Scott, I understand what you are saying and I also understand your desired outcome. I do have to say however this simply is not always the case. Just being over the age of 18 does not make anyone an adult, or at least in the sense we tend to think within the context of Adult Education. If your course is focused on weeding out the less capable students then I can see how the process you describe will do the trick but if your focus is to get them to behave like your vision of an adult, not sure I have seen any data that suggests this is the way to go. If you are graduating 100% of your students then obviously do not read any further as you are doing something awesome and the information that follows simply may not apply. Higher Education gets confused on what the word "Adult" implies as it is not directly related to age as much as a level of maturity. Mature adults take ownership of their educational goals while adolescents need a coach, mentor or guide at a much higher level. You are just as likely to encounter a 22 year old adult as you are to encounter a 35 year old adolescent so knowing your students and building professional relationships will be critical to progressing them along the maturity line. We may simply agree to disagree on methodology here but simply telling someone they are now an adult because they are over 18 years of age may not be the lesson plan that gets them to that next level. It may tell the student to only ask certain questions or let them know your course policies but may not impact their learning. What types of results are you getting with respect to students moving on to other courses where yours is a pre-requisite? Is your methodology providing them the skills they need to be successful in higher level courses? You may be on to something here so this would be a great topic to discuss further. Looking forward to better understanding some of your results. James Jackson