3,778 results for: Education

ed·u·ca·tion    Audio Help   /ˌɛdʒʊˈkeɪʃən/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[ej-oo-key-shuhn] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation

–noun

1.	the act or process of imparting or acquiring general knowledge, developing the powers of reasoning and judgment, and generally of preparing oneself or others intellectually for mature life.

2.	the act or process of imparting or acquiring particular knowledge or skills, as for a profession.

3.	a degree, level, or kind of schooling: a university education.

4.	the result produced by instruction, training, or study: to show one's education.

5.	the science or art of teaching; pedagogics.

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[Origin: 1525–35; (< MF) < L éducātiōn- (s. of éducātiō), equiv. to éducāt(us) (see educate) + -iōn- -ion]

—Synonyms 1. instruction, schooling, learning. Education, training imply a discipline and development by means of study and learning. Education is the development of the abilities of the mind (learning to know): a liberal education. Training is practical education (learning to do) or practice, usually under supervision, in some art, trade, or profession: training in art, teacher training. 4. learning, knowledge, enlightenment. Education, culture are often used interchangeably to mean the results of schooling. Education, however, suggests chiefly the information acquired. Culture is a mode of thought and feeling encouraged by education. It suggests an aspiration toward, and an appreciation of high intellectual and esthetic ideals: The level of culture in a country depends upon the education of its people.

Forms of Adult Education

Contemporary adult education can take many different forms. Colleges and universities have instituted evening programs, extension work, courses without credit, corresponence courses, and distance learning programs (with courses transmitted by satellite to numerous locations); community colleges have been especially active in this area. Organizations designed to relieve illiteracy are instrumental in adult education, as are the schools established to teach the English language and American customs to the foreign-born. Adult education is also sponsored by corporations, labor unions, and private institutes. The field now embraces such diverse areas as vocational education, high-school equivalency, parent education, adult basic education (including literacy training), physical and emotional development, practical arts, applied science, and recreation as well as the traditional academic, business, and professional subjects. Each year millions of Americans take such a course or program.

At the local level, public schools have been active in furnishing facilities and assistance to private adult education groups in many communities. Community centers, political and economic action associations, and dramatic, musical, and artistic groups are regarded by many as adult education activities. Great Books groups (est. 1947), in which adults read and discuss a specified list of volumes, grew out of great books seminars at Chicago and Columbia universities and St. John's College. In many places the local public library sponsors such groups.

See also Cooperative Extension Service.

Development

Only in the past two centuries has the field of adult education acquired definite organization. Its relatively recent development results from numerous social trends—the general spread of public education, the intensification of economic competition with a resulting premium on skills, the complexities of national and international politics demanding constant study, the stimulating effects of urbanization, the opportunity offered by increased leisure time, and increased interest in educational activities on the part of many older men and women. Modern and formal adult education probably originated in European political groups and, after the Industrial Revolution, in vocational classes for workers. Continuation schools for workers in Germany and Switzerland were common. The folk high school in Denmark, founded by Bishop Grundtvig, stressed intellectual studies, and the Adult Schools of the Society of Friends in England (1845) fostered the education of the poor.

The earliest American forms of adult education were the public lectures given in the lyceum (c.1826) and the Lowell Institute of Boston endowed by John Lowell (1836). In 1873 the Chautauqua movement introduced the discussion group and modified lecture system. Free public lectures supported by the Dept. of Education of New York City were inaugurated in 1904. In 1926 the Carnegie Corporation organized the American Association for Adult Education, which later became the Adult Education Association of the U.S.A. In 1982 it merged with the National Association for Public Continuing Adult Education to form the American Association for Adult and Continuing Education. This group, through its research and publications, works not only to promote education as a lifelong learning process but also to systematize the methods and philosophy of the field.

Federal funding and support for adult education have been provided through the Vocational Education Act (1963), the Economic Opportunity Act (1964), the Manpower Act (1965), the Adult Education Act (1966, amended 1970), the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (1973), the Lifelong Learning Act (1976), and for a broader spectrum of learners by the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology Act (1984). The Office of Vocational and Adult Education, under the U.S. Dept. of Education, administers grant, contract, and technical assistance programs for adult education, literacy, and occupational training. Most federal funding for these programs is administered through the states, counties, and individual communities. Other major federal providers of adult education are the Dept. of Agriculture and the Dept. of Defense.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia Copyright © 2004, Columbia University Press.
Licensed from Columbia University Press

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