The Interaction of Adult Education and General Education.

Overview & Synopsis

The fourth force in American education is considered to be adults "beyond school age" who are participating in educational experiences. This is described by the following: education for the foreign born, life-long learning, basic education, community development, extension education, continuing education, community school, permanent education, or adult education. These terms reflect a gamut of educational experiences which "out-of-school" learners take part in through public education, proprietary schools, religious schools, and clubs. The National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago estimated that nearly 30 million adults were engaged in AE and predicted that the actual adult education audience would increase faster than the population in general. Subjects discussed relating to this general topic include Adult Education Responsibilities and Adult Education Programs. The estimate of the number of participants in AE will almost double between 1970 and 1976. The principal increase will probably be in programs conducted by business, government, unions, military services, correspondence schools, community organizations, and instructional TV. It is pointed out that since the ultimate goal of adult education is the improvement of self and community living, the curriculum and the methods by which adult education is taught should be functional to daily living--functional to the improvement of self and the community. (CK)