Goals & Objectives of Adult Education

Adult Education: Goals, Objectives and Student Advancement

Why do adults go to school? According to Papalia and Olds (1992), about 2/3rds of adults enrolled in part-time education classes are there for job-related reasons--these either receive their education in formal institutions or they take education/training classes given in their companies or organizations, often known as "in-house adult eduction".

Other adult students desire to sharpen their academic abilities or to get the high school diploma they did not get as adolescents. Still others simply desire to expand their minds and skills. Helping all of these people meet their various objectives is the primary goal of adult education.

A subsidiary objective of adult education is to not only educate these adults in the areas they desire but to do so in a manner that creates personal satisfaction. Regarding this goal, Vinson (1982) has noted that surveys of adult education students indicate that they are moderately to well satisfied with the services they receive.

According to Vinson, this good level of satisfaction is because most institutions serving adult learners have clearly stated

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tates that those returning to school to sharpen academic skills do in fact reach these goals. Also, she notes that there is a social benefit in that many people who have taken adult education classes perceive themselves as more egalitarian in social outlook than they were prior to enrollment; many also have stronger feelings of confidence in their general, even non-academic ability. In other words, adult education classes can make people feel better about themselves. On the other hand, Cunningham is not without criticism of the system. She notes that the lack of research into the social, economic, and personal consequences of adult education in terms of improving or advancing the situations of adult learners makes it difficult to put strong confidence in any positive findings. Further, she notes that what studies do exist have not been strongly tied to any theories of adult education, making it difficult for researchers and theorists to understand what precise factors have produced the positive findings. Holm (1991) has also criticized adult education research as it applies to in-house training of employees. In particular, he notes that the goals of business and adult education are often not well integrated with each other
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Approximate Word count = 1423
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)

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