TEST 2

CAE 213 Introduction to Adult Education

DUE: April 25
th
I. Short Answer Questions (ic! 3 o" the 5 #elow):
(Answers should be from 1/2 page to 1 page in length They should be based on class readings,
presentations, and indiidual research in your area of interest! "ie basic citation information
such as author, year of publication, title, etc! for additional sources! #se 12 pt font Times $ew
%oman & double'space)
1. $hat are the core principles o" andra%o%&'
The first principle of adult learning is the learners need to (now! )t*s really important for
adults to understand why they need to (now something in order for them to feel
motiated to actually put effort into learning it! The ne+t principle is the learner*s self'
concept! Adult learners are usually super independent and used to running their own lies
and it*s incredibly humbling for them to admit that they need help in a certain area and
rely on you to help them learn! Adults seems to learn best by self'directed learning
because they can teach themseles and come to you for help in areas that they are
struggling with! The ne+t principle of andragogy is the role of the learner*s e+perience!
This plays a huge part in andragogy in that it is important to understand eery adult is
uni,ue and different (een more than (ids)! The fourth principle is the learner*s readiness
to learn! They learner has to be in a place in life where they are ready to learn what
you*re trying to teach them and it applies to their own life! The material has to come to
them when they really need it and are interested about learning about it! -ifth is their
orientation to learning! Adults learn from a life centered perspectie which means they
learn things best in ways that will apply to their needs! .astly is motiation! Adults don*t
do well in school to receie a reward e+ternally/ they are wired to be more focused on
internal motiation li(e self'esteem or higher 0ob satisfaction!
2. (a)e and de"ine the "i*e philosophies o" education that were discussed. $hich one
do &ou pre"er' $h&'
The first philosophy of adult education is .iberal which treats the adult educator as an
authoritatie teacher in the classroom! They beliee that it is their 0ob to enlighten their
students and create people that thirst for (nowledge and the ability to be in the 1elite
society!2 They want to create a cohesie society and learners that en0oy learning 0ust for the
sa(e of enlightening themseles! $e+t is the 3ehaioral philosophy which, 0ust as it sounds
li(e, focuses on changing the behaior of the learners! 4eople with this philosophy focus on
improing the learner*s s(ills and helping them learn to 1surie2 in their society! 4eople
who hae a more progressie philosophy when it comes to adult education focus mostly on
the learners needs and how to teach them practical s(ills so that the learner and society are
constantly growing and deeloping! ) thin( this is the one that ) would prefer because it really
focuses on the learners needs and what they need to ta(e from it in a real life practical way! )
feel li(e it*s a happy medium where both the learner and his or her educational needs are
important and addressed! 5umanistic philosophy thin(ers approach adult learning as trying to
grow the learner personally and to become the best person they can be! )t really focuses on
self'actuali6ation and that the learner is true to themseles! .astly is radical philosophy
which thin(s that learning should bring about political or societal change! They want to
empower their students to brea( out of societal chains that may be stopping them from being
who they want to be or what they want to do!
3. $hat does AE o""er in the US conte+t'
Adult 7ducation ta(es on many different shapes and forms when it comes to the #8 society!
There are so many different things that adults need in order to be successful as the aerage
education leel has gone up! 9ne relatiely large area of adult education is teaching 7nglish
to non'natie spea(ers so that they will be able to find a good 0ob and ma(e it in our
American culture! Another area that is huge is 0ob training! 7ighty'fie percent of twenty'
first century 0obs inole technology so a lot of adults at this point hae to learn how to use
this new technology or new s(ill set in order to do their 0ob (:ang, p1;)! Also most 0obs are
super speciali6ed so 5uman %esource and <eelopment usually step in and help train most
adults for the 0ob that they are about to do! The companies want their wor(ers to do their 0ob
to the best of their ability so they will wor( out ways for their employees to be educated and
trained! A huge part of informal adult education that is appearing now is people using the
internet to learn many different things (:ang, p=>)! :ebsites li(e 4interest and ?ouTube are
0ust 2 e+amples of the do6ens of websites out there that help adults teach themseles
anything that they want to (now! The need for formal adult education in some areas isn*t
,uite as important because of this new deelopment!
II. Essa& Question (7eryone answers this one):
I)a%ine that the "i*e o" the adult educators that were presented were a#le to sit down and
discuss adult education. ,ou can pic! which "i*e -. plus the one or ones &ou presented /
who e*er presents 0erria) and Cunnin%ha) will present si+1.
3oo(er T! :ashington
aulo 2riere
0&les 3orton
4ane 5ella
4ac! 0e6irow
8haron @erriam and 4hyllis Aunningham
8tephen 3roo(field
0alco)# 7nowles
Benn "angel
Cames -owler
,our essa& will #e a description o" what the& would sa& concernin% the "ollowin% . issues:
1. $hat is &our )ost i)portant contri#ution to adult education'
2. $ho are8were &ou tr&in% to help'
3. $hat is the purpose o" education in societ&'
.. $hat are or were the other . educators doin% ri%ht'
In writin% the essa&9 treat the educators one #& one. $rite a para%raph "ro) each
educator with the answers to each o" the . :uestions9 then close out the para%raph #&
listin% one :uestion &ou would li!e to as! the educator.
The educator that ) did my presentation on was @alcolm Bnowles! ) beliee that
@alcolm would say that his most important contribution to adult education was the theory of the
D principles of andragogy! 5e was able to organi6e all of the information from andragogy into D
clear, concise points that really shows how adults learn best! 5is wor( was directed towards
pretty much all adult educators and learners in that he tried to help educators really (now how to
teach and relate to their adult students on their leel ensuring a higher achieement leel in adult
education! 5e probably thin(s that the purpose of adult education in society would be to educate
men and women so that they could hae a better chance at their future! Bnowles wanted people
to be properly educated so that society could function at its best! Bnowles probably would thin(
that -riere, 5orton, and @e6irow were doing good in that they wanted to help their learners
reach their full potential and wanted education to transform the way they are able to approach
life! 5e also probably li(ed Cane Eella*s idea of dialog education so that the adults can be self'
directed and in charge of their own education, not 0ust being spoon fed by their educators! )
would as( him which of his principles he would say is most important to focus on!
4aulo -riere was another adult educator that we tal(ed about in class! 5is most important
contribution to adult education would be his opinion that schooling is neer neutral and that it is
directly related to politics! 5e was trying to help the lower class people be able to brea( free
from the mold! 5e thought that education should empower you and liberate you! 5e wanted
education to brea( the social bonds that seemed to hold the lower class in poerty by giing them
a chance to ma(e something out of their life! 5e was drawn towards the radical philosophy! 5e
probably loed 5orton and @e6irow*s wor( since they both approached education from a more
radical iew point, hoping to free their students from the social bongs that they were being (ept
in! 5e probably would use the motiation factor from Bnowles to try to get his students reali6e
the importance education could potentially hae on their lies if they applied themseles to it! 5e
also might hae used Eella*s dialog education in order to get his students tal(ing about the
impact they could hae on society and let them feed off of each other*s energy for social reform!
) would as( -riere more about what he means by the fact that literacy ma(es people stay poor!
Cane Eella is another adult educator who made a huge impact on adult education! 8he
would probably say that her biggest impact on adult education was the concept of dialog
education! 8he belieed that the learner should play an actie role in their education by haing
class discussions and to structure the content in a way that lets the learner interact with the
material rather than 0ust spoon feeding them the information! 8he focused on adult learners and
teachers and the interaction between the 2, similar to Bnowles! 8he (new that education had
political power and that it could change society, but she was more focused on letting the
indiidual meet their full potential through the education process! Cane might hae used Bnowles
assumptions in her dialog education a lot! The 2 of them would probably get along pretty good
and agree with some of each other*s main points! 8he would also probably agree with -riere,
5orton, and @e6irow in that education can bring about social and political change and holds a
great deal of power! ) would as( her in which situations would this techni,ue not be as useful!
@yles 5orton was ery influential when it comes to adult education! 5is biggest
achieement when it comes to adult education would be starting 5ighlander -ol( 8chool! This
school had a huge impact on society by producing some influential people of different races and
nationalities een when this was frowned upon! 5e focused on the lower class people of both
nationalities and allowed blac(s and whites to lie and wor( together! 5is iew of society was
that it needed to change and offer some sort of e,uality between whites and blac(s! 5e was
radical, 0ust li(e -riere and produced leaders such as @artian .uther Bing Cr!, %osa 4ar(s, and
7leanor %ooseelt! 5e probably really en0oyed the wor( that -rierre and @e6irow*s did since
they both approached education from a radical iew point as well! 5e probably would use the
motiation factor from Bnowles too, in order to get his students to reali6e the importance of
education and the impact it could potentially hae on their lies if they applied themseles to it!
5e might hae used Cane*s techni,ue to get his students to really understand and respect each
other since they all came from different bac(grounds and get them to learn to wor( together in
order to impact society! ) would as( him why he felt so motiated towards ciil e,uality!
Cac( @e6irow is the last adult educator that ) will tal( about! 5is biggest contribution to
adult education would be the principle of transformatie learning! )t basically meant that learning
must begin with a change in our frame of reference so that we can figure out how this new
information will be aluable to us and useful in our lies and not 0ust brush it off due to our
preconceptions of it! 5is focus was on all different types of educators and especially learners!
:hen it comes to society, @e6irow was influenced by -riere and saw education as emancipation
from the chains of your current situation, giing you the ability to transform your life! 9nce
again, he probably totally agreed with -rierre and 5orton*s wor( since they both approached
education from a more radical iew point! 5e een said that -rierre was one of his models that
he loo(ed up to! 5e probably would use the motiation factor from Bnowles also and used
Eella*s techni,ue in order to get his students tal(ing about the social impact they could ma(e!
) would as( him how e+actly it wor(s best to 1transform the learners from of mind!2 )t*s a super
interesting concept but sounds (ind of complicated to do!