The purpose of this research is to examine the field of adult education in the United States to see what is needed to achieve increased effectiveness within it. At a time when the trend in adult education is toward increased availability and variety of programs in order to serve a growing and diverse population of adult learners, the need for such research is increasingly apparent. Accordingly, the plan of the research will be to set forth the various ways in which adult education has changed in the twentieth century, and then to discuss controversial issues affecting the direction that such education has taken in the past and ought to take in the future. Reference will be made to the questions regarding the type, administration, and availability of adult education programs, as well as the motivations that adults have for entering these programs. The research of Cross, begun in 1981 and still in print in 1989, will be cited extensively for this purpose. As regards amplification of certain elements of adult education, the increasingly pronounced visibility of women in adult education programs in recent years will be explored, with a view toward showing how women's different ways of learning, knowing, and making decisions about their learning activities can be considered in the process of developing a plan for such programs. The research will also suggest possible guiding criteria for making a system of adult education effective.
In order to come up with specific recommendations for achieving optimum results with adult education programs suited to the challenges posed by the twenty first century, it may be useful to examine how the present system of adult education came into being and expanded throughout the twentieth century. A working definition of adult education is therefore in order. Citing a range of theorists who have proposed definitions over the years, Cross suggests a broadly conceived, inclusive designation as "su...