Adult Education Today Is Being

Adult education today is being challenged by the forces of globalization.

There are new realities in this globalized world where social changes and cultural diversity make creating good adult educational opportunities more complicated and difficult. In addition, in the world of capitalized societies -- juxtaposed with those developing societies -- the importance and value of adult education with reference to literacy and knowledge has become a subject of great interest and concern.

The trends of adult education from the past, including the image of a dozen older people in a church basement being lectured to about the value of good nutrition once a week, is no longer relevant when discussing adult education. There are new and more meaningful ways that educators and community leaders must reach out to adults who yearn for knowledge, skills, strategies and formulas for success in their lives. This paper identifies and reviews some of the new trends in adult education, including the ramifications associated with the globalization of adult education, and the need to develop new adult education strategies.

The Literature on Today's Adult Education

Establishing effective and sustainable adult education programs that build on the dignity and capability of migrant workers is beneficial to both social and economic development… [hence] many civil society groups have recognized adult education as a promising platform from which to launch effectively a campaign to resolve migration issues…" (Gois, 2007).

Not every aspect of adult learning takes place in the classroom, nor should it, according to Dr. Kaela Jubas with the University of Calgary. Jubas presents five themes as part of an holistic and creative approach to adult learning in the journal Adult Education Quarterly. His five themes include: a) learning to learn; b) learning to do research; c) learning to develop a philosophy of shopping; d) learning to build a shopping-related literacy; and e) learning to construct a shopper's geography (Jubas, 2011, p. 226).

When he talks about holistic approaches to adult learning Jubas is referring to formality, informality, and "incidentalism" as approaches to adult learning (226). In other words, Jubas is alluding to learning outside the classroom, perhaps at conferences or workshops, or even while adults are "shopping, especially critical shopping," as part of a process of informal, incidental adult learning (226). Jubas asserts that these forms of learning for adults are too often "overlooked or disparaged"; and moreover much of the previous research into consumerism, consumption and shopping features children and youth, rather than adults (226).

The author presents sketches of several studies that detail shopping and consumption, including research (Usher, Bryant, & Johnson, 1997, p. 15) that urges adult educators to "…begin to take consumption seriously as a site of learning and education" (Jubas, 227). Jubas also references Deborah Barndt's "Tomasita Project" which traces the production of the ordinary tomato from seed, to field, to the store and to the table (227). Barndt views the construction of the tomato as a "global agricultural commodity," and she believes that because consumers tend to see globalization as abstract and technical, globalization can seem "overwhelming." However, breaking globalization down to the growth of a tomato -- to "everyday moments and processes" -- allows the adult learner to more easily relate, Jubas explains (227).

How does shopping relate to learning? For his research, Jubas enlisted 32 participants; 18 people completed the interview option,15 people went shopping with him -- the "vast majority" were women -- and one participant did both. Jubas took field notes, recorded the shopping trips (audio and visual), and the participants completed a demographic form as well. As to his first theme, "learning how to learn and do research" participants reported learning new strategies (taking into account climate change, product safety, labor conditions; questioning the trustworthiness of printed information on boxes) and how to cope with distractions in the store.

Referencing his second theme (developing a philosophy of shopping) the participants learned to "weigh multiple values…" and to steer away from what is desired to "what is right…" (235). Building a "shopping literacy" (checking technical information, researching a corporation's affiliations [for example, Target's CEO donates large sums of money to anti-gay organizations] and knowing is "blue green algae" in toothpaste is truly a health benefit) and learning to construct a shopper's geography (mapping stores in their community that offer items they need) were also part of bringing globalization home to 32 participants in an unusual adult education environment.

Monica Giraldo offers another approach to holistic adult education in the journal Adult Learning. Giraldo explains that politics, racial issues, and religious influences have all played a role in creating a "polarized" world where the gap between rich and poor is increasing (which is related to a lack of literacy and knowledge). Hence, there should be more pressure (than ever before ) placed on educational leaders to help adults learn. Religious and other social fundamentalists generate "situations of discrimination" based on a person's ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation" and gender; you're "evil" if you are different, Giraldo asserts (Giraldo, 2007, p. 16). These realities are creating new challenges for educators of adults, she believes.

Given these viewpoints, Giraldo believes that adult educators -- if they "truly seek to strengthen community" -- must be "committed to inclusivity" (17). With the advent of globalization, educators of adults should "work together" and form networks that are "more inclusive in their programs, policies, and practices" -- and moreover, adult educators should develop curricula that focus on "…education for peace, for conflict resolutions, and education for democracy and human rights" (18).

Meantime Professor John Holst explains that globalization is "widely considered to be one of the most important issues facing the field of adult education today" (Holst, 2004, p. 23). He refers to "neoliberal globalization" as that "compendium of economic and social practices" that are related to and linked to free trade and privatization initiatives. How that relates to the adult and popular education literature is within the concept of building "civil society as a way to curb the most harmful effects of neoliberal policies" (Holst, 24).

What has been presented in many cases by adult educators, Holst explains, is a focus on educational learning components that relate to "…building local, grass-roots initiatives… associated with nongovernmental organizations" with emphasis on improving the conditions of individuals and organizations (24). But what is missing, the author asserts, is the attention to perspectives of social change and globalization and educational work being done by two "revolutionary organizations in the United States" -- the Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) and the League of Revolutionaries for a New America (LRNA) (24). Why should adults who are furthering their education pay attention to the FRSO and LRNA?

Holst insists that the LRNA, for example, analyzes globalization and extols the theory that America is deeply involved in the social and economic stage of revolution. The revolution LRNA alludes to is driven by "microchip-based, electronic technology"; and moreover, the "massive growth" in global capitalism (created by electronic technology) is not "labor saving" but rather the microchip is labor reducing. Because of these new instruments of production, this "new class" of workers the LRNA refers to "…has no hope of ever finding stable work in the capitalist system" because they are outside the capitalist system (Holst, 33).

The bottom line for Holst: educational leaders should be teaching the truth about the global revolutionary changes digital / electronic technologies in an adult educational setting. Unfortunately, the author points out, LRNA and FRSO are "virtually unknown to the field of adult education," but those kinds of organizations (seemingly radical, but offering realistic approaches to global issues) should be known and understood by adults.

Meanwhile, Rosa-Maria Torres distinguishes between Adult Basic Learning and Education (ABLE) and Adult Basic Education (ABE). Currently, Torres explains, in pointing to ABLE, poverty is the major "impediment" to educational access and quality in the "South" (meaning Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and Latin America); and the literature reveals that adult education is losing ground and as a result literacy is losing ground. The "North" presently dominates the "vision" and "research" that is part of the ABLE in the South, Torres maintains; and as a result there is new information available to adult educators in the South but "little new knowledge" or "innovation" is available (Torres, 2004, p. 17).

The problem in these countries is that adult education and adult learning "…is often seen as a non-priority" in the South, and the needs of parents and workers are "sidelined or ignored altogether" in the most recent initiatives launched by international development agencies. Poor children and their parents are being "forced to compete" for educational priorities. The solutions offered in terms of better adult educational opportunities for people living in developing countries? First, educational changes need to be implemented in the North, Torres writes (20), and when lifelong learning strategies are worked through in the North, those leaders should follow through and help shape lifelong learning opportunities for Third World countries as well.