I teach sociology and psychology at a career college. These are general education courses required to obtain a degree. Students are often less than enthused to take these courses because they do not see how they will enhance their skills to get a job in the technology field or graphic design, etc. I have tried giving the rationale that these courses teach about general human behavior and the motivations for that behavior. As humans it is important to understand this behavior in their work and personal lives. I have even tried to tie specific examples to their career fields. This is sometimes unsuccessful. I try to get students hooked by using my personality and humor and that sometimes works to get students who were not previously engaged to buy in. The best technique I've found is that when there is a project to be done, I allow students to chose topics they are interested in and apply the course material to those projects. For instance, in a society and technology class, students did a show and tell on a technology and presented examples of how that technology changed over time. I got presentations on things like rope, shoes, hand held video games, and electronic file storage. Not only did students work hard on the project, but the rest of the class was engaged in watching the presentations and asking questions. I find that adult learners need to stretch their own wings but some of the younger students have a more difficult time independently coming up with their own ideas. I think this is because in their K-12 lives (that have just recently ended) they are not encouraged to think for themselves and chose how to apply their knowledge.