Life-Long Education: Problems, Tasks, Conditions.

Overview & Synopsis

Lifelong education and its implications must be defined in order to embark on a rational and effective educational policy. Experiments in adult education in the nineteenth century gave rise to the idea of adult education as remedial, intended to correct the unfair treatment the lower classes received at the hands of an elitist educational system. Recently, this idea has evolved into the concept of lifelong education. A continual updating of instruction is incumbent upon both backward and advanced societies. The fundamental change in the way of life of the masses, resulting in today's affluent society, is a major factor in the current popularity of the concept of lifelong education. One of the problems of lifelong education is that of preparing people for new forms of life and making them aware of the dangers or an apathetic or superficial attitude toward cultural values. Instruction should be regarded as an asset in itself and not merely as a means of achieving greater material success. The modern conception of education necessitates "de-schooling" schools; lifelong education calls for the rational integration of the teaching activity at all levels. This integration would involve re-distributing educational activities over the whole of life and harmonizing formal education with out-of-school education. The success of such a program depends largely on factors outside the control of educationists--the structure of society and the processes and forces within it. (KM)