History of Adult Education 1960s

Karen Lloyd	Commented On
	Katherine Cope
	Maureen Chavez-Reda

History of Adult Education

The 1960s

Karen Lloyd

Ball State University

EDAC 631 Fall 2019

Introduction

The 1960s kicked-off with a presidential election that would see John F. Kennedy seated at the 35^th president of the United States; meanwhile the US was dealing with the current recession. The recession was marked with high unemployment rates, high inflation, and the stock market losing a quarter of its value (Recession of 1960, n.d.). During this election, “Kennedy told the convention delegates that he would get the nation moving again,” (Campaign of 1960, para. 4). Kennedy’s hope was to make reform that would help “eliminate injustice and inequality in the United States,” (The 1960s History, para. 2). However, three years into his term, Kennedy was assassinated and this led to Lyndon B. Johnson taking over the presidency and ushering in his own reforms.

While the election of Kennedy had instilled some optimism, by the end of the decade, things were not looking as though they would turn out as many Americans had hoped. The war in Vietnam had escalated and young men were being drafted into service. The fight for civil rights was in full swing and some blacks, students, and women were becoming more unsettled and taking a radical approach to addressing their respective issues. Meanwhile, others removed themselves from politics and joined the hippie sub-culture.

Despite all of the political and social uncertainty in the United States during the 1960s, we do have some high points for adult education that we will examine further in this paper.

Highlights

In 1960, the federal government was getting more involved in adult education. According to Federal Adult Education A Legislative History 1964-2013, “the legislation also heightened national consciousness concerning the need to improve economic and educational conditions of disadvantaged adults,” (2013, p. 5). The Montreal Conference on Adult Education themed their conference “Adult Education in a Changing World,” (Lowe, 1972). The first item they focused their attention on was “the enlarged aims of adult education” (Lowe, 1972, p.8) and stated that “nothing less will suffice than that people everywhere should come to accept adult education as a norm, and that governments should treat it as a necessary part of the educational provision of every country,” (Lowe, 1972, p. 9).

In 2013, the U.S. Department of Education released a legislative history of federal adult education. This report saw, in the 1960s, “three broad program categories emerge:

• ·       Education for government employees, both civilian and military
• ·       Manpower development and training programs
• ·       Programs to develop literacy and basic skills,” (An American Heritage Federal Adult Education A Legislative History 1964-2013, 2013, p. 5).

Some of the federal policies that emerged during the 1960s are the Manpower Development and Training Act of 1962, the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964, and the Adult Education Act of 1966. The Manpower and Training Act “endeavored to train and retrain thousands of workers unemployed because of automation and technological change,” (Kremen, 1974, para. 1).

The Economic Opportunity Act brought about the Adult Basic Education Program detailed below.

This program sought to remedy inequalities of educational disadvantaged by offering persons 18 years of age . . . and older the opportunity to develop reading, writing, language, and arithmetic skills to enable them to obtain or retain employment and otherwise participate more fully as productive and responsible citizens. (An American Heritage Federal Adult Education A Legislative History 1964-2013, 2013, p. 9)

Then, in 1966, the Adult Education Act moved the Adult Basic Education Program to the U.S. Office of Education. It was at this time that the focus on vocational education was shifted to more project- and development-based education.

Influential Factors

            We can look back over the 1960s and see that many of the influential factors in adult education fell within the political realm of education. Both Kennedy and Johnson worked towards the federal government taking a stance on adult education and implementing new federal policies to encourage growth in the field.

            It has been hard to pinpoint specific people as influential adult educators in the 1960s, as adult education was just taking shape as the government asserted more influence over the field. However, many of the influential educators, we will see emerge in the 1970s were completing their scholarship and would help start shaping adult education into what it is today.

            Some of the emerging influential people in adult education would include David Kolb, with his development of the Experiential Learning Model; Howard Gardner and his theory of multiple intelligences; and Malcolm Knowles, whose theory of andragogy is well known in the field of adult education (Flanagan, 2018).

            The Adult Education Association should also be mentioned when talking about influential factors in adult education. According to the Adult Education Association, “the purpose of the organization was to unite all professional and non-professional adult educators in a single national organization to facilitate communication in the emerging field of adult education,” (Adult Education Association, n.d., para. 1). While this organization was formed before the 1960s, it is important to note that they did move their national headquarters to Washington D.C. in 1964. This was the same year the Economic Opportunity Act was approved and two years before the Adult Education Act of 1966. This put the organization in a better position to work toward its goals in regard to government changes in policy and to help guide the outcomes of those policies.

Implications

As we look back on the advances to adult education, the main things we can take away are that in the 1960s there was a push to educate adults, whether to get them basic skills, to increase their skills in a more technological society, or to build more advanced skills to promote and retain employability.

The 1960s saw a recession, a war, and a push towards equality that enabled the federal government to set up new policies and programs to promote the education of its adult population. This support at the federal level meant education could be better funded and could work towards growth and move in new directions. Adult education was being used as a springboard to help Americans flee poverty, reduce unemployment, and help build a better society.

On a final note, as a result of the changing climate of the government’s stance on adult education and the sociopolitical background and outcomes from the decade, we can see the influence the 1960s had on the continued study of adult education by emerging scholars, who have since continued to grow adult education, as we will see as the following decades, are explored.

Summary Table

Areas	Summary
Social Background	Economic recession, Vietnam War, draft, civil rights movement, hippie sub-culture.
Highlights	Manpower Development and Training Act of 1962, Economic Opportunity Act of 1964, Adult Education Act of 1966
Influential factors	War on Poverty, civil rights movement, unemployment, government policies
Implications	New sources of funding, new direction, growth

References

Campaign of 1960. (n.d.). John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. Retrieved September 13, 2019, from https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/jfk-in-history/campaign-of-1960

Recession of 1960. (n.d.). GlobalSecurity.org. Retrieved September 15, 2019, from https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/usa/history/recession-of-1960.htm

Lowe, J. (1972). A retrospective international survey of adult education: (Montreal 1960 to Tokyo 1972). Survey, United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, Paris France. Retrieved from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED068760.pdf

Rose, A.D. (1991). Ends or means: an overview of the history of the Adult Education Act. Information series no. 346. Retrieved from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED341875.pdf

An American Heritage Federal Adult Education A Legislative History 1964-2013 (2013). Retrieved from https://lincs.ed.gov/publications/pdf/Adult_Ed_History_Report.pdf

The 1960s Education: Overview. (2003). Encyclopedia.com. Retrieved September 12, 2019, from https://www.encyclopedia.com/social-sciences/culture-magazines/1960s-education-overview

The 1960s History. (2010). History.com. Retrieved September 12, 2019, from https://www.history.com/topics/1960s/1960s-history

Kremen, G.R. (1974). MDTA: The origins of the Manpower Development and Training Act of 1962. Retrieved September 13, 2019, from https://www.dol.gov/general/aboutdol/history/mono-mdtatext

Flanagan, S. (2018). Langevin Learning Services. Retrieved September 14, 2019, from http://blog.langevin.com/5-major-contributors-to-adult-learning

Adult Education Association. (n.d.). Adult Education Association (AEA-USA)/American Association for Adult and Continuing Education (AAACE) Records. Retrieved on September 14, 2019, from, https://library.syr.edu/digital/guides/a/aaace.htm