Kylie Hartman - History of Adult Education

Kylie Hartman - History of Adult Education

History of Adult Education Paper

Bo Chang  

631 

4/12/2018 & 4/21/2018

Kylie Hartman	Commented On
	Angela Blankenship
	Emily Echelberry

Introduction

The 1960’s were a time of great change and great hope in the United States.  The 60’s started off with the 35^th president John Fitzgerald Kennedy. JFK was an intelligent, charming, witty, and considered to be rather handsome.  The president and his visions for the future of this country filled the nation’s people with great pride and tremendous hope for things to come.  Many people felt he was the president that would truly be able to make the world a better place.  He had great dreams for the future of this country and people felt it was a pivotal turning point in history.  The Vietnam War would continue to rage on. The Civil Rights Movement was underway.  It was a time of trying to stop many things such as inequality, poverty, illiteracy, and injustice among the people. Social change and reform were all around.  Many changes to adult education started taking place a great momentum.  These changes would impact informal adult education and the field of adult education forever.

Highlights

            Unfortunately, John F. Kennedy would be assassinated and therefore would not complete his term or all his visions on improving adult education and his country.  Lyndon B. Johnson would become the next president of the United States.  Fortunately, when it came to both education and fighting to eliminate poverty he held very similar beliefs to those of President JFK.  In 1963, the Higher Education Facilities Act was approved.  President Jonson made it clear by his remarks that the Higher Education Facilities Act was something that President Kennedy believed in and fought for.  President Johnson stated, “President Kennedy fought hard for this legislation.  No topic was closer to his heart.  No bill was the object of more attention.  Both his life and his death showed the importance and value of sound education” (“Lyndon B. Johnson: Remarks Upon Signing the Higher Education Facilities Act,” n.d.). 

The new act was devised with many amazing goals in mind.  Some of the goals for this new act included devising strategies to double the college enrollment rate, making classrooms more accessible, and by continuing to build additional community colleges.  The act also would build and maintain technical institutes, that were setup to accommodate the economy’s fast growing and continuously changing needs.  It would call for more graduate schools to be built in multiple locations and would help improve the quality of libraries on existing campuses while building new ones.  It would focus on the economic need of getting more medical and dental students to graduate and allow more students the option to attend college by providing different loan programs.  It would expand vocational training programs so students could be prepared to enter the workforce while focusing on reducing the high school dropout rate.  It would educate and increase the numbers of quality personnel trained to work with handicap, impaired, or special needs individuals.   It would focus on certain areas including foreign languages, math, and science programs while trying to expand those that may already exist.  President Johnson stated, “It clearly signals this Nation’s determination to give all of our youth the education they deserve, and as long as we have a government, that government is going to take its stand to battle the ancient enemies of mankind, illiteracy and poverty and disease, and in that battle each of you are soldiers who wear the badge of honor” (“Lyndon B. Johnson: Remarks Upon Signing the Higher Education Facilities Act,” n.d.). 

            On August 20, 1964 President Johnson, would pass the Economic Opportunity Act (EOA).  The EOA would establish the state grant funded Adult Basic Education program.  The ABE program would focus on skills that were unobtained by those that did not graduate high school.  Adult Basic Education is the continuum of education that extends from basic literacy and English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) services through adult secondary education (ASE), which includes adult high school diploma and General Education Development (GED) preparation (Kasworm, Rose, & Ross-Gordon, 2010, p. 26).  Little did they know just how big of a success this program would end up being.  This program is still around to this day.   In 2008, an estimated 90 million adults participated in formal and informal education including adult basic education (Kasworm, Rose, & Ross-Gordon, 2010, p. 25). 

            Influential Factors

As times were changing and the world was trying to recover from so many hardships and devastations, people needed options.  Options to obtain formal or informal types of education to better themselves, their own status, and the overall status of their country.  Adults are increasingly called upon to become involved in the body politic in order to strengthen their communities, promote change, and enliven our democracy (Reed & Marienau, 2008, p. 1).   A major push towards transforming adult education all the while eradicating poverty in the United States was President Johnson’s idea of a “Great Society”. The Great Society--sought to build a mass middle-class society by relying on ambitious government programs and new economic regulations (Henton, Melville, & Walesh, 2004, p. 242).

            Foundations for self-directed learning were being laid and many great theorists would contribute to the ideas or concept.  Abraham Maslow would influence John Knowles would be theories of self-directed learning and therefore, change how self-directed learning is viewed.  Maslow hierarchy of need theory would have levels in which a person moves through one at a time.  Fulfilling the level before one could move onto the next.  In the process a person would become self-actualized.  Maslow defined self-actualization as an on-going actualization of potentials, capacities, and talents, as fulfilment of a mission or call, fate, destiny, or vocation, as a fuller knowledge of, and acceptance of, the person’s own intrinsic nature, as an unceasing trend towards unity, integration or synergy within the person (Tennant, 2006, p. 13). Basically, a person is his or her own developer of their potential (Tennant, 2006, p. 13).  Knowles adopted Maslow’s ideas and then applied it to how adults learn and self-directed learning.  

Knowles’ andragogy theory was focused on the adult learner.  At the time pedagogy was the focus of many theorists’ work.  Knowles would take the word andragogy, this virtually unknown term and make it his life’s work. Andragogy is a way of thinking about working with adults (Merriam & Brockett, 2011, p. 135).  He focused on the adult student, how they learn, and why.  His work also centered around the teacher/student relationship, how it worked, what each provided the other, and what was gained. Part of the job of educators of adults is to help learners, whether they are learning on their own or in formal learning programs , to be able to plan, carry out, and evaluate their own learning (Merriam, Caffarella, & Baumgartner, 2012, p. 107).  Like most foundation concepts, ‘self-directed learning’ is articulated in a way which allows seemingly limitless interpretations of what it is and how it should be applied (Tennant, 2006 p. 7). Andragogy is most often thought of as “a set of assumptions and methods pertaining to the process of helping adults learn (Merriam & Brockett, 2011, p. 135).   His theory was made up of five assumptions and four principles.

            Over the course of his work Knowles narrowed down and determined andragogy to have six parts.  First, adults need to know what they are learning about.  Secondly, adults need to feel they have self-direction. Next, adults bring with them a wide variety of experiences with them.  Next, adults learn better when it pertains to things they need to know.  Next, adults are more problem focused in their learning.  Lastly, adults are more internally motivated to learn for their own reasons.  Knowles went on to define the concept of self-directed learning as a process in which individuals take the lead in diagnosing their learning needs, formulating learning goals, identifying human and material resources for learning, choosing and implementing appropriate learning strategies, and evaluating learning out comes (Merriam & Brockett, 2011, p. 138).  Knowles forever changed how adult learners are viewed and how they learn. 

           

Implications

The 60’s were a time of great turmoil and great change.  This time frame changed so many things including adult education.  Adult education would continue to grow and change as social and economical needs changed.  More and more people would opt for more education whether in formal or informal settings.  Trade schools, colleges, and graduate schools grew tremendously.  Self-actualization and self-directed learning would propel adult education into areas unknown, with many theorists weighing in on it.  Adult Basic Education classes would allow people to get the necessary missing requirements to improve their lives.  Trade schools, colleges, and graduate schools would continue to grow as the numbers of students entering these facilities reached unheard of heights.  Lyndon’s dream of a middle-class society would have lasting effects on this country and its people.

Social Background	President John F. Kennedy fought for stopping inequality, ending poverty, ending illiteracy, and injustice amongst the people.
Highlights	Assassination of JFK made Lyndon B. Johnson president.  Similar ideas and goals as JFK. He fought for education, support government-based programs, and making a great middle-class society. Higher Educational Facilities Act.  Economic Opportunity Act (EOA).  Time of great change and unrest.  “Great Society”
Influential Factors	Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of need influenced John Knowles to take same concepts and apply them to adult education.  Knowles’ Andragogy Theory
Implications	Overall well being and socio-economic needs change educational needs always have and always will.

References

Henton, D. C., Melville, J., & Walesh, K. (2004). Civic revolutionaries: Igniting the passion for change in America's communities. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Kasworm, C. E., Rose, A. D., & Ross-Gordon, J. M. (2010). Handbook of adult and continuing education. Los Angeles: SAGE.

Lyndon B. Johnson: Remarks Upon Signing the Higher Education Facilities Act. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=26387

Merriam, S. B., & Bierema, L. L. (2014). Adult learning: Linking theory and practice.

Merriam, S. B., & Brockett, R. G. (2011). The Profession and Practice of Adult Education: An Introduction. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons.

Merriam, S. B., Caffarella, R. S., & Baumgartner, L. M. (2012). Learning in Adulthood: A Comprehensive Guide. New York: John Wiley & Sons.

Reed, S. C., & Marienau, C. (2008). Linking adults with community: Promoting civic engagement through community based learning. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Tennant, M. (2006). Psychology and Adult Learning (3rd ed.). New York: Routledge.