Adult education students ‘moving to higher ground’
Published 12:00 am Sunday, August 4, 2002
As a student, Kirk Jiles made it as far as the 12th grade, but he never graduated. He never got his diploma.
He always intended to go back, but life kept getting in the way. First, he started working odd jobs to earn a little money. Then he got married. Then the kids came – five of them. Suddenly, working was no longer an option; it was a necessity. His plans of getting a diploma just sort of fell by the wayside.
By the time Jiles and his family moved here from Boston two years ago, he’d pretty much given up on the idea that he’d ever get that elusive piece of paper. More than 10 years had slipped by since his high school days. He was over 30.
Jiles was lucky, though. He married a good woman. Asked what finally persuaded him to quit making excuses and to finish his education, Jiles summed it up in two words, “My wife.”
He started attending adult education classes at the Selma Public Library. It wasn’t easy. He worked at his construction job during the day and attended classes at night. His wife, Deanna, was there to encourage him in the good times and to make sure he didn’t quit believing in himself in the bad.
“You just have to be persistent,” Jiles explained. “You just have to go ahead and do it.”
And that’s just what he did. This is how he describes the experience of finally earning his diploma after all those years: “Mindblowing!”
Countless people like Kirk Jiles have found help since the library began partnering with Selma City Schools and Wallace Community College to offer adult education classes in the mid 1970s.
“We got into adult education when Craig Field closed,” said Becky Nichols, library director. “And, unfortunately, we haven’t worked ourselves out of that job yet.”
To survive today, a library must offer much more than a place to check out books, contends Nichols. It must reach out to all the members of the community it serves. Adult education classes are just one way Selma’s library does that.
“It is as much a part of who we are as the reference department or the children’s department,” she said.
When the plans for the library’s present facility were drawn up, space was purposefully set aside for adult education classes. “We were one of the first libraries in the state to include space for adult education in our architectural plans,” Nichols said. “It’s not just a closet.”
People come to adult education classes for a variety of reasons. Some are in need of basic literacy skills. Others, like Jiles, are seeking to obtain their GED, or general education diploma. Still others have specific short-term goals, such as boning up on their ability to work with fractions in order to help a child struggling with the concept of a common denominator.
The library is not the only location in the city that offers adult education classes, but, being centrally located, it attracts the largest number of people.
Last year, 112 people at all levels of literacy came through the program. Many learned to read for the first time in their lives. Sixteen went on to earn their GED. Another four successfully completed their high school exit exam. In all, the program provided more than 5,000 hours of instruction.
“We open before the library and we stay open after the library is closed, because we work with people whose jobs keep them from coming during a normal 8-to-5 day,” said Paula Thompson, superintendent for adult education for Selma City Schools.
And because it can sometimes be difficult to take that first step and ask for help, the instructors and the staff at the library go out of their way to make it easier.
“Some of our students have failed in similar settings and are a little bit intimidated by the whole process, so we try to make it as easy as we can,” said Peggy Christian, an adult education instructor with Selma City Schools.
The red-carpet treatment starts at the door. “I have people tell me they don’t know where to go,” said Nichols. “If they’ll just come to the front desk, we will not only tell them where the classes are, we will take them there and make sure they find what they need.”
For those who do earn their GED, the library hosts a graduation ceremony – complete with cap and gown. “We’re probably the only library in the state that owns 20 caps and gowns,” said Nichols.
And the red-carpet treatment doesn’t stop when students finish the program.
“We do not just dump them at the point they achieve their GED,” Thompson said. “We work to help them find whatever they need, whether it’s employment or continuing education or post-secondary classes.”
Is it worth all the effort, all the late nights spent studying? Just ask Kirk Jiles. “It’s something you’ll never forget,” he said. “Just follow your heart and do it.”