you kind of go and play for a period of time, then take time off, then come back to it?

R: Yeah, like play intensely for six months then not play for a month or two.

J: Are you like that with weightlifting too?


R: Yeah that kind of comes and goes. I lot of the weightlifting thing was time restraints for

me when I was in school. You have to set aside about 2 hours for every day. For me, I don’t

have a car, so I’d have to catch the bus to the gym, change and work out, then change and

catch the bus back. So that’s just kinda, just time restraints right now. I’ve also had a few

injuries over the years that I’ve had to recover from.

J: So you played the violin in 5th grade?

R: Yeah, 5th and 6th grade.

J: Why did you decide to do that?

R: I can’t remember why I decided I wanted to play the violin. I just – that’s the first year

you’re able to, so I must have been talked into it by family or something and decided it was

for me. But then two years later I decided I didn’t want to play anymore. The violin’s an

instrument that doesn’t sound well when you’re trying to learn it for the first few years. It

just sounds pretty grating. It’s a little different from the guitar. Most people can pick up the

guitar and play somewhat competent – it sounds okay, at least.

J: What type of art do you like to do?

R: I’m mostly a drawer and I like to sketch, draw, some colored pencil work and stuff. I find

that even when I’m not actively practicing it, I tend to doodle pictures of people and

cartoon versions of them. I seem pretty accurate at capturing peoples’ essence, I guess. I

just took art in school and stuff and did it outside of school. I just liked doing it, and kept

doing, and I’ve gotten pretty decent at it over the years by practicing and looking at

drawing books – experimentation and stuff.

End


Appendix C

Interview #1 – March 3, 2014

Alcohol/Substance Abuse

o Mother’s drinking

Exposed to more than he should have been at that age

Made her unable/unavailable to care for him as she should have been

o Rick’s drinking

Environment/People he associated with

His wife’s involvement made it difficult to stop

Arrested with broken ankle; had to walk home in the cold with no

jacket – this was his bottom

Supports

o Classmates: his cohort became a close, supportive environment

o Family: mother and father supported him; stepmother did not

Parents were very involved in his schooling until middle school; gave

up on him after that

Barriers

o Being single parent the most difficult thing

o Struggle to get custody of child

o Feels like he can never do enough to make sure he’s taken care of; like he

needs to prove himself.

Assistance


o Northwest Youth Services: was partnered with a room-mate; assistance with

housing and employment. Pretty easy to enroll in and access help.

o Worker Retraining/Unemployment: Lots of paperwork and hard to navigate;

wasn’t sure he was doing things right.

o DSHS: not a place he likes to go; very humbling experience; feels like the

people there don’t want to help – like a number and not a person

Parenting

o Huge change in his life; being responsible for another person changed his

outlook completely

o Learning as he goes – lots of learning experiences

o Resources: looks stuff up on the internet if he has questions; asks parents

sometimes but they are not a very good resource

o Discipline is tough; not sure if he is doing things right, but doing the best he

can, which is all anyone can do


Appendix D

Rick’s Lifelong Learning Timeline

lifelong learning narrative: a case study jessica weimer

Documents