Thesis on "Adult Education Does the Adult Education Philosophy"

Thesis 4 pages (1156 words) Sources: 1 Style: APA

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Adult Education

Does the adult education philosophy and activities of Highlander fit the categories suggested by Spencer?

The education of adults is becoming an astringent issue within the contemporaneous society and more and more sociologists place an increased emphasis on its role. Adult education is often necessary as, due to various reasons, insufficient time was dedicated to studying while growing up. However, the general social perception of learning adults is quite limited, as education is most often assimilated with children and adolescents. As a result, numerous studies have emerged from this interest and they were written and analyzed from various standpoints, to reveal different if not opposite, results. A standpoint worth mentioning belongs to Herbert Spencer, who pointed out that there are two distinct purposes and functions in the education of adults. These refer to the individual, or personal, perspective, and secondly, the social perspective. He also argued that the outcomes of an adult's education can be of two different kinds: accommodation, or adaptive, and secondly, transformational. The individual perspective on education is extremely wide as it is defined by each person; the social perspective on the other hand is more compact, revealing the general opinions of a wide palette of social members, relative to the matter at hand. Then, in terms of outcomes, the accommodative ones imply that the individual has simply adjusted to the new status of student, whereas the transformational ones imply that the learning adult is embracing his new status and strives to change for the better with its aid. The degree to which these assumptions are true, and also the degree to which each participant to an adult education program agrees with the statements, are variable. To best analyze the matter from a clearer standpoint, one should take the example of Highlander Folk School.

Highlander Folk School was established in 1932 by Myles Horton, a firm believer and advocate of democracy. The institution is exclusively dedicated to adult education and the initial agenda of the founder was to "create an independent adult learning center where people could come together and address their problems. He wanted to create a public space where people could learn from each other and use education as a means to challenge the unjust social systems affecting their lives" (Spencer). The purposes, functions and outcomes of Horton's school are succinctly presented below.

Social purposes and functions

In its essence, the educational institution was built on democratic principles, and a democratic society, defined as "a society which makes provisions for participation in its good of all its members on equal terms and which secures flexible readjustment of its institutions through interaction of the different forms of associated life" (Spencer). And the founder strived to implement these principles by actually offering a facility that would integrate all less educated adults into a flexible schedule and ensure them as such a most fruitful integration in society.

Another idea that suggests the social purpose and function at Highlander Folk School relates to the changes affecting the environment. And the sole foundation of a school addressing the changing needs of young students (who may be forced to leave school and get a job) and adult students (who in time come to realize the necessity of education) is a most practical response to the changes affecting the society.

Individual purposes and functions

While attending the courses of Highlander Folk School, the adult student has the ability to become differentiated from the social group he emerged from,… READ MORE

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