History of Adult and Community
Education in 20th Century
Julianne M. Harter
Ball State University
Professor Dr. Bo Chang
EDAC 631 Adult and Community
Education Spring 2024
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Commented On |
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Julianne Harter |
Nicole Bowland Fischer |
Introduction/Social Background
The 20th century had profound effects on
education due to World War I, (1914-1918), the
second industrial revolution (1870-1914), World War II (1935-1945), and the
Civil Rights Movements (1954-1968) resulting in a rise of struggles among social,
racial, and ideological groups. Influential factors include rapid prosperity and
widening gaps between rich and poor; development of large-scale industry;
reliance on science; advances in technology; organized labor;
global business; and developments in communication, especially mass
media.
Additional
challenges included themes of values supported by religion, racial discord, and
changes in social relations concerning group and individual equality. The array
of changes manifested a century of social and political movement. Carl (2009) provided, “Before the industrial age…education belonged to the church…seven out
of every ten workers engaged in agriculture…with the growth of industry,
support for public education grew, and the result was a transformation of
schooling from limited provision into widespread and hierarchical educational
systems.” The number of universities in
many countries doubled or tripled between 1950 and 1970.
By the middle 20th Century, the development of national
and local integration of Adult Educational activities, growing financial
support of the field by private foundations and the government, an increase in
both the body of knowledge and numbers of students, and growth in the conscious
existence of Adult Education within many institutions and organizations were established.
Highlights
World War I, the second industrial revolution, World
War II, and the Civil Rights Movement, industrialization, and a universal change
incited a need for specialized technical knowledge and a demand for secondary
and higher educations.
Significant highlights
during the middle 20th century
The Uneducated, by
Ginzberg and Bray (1953), Literacy and Basic Elementary Education for Adults
(1961), and the Adult Education
Act (AEA) of 1966 were major turning points in the history of adult basic
education in the U.S. The AEA marked the beginning of federal government
funding for adult basic education and for English as a second language
education. Additional policies included effective Adult Literacy Policies and Procedures
at the Federal and State Levels (1984), the National Literacy
Act (1991), The Saturation Project (1952-62), and NAPSAE's Changing
Strategies for Adult Education (1991) (U.S.
Department of Education, 2013). The National Literacy Act (NLA) of
1991 was incorporated into the Adult Education Act, The Department of
Labor's 1998 Workforce Investment Act (WIA) Title II,
and Adult Education and Family Literacy Act of 1998 (AEFLA). This was also an era of dedicated works of
African-American origin educators (Hill, 2022).
Influential factors
During the early 20th century, the government
began taking an important role in adult education. Legislation such as the
Smith-Lever Act of 1914 provided federal funds for training in farming and home
economics and the Smith-Hughes Act enacted finance vocational programs (U.S.
Department of Education, 2013). During the Great Depression of 1929 to 1931,
adult education programs were jobs for out-of-work teachers. World War II of
1935 to 1945, the government set up a program for veterans known as the GI Bill
of Rights. The 1962 Manpower Development and Training Act and the 1964 Economic
Opportunity Act both provided federal funds for training unemployed adults. The
Economic Opportunity Act also established Adult Basic Education (ABE) (U.S.
Department of Education, 2013).
Major intellectual contributors seen in the influence of psychology and other fields on education are Edward L. Thorndike, recognized with the introduction of modern educational psychology in 1903 (Carl, 2009). Thorndike integrated science and
psychology. Thorndike together with John Dewey, proposed
the development theory of mental functions from birth to maturity. Sigmund Freud applied educational psychology to national
training in the 1940s and ’50s, the field of educational psychology advanced in
behavior modification, child development, classical conditioning,
social theories, and humanism (Carl, 2009).
Educational psychology’s contributions are seen in cognition, information processing, the technology of instruction, learning styles, nature versus nurture, qualitative versus quantitative
methods, Jungian, phenomenological, and ethnographic methods, together with
psychobiological explanations to help learners understand the place of heredity, general environment, and school in development and learning
(Carl, 2009).
The social sciences studied interactions and speech to learn what was in reality happening in a
classroom. Philosophy of science led educational theorists to attempt
to understand paradigmatic shifts in knowledge (Bird, 2018). The critical
literature of the 1960s and ’70s attacked the notion of economic interests of
the dominant class. Both social philosophy and critical sociology continued
to elaborate the themes of social control and oppression as embedded in
educational institutions.
In the 1980’s, contributors to the theory of adult pedagogy were Malcolm
Knowles, Howard McClusky, Alan Knox, and Jack Mezirow. Maher (2002) suggested,
“… changes in socio-cultural patterns and historical events such as Civil
Rights, Vietnam, or the Women's movement, played a powerful role in their
choices and in shifting the focus of attention in the field.”
Hakes (2010) argued, “…it is necessary to take more account of the
contribution of social movements to the social organization of the historical
development of formal, non-formal, and informal learning. The history of adult
education has to be located in relation to the broader dynamics of social
change and conflict.” 20th Century African-American
educators, who overcame insurmountable social obstacles of racism, are Mary
Church Terrell, George Washington Carver, Carter Godwin Woodson, Martin Luther
King, Jr., Anna Julia Haywood Cooper, W.E.B Du Bois, Edmund W. Gordon, Fanny
Jackson Coppin, and Nannie Helen Burroughs (Hill, 2020). Phillips
(2021) provided, “Ambrose Caliver was appointed in 1930 by President Herbert
Hoover to the position of Senior Specialist in the Education of Negroes in the
U.S. Office of Education, tasked to raise national awareness of the disparities
in education between blacks and whites.”
Implications
The 20th century experienced
a revolution of adult education with major events of World War I, (1914-1918), the second industrial revolution (1870-1914),
World War II (1935-1945), and the Civil Rights Movements (1954-1968),
due to struggles among social, racial, and groups with ideological differences.
Rapid prosperity occurred, while during the same period there was racial
inequality and widening gaps between rich and poor. The development of
large-scale industry, reliance on science,
advances in technology, organized labor, global business, and the developments
in communication, especially mass media were influential in the evolution of
reform and changes to adult education.
The evolution in the field over time
included this perspective provided by Maher (2002), “…recognition by society about the value of adult education, and
expanding efforts of organizations to provide learning opportunities for
adults, especially in the workplace.” This is relevant given the significant advancements
of technology in learning, rising commitment to adult education, the shifting
trends, and growth and development. The development of psychological education,
social sciences, humanism, and research aimed at improving practice and solving
social problems in the world by bringing together people with common interests
or concerns are essential themes of the 20th Century.
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AREAS |
SUMMARY |
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Social
Background |
The 20th
century had profound effects on education due to World War I, (1914-1918), the second industrial revolution
(1870-1914), World War II (1935-1945), and the Civil Rights Movements
(1954-1968) resulted in a rise of struggles among social, racial, and
ideological groups. |
|
Highlights |
World War I, the second industrial revolution,
World War II, and the Civil Rights Movement, industrialization, and a universal change
incited a need for specialized technical knowledge and a demand for secondary
and higher educations. |
|
Influential
Factors |
During the early 20th
century,
the government began taking an important role in
adult education. Major intellectual contributions in psychology and other
fields on education. |
|
Implications |
Struggles among social, racial, and groups with ideological
differences. Rapid prosperity occurred, while during the same period there
was racial inequality and widening gaps between rich and poor. The
development of large-scale industry, reliance on science,
advances in technology, organized labor, global business, and the
developments in communication, especially mass
media were influential in the evolution of reform and changes to
adult education. |
References
The Providential
Gardener. (n.d.). About the history of adult education in the US. https://www.provgardener.com/about/about-history-adult-education-us
Ellard, K. (2021, October 21). Industrial Revolution
& American Education. Montessorium.
https://montessorium.com/blog/industrial-revolution-and-american-education
Bird, A. (2018,
October 31). Thomas Kuhn. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
https://plato.stanford.edu/ENTRIES/thomas-kuhn/
Carl, J. (2009).
Industrialization and public education: Social Cohesion and social
stratification. International Handbook of Comparative Education,
503–518. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-6403-6_32
Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. (n.d.). Education in the
20th Century. Encyclopædia Britannica.
https://www.britannica.com/topic/education/Education-in-the-20th-century
Hake, B. J. (2010).
Rewriting the history of Adult Education: The search for narrative structures. International
Encyclopedia of Education, 96–101.
https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-08-044894-7.00017-8
Hill, F (2020, August
22). African-American educators that changed the world. The Antelope
Valley Times. https://theavtimes.com/2020/08/21/african-american-educators-that-changed-the-world/
History of
adult education: Info on adult education programs. Best Accredited
Colleges. (2024).
Maher, P.A. (2002). Conversation with
long-time adult educators: The first three
generations. University of South Florida.
Phillips, J. (2021,
January 7). Ambrose Caliver (1894-1962)
https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/caliver-ambrose-1894-1962/
U.S. Department of Education. (2013). Federal adult
education: A legislative history. Retrieved
from https://lincs.ed.gov/publications/pdf/Adult_Ed_History_Report.pdf
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