Rewriting Our Futures: The Humanities and Adult Education in the Nontraditional College Classroom

Once weekly from September to May, low-income adults gather in a classroom to engage with core humanities texts and share their writing, while earning college credits. These “nontraditional” students—united by a desire to work toward a better future—arrive straight from work, often bringing their children, to participate in the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s Odyssey Project. They’re part of the more than 75 percent of American college students who fall outside the conventional demographic of eighteen- to twenty-two-year-old full-time residential students.

Drawing on contemporary theories of adult education and decades of student writing, Rewriting Our Futures provides an intimate portrait of the transformative potential of an innovative, writing-focused course. This book argues for a creative reimagining of the nontraditional college classroom that focuses on building a deeper sense of self-efficacy, community, and confidence in the strength of one’s voice while cementing a belief in the power of lifelong learning.