This study was designed to synthesize the literature on women who reenter higher education, and to examine through a questionnaire their unique attitudes, personal characteristics and preferences for modes of learning. This study examined the responses to a questionnaire of 139 re-entry women in a small Catholic women's college (Emmanuel College) located in Boston, Massachusetts. The following questions were addressed in this study: (1) Who are the re-entry women? (2) What is the motivation for these women to enter into a undergraduate degree program? (3) What are these women's unique needs? (4) What are the support services needed to help meet their needs? (5) What are their instructional and program preferences? (6) What are the barriers that may interfere with their academic continuance? Methods used in the data collection process included: administration of a 50-item questionnaire to 139 re-entry Emmanuel College undergraduate women students. The participants responded by mail to the questionnaire, so the conditions were not standardized. All data were gathered according to self-reporting of the respondents. An analysis of participating re-entry women's responses revealed the following findings: (1) she was in her upper 30's, married, mother of two children and a part-time student; (2) she returned to school because she was dissatisfied with her job and received encouragement from family and friends; (3) she may find the following services useful: faculty advisement, weekly communication system and peer advisement; (4) she preferred a continuing education program that offered day and evening classes with undergraduate students and with the same full-time faculty; (5) she preferred a college that offered credit for life/work experience; (6) she preferred instructors who can relate theory to everyday experiences and ones who have a realistic view of student's outside duties; (7) she perceived work responsibilities and time commitment to family as a possible barrier interfering with her academic continuance.

Education can be an important tool of social transformation by empowering, organizing, and leading poor Third World women into the process of social transformation as agents of change. However, a review of the literature and interviews with those involved in nonformal education programs reveal that formal education and most nonformal education do not fulfill this purpose. Though radical change-oriented nonformal education may increase poor Third World women's critical consciousness as poor Third World people, it does not do so for them as women. A close examination of the literature on the theory of critical pedagogy, on which these radical change-oriented nonformal education programs are based, demonstrates that critical pedagogy itself fails to deal seriously with gender issues. In an effort to complement critical pedagogy, the author attempts to conceptualize critical feminist pedagogy by integrating feminist elements and vision developed by feminist pedagogy into critical pedagogy. This initial conceptualization of critical feminist pedagogy still requires more thought and development. Nevertheless, it may provide poor Third World women with a better theoretical framework for their education by addressing class, nationality, and gender issues with equal seriousness. Further, it may contribute to a better theoretical tool for social transformation. The author's personal experience with Minjung Kyoyuk (a Korean version of popular education) and a review of the literature reveal that, although an important vehicle for a popular movement, Minjung Kyoyuk is still very much male-oriented and needs modification to be a more proper form of education for poor Korean women. The application of critical feminist pedagogy as an analytical framework to Minjung Kyoyuk helps uncover the problems of Minjung Kyoyuk in addressing poor women's issues in detail and show ways to make Minjung Kyoyuk a better tool of social transformation.

During the past two decades there has been a dramatic increase in adult women's participation in higher education. Women re-entering college face a number of obstacles, including both psychological barriers and practical problems to be solved. Many researchers, educators, and administrators have attempted to design and conduct programs to assist re-entry women in making this transition with varying degrees of success. Although there is a substantial body of literature on factors affecting academic achievement, including motivation and locus of control, little work has been done on the relationship between self-esteem and academic success in the non-traditional, re-entry woman. Research concerning self-esteem and academic performance has focused largely on populations such as traditional aged college students, school children of various ages and minority groups, handicapped students, or comparative groups of male and female students. In this study, ten non-traditional women students entering a re-entry program at Quinsigamond Community College were examined. The subjects had approximately the same English and math placement scores, and similar backgrounds and life situations. Through examination and analysis of self-esteem inventory results, in-depth interviews, and academic transcripts, the study examined the correlation between their perceived sense of self and their academic achievement, irrespective of their academic ability. Self-esteem did not appear to be the issue in predicting academic success for these women. All of the students achieved success academically as indicated by their transcripts; and this is what seemed to determine their increased level of self-esteem. Further, it was the positive environment, feedback, and support, throughout their school careers, from people and from programs such as the Health Certificate, that seemed to make the difference in endurance, motivation, and ability to tough it out when the going got rough. For most of these women, their positive re-entry experiences appear to have raised their levels of self-esteem. In addition, I assessed the impact of the re-entry program on these participants. Every one of the ten re-entry women credited the Health Certificate Program for her success.