Adult Education Does the Adult

Adult Education

Does the adult education philosophy and activities of Highlander fit the categories suggested by Spencer?

The education of adults is becoming an astringent issue within the contemporaneous society and more and more sociologists place an increased emphasis on its role. Adult education is often necessary as, due to various reasons, insufficient time was dedicated to studying while growing up. However, the general social perception of learning adults is quite limited, as education is most often assimilated with children and adolescents. As a result, numerous studies have emerged from this interest and they were written and analyzed from various standpoints, to reveal different if not opposite, results. A standpoint worth mentioning belongs to Herbert Spencer, who pointed out that there are two distinct purposes and functions in the education of adults. These refer to the individual, or personal, perspective, and secondly, the social perspective. He also argued that the outcomes of an adult's education can be of two different kinds: accommodation, or adaptive, and secondly, transformational. The individual perspective on education is extremely wide as it is defined by each person; the social perspective on the other hand is more compact, revealing the general opinions of a wide palette of social members, relative to the matter at hand. Then, in terms of outcomes, the accommodative ones imply that the individual has simply adjusted to the new status of student, whereas the transformational ones imply that the learning adult is embracing his new status and strives to change for the better with its aid. The degree to which these assumptions are true, and also the degree to which each participant to an adult education program agrees with the statements, are variable. To best analyze the matter from a clearer standpoint, one should take the example of Highlander Folk School.

Highlander Folk School was established in 1932 by Myles Horton, a firm believer and advocate of democracy. The institution is exclusively dedicated to adult education and the initial agenda of the founder was to "create an independent adult learning center where people could come together and address their problems. He wanted to create a public space where people could learn from each other and use education as a means to challenge the unjust social systems affecting their lives" (Spencer). The purposes, functions and outcomes of Horton's school are succinctly presented below.

Social purposes and functions

In its essence, the educational institution was built on democratic principles, and a democratic society, defined as "a society which makes provisions for participation in its good of all its members on equal terms and which secures flexible readjustment of its institutions through interaction of the different forms of associated life" (Spencer). And the founder strived to implement these principles by actually offering a facility that would integrate all less educated adults into a flexible schedule and ensure them as such a most fruitful integration in society.

Another idea that suggests the social purpose and function at Highlander Folk School relates to the changes affecting the environment. And the sole foundation of a school addressing the changing needs of young students (who may be forced to leave school and get a job) and adult students (who in time come to realize the necessity of education) is a most practical response to the changes affecting the society.

Individual purposes and functions

While attending the courses of Highlander Folk School, the adult student has the ability to become differentiated from the social group he emerged from, or even from his current class mates. While proving all students with equal opportunities, the professors at Highlander also emphasize on the individuality of each person. And this idea of individuality was implemented early on by founder Myles Horton, who refused to divide the students according to their appurtenance to different social classes, like most of the education institutions used to do. Instead, he embraced the idea that America was at its core an agglomeration of a multitude of nations, each with different values, principles and characteristics. Otherwise put, they embraced and promoted the concepts of cultural diversity. "It also did not bracket questions of recognition; instead, it embraced diversity with open arms" (Spencer).

Accommodative outcomes

The final outcome of an adult student's education depends directly on his capabilities and true desires to succeed. It is also true that in some cases, he will be forced by features independent of him to simply become accommodated with the new status, rather than fully embrace it. Since this is not the most desirable outcome, the Highlander Folk School, however recognizing it, does not embrace or promote it as a viable goal.

Transformational outcomes

The ultimate outcome for most learning adults, and also for their professors, is to achieve an increased level of knowledge that would further help them achieve high set goals. And most of the times, this implies a transformation of the current status quo into a brighter future perspective. In other words, the Highlander Folk School tries to create an environment which stimulates the adults to overcome their position and transform themselves and the others around them. "Horton preferred to spend his time helping people come together and learn how to organize and work toward replacing, transforming, and rebuilding society so as to allow for people to make decisions that affect their lives" (Spencer).

Probably the most important concept to remember about the Highlander Folk School is that while embracing the ideas of individualism and diversity, it also understood that the society and the individual interact and each is influenced by the other, meaning in the end that the individual is the result of society and the society is in turn the agglomeration of individual thoughts, beliefs and ideas. "A relational view of democracy does not begin with an assumption of individualism, as classical liberal democracy does, but starts with Dewey's concept of transactional relationships, that individuals affect others and others affect individuals, for we are all selves-in-relation-with others" (Spencer). This then reveals a cohabitation in perfect harmony of social and individual purposes and functions which is desirable in most institutions, but even more in the educational ones.