Smurr History of Adult and Community Ed.: 1920s

I commented on Joe in Group 1, Becky in Group 3, and Darcey in Group 4.

Introduction

            The 1920s in America are known as a period of progressiveness.  The time period was just after WWI, the “war to end all wars”.  But it did not do that.  Society had a sense of disillusionment on one hand, which led to a loosening of moral guidelines like clothing restrictions and public activities like smoking for women (Goldberg, 1999, p. 10).  On the other hand, there was also an explosion of change for women and minorities as well as a great deal of economic excess (Miller, 2010, p. 1).  People had more wealth and began building the consumerist society that still exists today (Goldberg, 1999, p. 10).  One of the benefits of extra income or the desire to earn extra was an investment in adult education for the purpose of social advancement.

            The social climate was about having greater freedom from the previously rigid rules of a class-based society and the giddiness of growing power for common workers with unions, and women and minorities with more equal rights.   People seemed to feel like they could shape American society themselves.  The American Dream was no longer a mirage but a reality, and more so, reform offered hope that true change could improve the lives of all citizens in society as epitomized in the life of F. Scott Fitzgerald (Miller, 2010, p. 3-10).  America, on the global stage, mirrored that burgeoning headiness of world leadership and vision that took commerce and free-trade to a whole new level and contributed to the prosperity of the time (Goldberg, 1999, p. 11). 

            In summary, the 1920s was when America had a radical shift in perspective, culture, and economy.  Power, freedom, leadership, and change ran rampant in almost all aspects of society.  It was a time that gave birth to philosophies about how society should be and could be better.  It was an ideal setting for Adult Education to organize and find its purpose.

Highlights

            The Smith-Hughes Act, passed into law in 1917, was a precursor to the emphasis on adult vocational training in the 1920s (“Smith-Hughes”, 2014).  There was rapid industrialization, urbanization, and a need for skilled workers that had not been the case previously.  Americans had preferred to have many skills, which helped them tame the unknown perils of the uncivilized frontier (Kett, 1990, p. 6).  In the 1920s, however, both industries and the unemployed converged in a common need for specifically trained skill sets.  Pragmatically, education gained from 4-year colleges was not nearly as valued as experience based, 2-year technical education where graduates had concrete, practical skills (Kett, 1990, p. 14). 

            The 1920s was also a time when engineering, business, and law schools became entities of their own.  At first, they branched out mostly as subsidiaries of colleges offered as night classes to adults, especially immigrants, who were looking to improve their opportunities and take part in what had been an elite class profession.  With the rapid business changes, people also began to see employment as a ladder rather than a static occupation (Kett, 1990, p. 21, 41).  The night classes faced backlash for this reason but would not be denied in the face of industry demands and profit potential.  These programs became more recognized as complicated, specialized knowledge and skills including management training, accounting beyond recording numbers to include trends and efficiencies, and exam preparation for CPA and the American Bar Association.  They eventually moved back to “day” classes and became recognized as structured, philosophical programs (Kett, 1990, p. 21-22).  In fact, during this time corporations founded schools that put “their stress on the inculcation of specialized knowledge, knowledge that was company-specific as well as job-specific (Kett, 1990, p. 31).  Revolutionary changes in business were significant factors in adult education at the time.  It became valuable to gain knowledge and skills before professional employment, which is a model still in use today.

Influential factors

            One influential thinker of the time was American Edward Lee Thorndike.  His theories about using the scientific approach with education can still be seen in “training” rather than “education” (Simpson, 1994, p. 9).   His theory about education was based on the human goal to satisfy certain wants.  Satisfaction, annoyance, and repetition were primary components.  Satisfiers and repetition build connections in learning while annoyers get in the way of learning (Simpson, 1994, p. 9).   This was his basis for how to motivate learners to respond.

            Another of the key contributors to adult education in the 1920s is John Dewey. He published Democracy and Education in 1916.  He thoroughly explored what it means to be a “lifelong learner” and subsequently constructed the foundation of the field of adult education and its principles (Simpson, 1994, p. 10).  His approach came from the pragmatic philosophy which was in turn derived from democracy and reliance on the collective wisdom of the masses to find meaning in life rather than depending on God or the aristocracy.  Life as learning and growth is intrinsic to both (Simpson, 1994, p. 11).  This perspective is different from the trends of the time for vocational training to add a skill that was missing.  Dewey saw the growing education of the populace to be an opportunity for holistic, social revolution through education to improve society.

            Finally, a game-changing influence on adult education in the 1920s is Eduard Lindeman. Merriam and Brockett (2007) call his foundational progressive work, The Meaning of Adult Education in 1926, a book the remains “a standard resource for articulating the philosophy of contemporary adult education” (p. 43).   He is the primary source for student centered learning, education as individual and social progress/improvement, and situational learning.  These are core tenants of the discipline today.  Eduard worked under Dewey and “is regarded as the earliest major philosopher of adult education in the United States” (Simpson, 1994, p. 11).   He built the concept of what adult education means, curriculum, methods of group learning that emphasize the learners’ experiences and situations rather than subjects, and learning as a social force rather than a vocational tool (Simpson, 1994, p. 12).  Life is the school, and learners need to first fully analyze the present context both generally and individually through group discussion before they can make conclusions about what would make the future better. 

            On the institutional front, the American Association for Adult Education was founded in 1926.    Andrew Carnegie was a huge financial contributor, although posthumously via his foundation.  His philanthropic interests during his life focused on building and sustaining public libraries since he considered them “the university of the people” (Carnegie Corp., 2014).   His foundation saw a natural extension to a partnership with The Department of Adult Education (originally the Department of Immigration Education) (Fleming, 2000, p. 3).  There are clearly divergent interests in these two entities, which is the perfect embodiment of the nebulousness of adult education as a field. In any case, Carnegie’s vision to “promote the advancement and diffusion of knowledge and understanding” (Carnegie Corp., 2014) was not an accident in the foundation of an American institution to represent adult education.  Carnegie also had the wisdom to say, “Conditions upon erth inevitably change” (Carnegie Corp., 2014).  Perhaps this beginning is the reason the professional associations that were later spawned from the American Association for Adult Education seem to have ups and downs as the field innately responds to the fluctuations of society. 

Implications

            One lesson from this decade is that education can change society.  It did in the 1920s, and there continues to be flashes of it today.  The Daily Show is a good example.   Cleverly disguised as entertainment, young people are engaged and educated about current events in a way that works because it is a revolutionary reframing of a familiar form of education (television news).  Its format of easily digestible clips and witty banter teaches viewers how to be critical thinkers and how to question “authority figures” like the news.   Young people are becoming re-engaged in social issues, which is crucial since they will be society’s shapers of the future.  Facebook is not just about forwarding cat videos.  It is now a platform to discuss divergent and controversial views and share news nationally and internationally about issues that are relevant to them.  Dialogue is the cornerstone of adult education theory.  With this piece reinstated into cultural communication, change will come.

            Another lesson from the 1920s is that change can happen rapidly.  Society had been rather entrenched in its paradigm.  Within a relatively short time of about ten years, the paradigm made a giant shift.  It is difficult to imagine nowadays what it must have been like for people to flagrantly disregard the hierarchical status quo and not only talk about how education could change society, but actually experience it for themselves.  There is so much disillusionment in society today about corporations and government both of which have grown so complex that average citizens (the vast majority) no longer understand the forces that shape their lives.  There may be a tipping point soon due to grassroots education about these shadowy entities that might topple the current status quo of income inequality and corporate interests.

            Another implication is that ideas and information are not enough.  Like the Ball State University (2014) mission statement says, “We transform information into knowledge, knowledge into judgment, and judgment into action that addresses complex problems.”   One of the biggest lessons of the 1920s is that education and change require action.  The more people know, the more they should feel compelled to act.  The Occupy Movement is a great example.  Knowing about problems, discussing solutions and forming groups of adult learners are important.  But without action, education is not being used towards the betterment of society.  Knowledge as adults goes beyond facts.  At that stage, learners are critical participants in the theories and constructs they engage in.  If there is consensus, there is almost a moral obligation to act.  Change does not happen because of thoughts.  Change is a noun and a verb. 

            In conclusion, the 1920s were the infancy of adult education.  Yet in that decade, many of the theories, people, perspectives and social developments that shaped the discipline of adult education as it exists today found form, function and principle.  It was the adult education equivalent of a “giant step for mankind.”

References

Ball State University. (2014). Our vision, mission, and values.  Retrieved from http://cms.bsu.edu/about/strategicplan2017/vision-and-mission

Carnegie Corporation of NY.  (2014).  Founding and early years. Retrieved from http://carnegie.org/about-us/foundation-history/founding-and-early-years/

Fleming, J. A. (2000).  Professional associations in adult and continuing education.  PAACE Journal of Lifelong Learning, 9, 1-11.

Goldberg, D. J. (1999).  Discontented America: The United States in the 1920s.  Johns Hopkins University Press.

Kett, J. F., & National Center on Education and Employment, N. Y. (1990). From useful knowledge to vocational education 1860-1930. Conference Paper No. 11.

Merriam, S. & Brockett, R. (2007). The profession and practice of adult education: An introduction. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN# 978-0-470-18153-9.

Miller, N. (2010).  New world coming: The 1920s and the making of modern America.  Simon and Schuster.

Smith-Hughes Act. (2014). In Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/549939/Smith-Hughes-Act

Table 1. Summary of the History of Adult/Community Education

Areas	Summary
Social background	There was a great deal of social change, including upward mobility from business and industrialization development that led to vocational and societal education opportunities for adults.
Highlights	There was a huge focus on vocational training due to the needs of industry and the individual.  There were also philosophies born about lifelong learners, individual growth, experiential learning student centered classrooms, and education as social change.
Influential factors	Thorndike, Dewey, Lindeman, The American Association for Adult Education
Implications	Education can change society.  It can change society rapidly.  But only if knowledge is balanced by action.