This paper discusses classroom life in formal adult education, specifically rhetoric concerning the idea of the adult learners' own interest as a driving force for learning. Its two objectives are to describe social interaction as related to this andragogical ideal and the conditions for learning and to raise some methodological standpoints in the ethnographic approach aimed at studying learning from the learners' perspective. It begins with a short description of the Swedish context in adult education, highlighting Sweden's long tradition in municipal adult education, folk high schools, and study circles. Then, the case study is introduced. After that, a scene from the classroom is described the meeting between the adult participants and the teacher. Some biographical pieces as related to learning are then shown. Fragments are collected from interviews with two women and narrate motives for studying and conceptions of the educational event as well as self-image. In summarizing the study's line of reasoning, the paper concludes that androgogical ideals or pedagogical thinking putting the participant at the center of attention with a large locus of control in formal learning are not problematic in themselves. But the problem is that educational institutions assume these ideals at the rhetorical level, not taking into consideration practical consequences such as placing the burden of structuring course content on the student while retaining the power of student evaluation. (Contains 46 references and 63 footnotes.) (YLB)