By now, it has become increasingly evident to me that there really is no formal, textbook definition for the term ‘adult education’. Generally speaking, basic goals include functional literacy, self-improvement, new technical skills-learning and encouraging life-long learning, but that being said the aims and goals of adult education are subjective to its context, as “the context shapes adult education and adult education shapes the context” (Palacios 2012). Keeping this in mind as I attempted to dissect my thoughts on adult education as well as my own worldview, I would have to say that although I did find myself personally identifying with one specific quadrant in relation to my own experiences as well as my perspective of society, I realized this did not necessarily align with my attitude towards adult education, or even education in general.
In high school, my absolute favourite class that eventually influenced my choice of post-secondary major was my Grade 12 English class. Although I was inclined to do well in all my classes I found particular, personal gratification in my learning for this class. I was given, for the first time, the freedom to take charge of my learning in a whole new way, to analyze and interpret with different perspectives, to challenge and create ideas and discussion and to give my own meanings to these ideas– I found this freedom fascinating and motivating as opposed to my other objectively structured classes such as math and science, and developed an irrevocable love for English literature as my instructor fostered this with her humanistic method of teaching. As an English Literature major, I have continued to greatly appreciate the subjectivity of this field of study and the rarity of a ‘wrong answer’ in its discourse, and how its structure of learning repels the notion of merely absorbing and regurgitating information. I would say that my school experience, especially in this field of study, has been crucial in broadening my understanding of the human condition and my perspectives on the world and personally, I find myself identifying with the Interpretivist viewpoint. According to Shaping Adult Education, those who identify with the interpretive paradigm are “‘subjectivists’ in that “reality is what persons construe it to be. Great effort is devoted to devoting the frame of reference of the participant”(Palacios 2012), and this opposes the positivist view which attempts to classify the world in an objective way. I personally believe that although society as a whole is governed by law, order, social norms and essentially, a functionalist approach, each individual’s view of the world is subjective to his/her own personal experiences and their actions and reactions to their interpretations of the situations they find themselves in. The logic of natural sciences cannot fully be applied to human behaviour because there fundamental differences between the natural and social world, I believe that although social engineering can be improved, it cannot be perfected because an objective, uniform social world does not exist given the individuality of human kind and our experiences.
Having said all that, however, logically I believe that the functionalist approach that advocates for “practical solutions to practical problems”(Palacios 2012) is one that effectively sustains society and provides it with structure – social engineering produces results. This also partially goes for my viewpoint on adult education, and education in general. I believe that like all types of education, there are different disciplines within the field of adult education that require different philosophical approaches to teaching. The functionalist method offers an objective, uniformed structure of learning with set goals and expectations to its outcome, and while this may be an efficient way of learning when it comes to technical or skill training, it is not necessarily effective in all disciplines. Personally, I adopt a humanistic stance to adult education and believe that a prime objective of this type of learning includes the enhancement of personal growth and development, as well as the facilitation of self-actualization and I think an important aspect of adult education is that adult learners possess their own formed identities as well as personal experiences, and are more often than not intrinsically motivated to learn for different reasons, and taking this into consideration, an objectively structured functionalist approach to teaching in this case may not facilitate the most effective learning for the adult learners.
In conclusion, although I personally identify with the interpretivist quadrant in terms of my own experiences and how I view the world, I see the logic and practicality in the functionalist approach in relation to society as well as education. Instead of trying to impose one particular philosophy on adult education, I believe it makes more sense to view adult education as a collage of the application of different philosophies.
Works Cited
Palacios, C. 2012. Course content for ADHE 412. Retreived from
https://blogs.ubc.ca/adhe412september2012/shaping-adult-education/