History of
Adult Education:
Modes and Methods of Delivery
By
David Agnew
Arkansas State University
First an overview of the content
of this presentation
• Major events in American education
• Movements related to adult education
• Malcom Knowles the father of modern
adult education
• Legislation related to adult education
Major Movements
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•
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•
Junto
Lyceum
Chautauqua
Farmers Institutes
GI Bill
Adult Education Act
• Night and Evening
School
• Correspondence
courses
• Extension Service
• Smith Hughes Act
Major Legislation Associated
with Adult Ed
•
•
•
•
Smith Lever Act -- 1914
Smith Hughes Act -- 1917
National Adult Education Act -- 1964
Perkins Act(s) – 1984, 1990, 1998
– Carl D. Perkins Vocational-Technical Education
Act of 1998
• Workforce Investment Act of 1998
The Father of Modern Adult
Education
• Malcolm Knowles:
Apostle of
Andragogy
• Made popular the
term Andragogy
An Overview
• The History of Adult Education is too extensive to
include in any one slide presentation….
• I have tried to contain the information within this
presentation which is most relative or important.
• Also I have provided many links to sites that are
related but it is not required that you go to those
sites. But if you find any of the information
interesting you can link to these sites to satisfy
your interest.
The long and varied history of
adult education
• To study methods of adult education we can take a
look back in time to see what ideas or approaches
have worked….and which ones are still being
used.
• Some modes or methods change, some do not.
• Technology has impacted the media and the
methods as we will see.
• Many other variables have also impacted the
delivery of adult instruction.
Where to start ?
• There is some confusion as to when we
should start the study of adult education, but
for our purposes we will start it in the 1700s
in Europe.
• The first notable movement was initiated by
a George Berkbeck in what became to be
known as Mechanics Institutes
Mechanics Institutes
• Kelly, Thomas: George Birkbeck, Pioneer
of Adult Education ; Liverpool, 1957.
• Mechanics Institutes started in the 1700s
continued until and even into the early
1900s.
Squanto– first Adult Educator –
early 1600s
• Many of us learned in grade school the
story of how Squanto helped the pilgrims
survive in the new world.
• Some references call Squanto the first adult
educator in America
– The story most remembered
is how he taught the pilgrims
to put a fish in the ground when
they planted corn.
The Junto -1727
• The Junto was organized by Benjamin Franklin in Philadelphia
• A group Franklin’s friends became members of the Junto and it
operated much as a subscription library but they had meetings
and members would report on books they read and have
debates.
• This is considered to be the forerunner of the American library
system.
• The Junto was revived in the 1950s and operated for about 20
years. The link here and on the course webpage takes you to
Temple University where the papers of the revived Junto or
archived and it gives a brief history of the early and later Junto.
The first portion of the following link is to Ben Franklin’s own
writings about the Junto….
Off-shoots of the Junto
•
•
•
•
The American Philosophical Society
Franklin Institute -1824
The University of Pennsylvania
Franklin and the Philadelphia Library --1731
Agricultural Societies and Fairs
Middle 1700s
• Franklin was also instrumental in the
formation of agricultural societies which
brought farmers together to show off their
livestock and crops and promoted the
exchange of information at meetings and in
fairs.
The Lyceum Movement
Began in the U.S. In 1826
• Lyceums were groups of people who would come
together to share their knowledge; to teach and
learn from one another. Members were interested
not only in their own self-improvement, but also in
advancing the cause of public instruction. This
movement helped to:
– Spawn the idea of an integrated national system of local
groups organized mainly for AE
– Develop the lecture-forum as an educational technique
– Promote home study which foreshadowed
correspondence courses
– Lead to the formation of speaker bureaus
ORIGINS OF THE WORD
"LYCEUM"
• 336 BC --The Greek philosopher Aristotle,
pupil of Plato and tutor of Alexander the
Great, established a school which became
known as the Lyceum. Its buildings and
covered colonnade were located outside
Athens in a grove sacred to the Greek god,
Apollo Lyceius. Here students could study
and converse with great scholars as they
strolled along the peripatos (walkway).
Overview of Lyceum Movement
• The American Lyceum grew from the use of local
talent and expertise to the use of traveling scholars
who presented lectures throughout the U.S. The
movement, which began in England, was an effort
to spread popular learning among adults who were
interested in improving their minds. The father of
the movement in the United States was Josiah
Holbrook who founded the first Lyceum in
Millbury, Massachusetts in 1826. Within six
years, there were more than three thousand in
America.
1835
Schenectady
NY Lyceum
• The building was
built by Giles F.
Yates as part of a
permanent
academy of
learning.
1859 Broadside, Lectures,
Kingston NH Lyceum
• A course of lectures to be presented to the Kingston Lyceum
at the Town Hall in Kingston New Hampshire. The series
consisted of twelve lectures, the first being a Poem delivered
by B.P. Shillaber Esq. of Boston. Other named lecturers
include Geo. W. Stevens Esq., of Dover; Reve O. T.
Lamphear, of Exeter; Rev. I.S. Kallock, of Boston; Prof. D.
L. Macurdy, of Penbroke; Rev. J.A.M. Macurdy, of
Pembroke; and Hon. Geo. M. Herring, of Farmington. The
Hall will be opened at 6 1-4 o'clock on each evening, and
the lectures will commence at 7 1-2. Should the weather on
any of the evenings appointed prove very unfavorable, the
lecture will be omitted. Most lectures will be free with the
exception of two for which an admission fee of ten cents
will be charged. C.H. DeRochmemont is president and
Thos. W. Knox is Cor. Sec'y of the Kingston Lyceum.
measures 9" x 15".
Lyceum Hall at the
University of Mississippi
Oxford -- Ole Miss
Marblehead,MA
School Exhibition
1867/Lyceum
• Broadside of School Exhibition
at Lyceum Hall, Marblehead
(Mass.) Friday Evening,
Feb.1,1867. Musical director
Thos. Breare; Pianist, Miss
Lefavor. Dialogues and
Tableaux listed. " Doors open at
6 1/2. Exercises to commence at
7 1/2. Tickets 25 cents."
Lyceums Today
• A few Lyceums still exist today
• Programs today are mostly for entertainment
• Many of the old buildings are now historical
landmarks like the one in Alexandria Virginia
There is also a Lyceum Hall on the grounds of
Ole Miss in Oxford Mississippi.
• Some public school programs were also referred
to as lyceums in the early 1900s.
• The movement begin to die in the mid to late
1920s.
Historical look at
Apprenticeship Programs
What is an Apprenticeship?
• Form of instruction in which a novice learns
from a master of a craft or art
• Purpose was to provide a type of education in
exchange for work.
• Oldest Type of Vo Ed.
• Involved a formal binding agreement that
required the employer to provide formal
training in return for work
Apprenticeship
• Until the late 19th century apprenticeship was
the only means for people to acquire skills for
most occupations.
• Used in Vocational areas as well as Medicine
and Law.
• The Industrial revolution helped to bring this
method almost to a complete stop by the mid to
late 1800s.
National Apprenticeship Act
honored with a stamp--1962
Apprenticeships
continue today:
– Adult
– Youth
– State Level
– National Level
– Most every night of the week you can go to
Delta Technical Institute here in Jonesboro
and find apprenticeship classes being
conducted in electricity, plumbing, etc…..
Land Grant Act
• 1862 1st Morrill Act.
– Justin Morrill from Vermont
– 30,000/ Acres Legislative Representatives
– Money went to form a land grant college in
every state.
• 1890 2nd Morrill Act -- for Blacks
• 1995 3rd Morrill Act -- Native Americans
History of the
Chautauqua Movement
Phases of Development
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•
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•
Central Location-- Chautauqua NY
Tent Chautauquas
Permanent Chautauqua's
Chautauqua's today
Chautauqua N.Y.
The Bell Tower—a common picture
Chautauqua Movement--1874
• The Chautauqua is founded at Chautauqua Lake in
New York as a normal school for Sunday school
teachers. By 1878 they had added the Chautauqua
Literary and Scientific Circle--a 4-year program of
home reading done in connection with local reading
groups. This was the first integrated core program in
adult education on a national scale. The organization
has expanded over the years adding schools, lecture
series, and extracurricular activities. Chautauqua
developed new forms of adult education such as
correspondence courses, summer schools, university
extension, and book clubs.
Bishop John H. Vincent, Chancellor Emeritus
of Chautauqua Institution -- FOUNDER
'SELF-IMPROVEMENT in
all faculties, for all of us,
through all time. For the
greatest good of all people
- this is the Chautauqua
idea, a divine idea , a
democratic idea , a
progressive idea, a
millennial idea.'"
Vincent wrote,
• "Education, once the peculiar
privilege of the few, must in
our best earthly state become
the valued possession of the
many."
Chautauqua at Various Stages
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•
•
•
•
1874 founding at lake Chautauqua NY
1878 Literary and Scientific Circles
1883-1891 Correspondence courses
1900s Mobile Chautauqua (trains and Trucks)
1900s Permanent local Chautauqua
– Local communities built parks and buildings for the summer
programs
• 1930s they began to die
• There is still a Chautauqua Institute and there are some
active Chautauquas in the US.
Outgrowth of the movement
•
•
•
•
•
Publishing house or press
Reading circles
Correspondence courses
Tent Chautauquas
Permanent Community Chautauquas
1883-84 course work required for the
Chautauqua Scientific and Literary Circle
• Devotees wrote Vincent to learn what
books they should read during the long
winters. In response, Vincent developed a
four-year home study course, known as
the Chautauqua Scientific and Literary
Circle, and within ten years, more than
100,000 people were enrolled. It is now
the oldest continuous book club in the
United States. In an age when few
colleges or universities accepted women,
and opportunities for higher education for
married women and businessmen were
almost nonexistent, Vincent's
correspondence course filled a deep need.
EASY LESSONS
in VEGETABLE
BIOLOGY or
OUTLINES OF
PLANT LIFE
by Rev. J.H. Wythe, M.D.
1883 Phillips & Hunt, Pub.
--prepared for students of
Chautauqua Literary and
Scientific Circle and for
schools
Chautauqua Stamp
• The Chautauqua
movement was
honored in the
1960s with the
development of a
postage stamp.
The icon of the
movement was the
tent.
Tents were the hotel rooms
of the day
Famous speakers traveled the
Chautauqua circuit
Postcard of William Jenning Byran
• "The back is printed "Come to
Hear, W. J. Bryan, at
Chautauqua, Le Mars, Iowa,
Saturday, July 8, At 7:30
P.M., A characteristic Bryan
address on questions of big
public concern". probably
dates to 1916.
• Jennings Bryan spoke on its
platforms for thirty years.
Theodore Roosevelt Said of
Chautauqua that it was
• "the most American thing
in America.“
CHAUTAUQUA PROGRAM;
CONWAY ARKANSAS; 1929
• BROADWAY 1929. LATEST
PLAY HITS: "WHITE
COLLARS"; LUCILE ELMORE-MARIMBA BAND. CAPIVATING
MUSIC: THE LOMBARDS; THE
MASSEYS OF NEW MEXICO;
FIECHTL'S YODELING
TYROLEANS. ENTERTAINING
SPEAKERS: HON. CHARLES H
POOLE OF NEW ZEALAND;
JUDGE FRED G BALE
Home Study Courses
Home Study Circles
Correspondence Courses
• These concepts are similar yet have unique
differences
• These are different from night school in that they
are done alone at home. Home study circles were
an exception in that they might involve some
friends coming together.
• We will review these three together
Night Schools and Home Study
• These two concepts developed about the
same time period.
• Both were important adult education
movements but are not as clearly defined as
the Lyceum or other movements.
• Home Study in a more formal sense became
Correspondence Courses
• First we will look at Night schools
Night School
• Definition…. School after sun set, involves a
group.
• History and overview
– Not just for adults
– Began in the early 1800s however the idea really grew
in popularity after electricity became common in 1880s
in many large cities.
– Was mostly for the poor in society.
– Those attending were usually working during the day.
– Usually taught basics
Night School,
History and Overview Continued
– Became way for the working class to advance
or improve their quality of life.
– Cost less than correspondence schools since
books were not required in many cases.
– Later they became vocational in nature
– Many larger cities had a night school committee
– Some early night schools were free, more and
more were free as funded public education
grew.
John Summerfield –1810
Early Night School Teacher in England
• In the year 1810, he
opened a night-school.
Among the pupils who
presented themselves were
young men nearly twice
his own age. The school
continued in successful
operation until the
removal of the teacher to
Liverpool, in the
following year.
New York City,
Scene At A Night-School:
The Perplexed Pupils
Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper-- October, 1875
Note the variations in age
Many Important People Learned
at Night School
Example
Herbert Hoover worked
a land settlement
business as an office boy
and attended night
school (1880s). Then, at
17, Hoover entered
Stanford University as a
special student.
The PRISON
SCHOOL AT
SING SING,
EDUCATION,
1884
Even prisons had night
school.
Wood engraving from
Harper's Weekly 1929
Night School as a setting for
Popular Radio and TV Shows
• Radio shows of the 1940s
– Fibber McGee and Molly
– Irma
• Sit. Coms of the 1960s and 70s
–
–
–
–
–
–
Good Times
All in the Family
Laverne and Shirley
I love Lucy
Life of Riley
Dick Van Dyke
Night Schools…. Now………
• The term night school has faded but he
concept is still around. While it could apply
to youth and adults the fact that most work
for hire is done during the day reflects the
reason adults were mostly in attendance.
• Night as a time for study or school will
always be common since it is the only time
many people can find the time.
Home Study Circles and Courses
• Perhaps the only differences in circles and courses
is the level of structure of the experience which
led to a more concrete outcome in course. Circles
were often social as well as educational and did in
some cases involve people coming together in
homes, where courses were almost strictly on your
own.
• This model for delivery seemed to develop in the
early 1800s in Europe. In Sweden in 1833 there
was an advertisement to enroll in a course at
home in composition.
Home Study Circles and Courses,
continued
• There was a Society to Encourage Study at
Home founded in 1874 that over a 24 year time
period was said to have over 10,00 learners
enrolled. Their primary focus was classical
studies.
• Study circles or sometimes called literary circles
seems to include more traditional classical studies,
history and literature. Courses covered many
topics, from agriculture to religion.
Home Study Circles and Courses,
continued
• Home study was popular because it did not require
travel in a time when roads were very poor and
transportation was not easy or fast.
• Home study courses were also good for people in
remote areas where night schools were not possible.
• Electricity made HSCs more likely to occur in the
1880s-90s….
• Major sub-division of HSCs were credit or noncredit. A key difference of a credit and no-credit
HSC is the source of the course. Mostly
colleges/universities offered credit HSCs.
Home Study Circles and Courses,
continued
• HSCs required money for book or course materials
and also there was the recurring cost of mailings.
• Mostly non-credit however credit HSCs came along
later (1890s) These when offered by an institution
of higher learning and for credit were really what we
call correspondence courses. Credit courses cost
more
• Sub-divided formats began to appear where what
might have been a single big book was broken down
in to smaller booklets. These were sometimes
mailed out after previous lessons were complete
Correspondence Courses
• The popular correspondence course idea
grew out of the home study movement but
was more focused on credit…. We will also
see this concept discussed in a summary of
the history of the Chautauqua movement.
• 1891 the International Correspondence
Schools of Scranton, PA becomes the first
institutionalized correspondence school.
The Moveable School -- 1890s
• This was a forerunner to the extension service
• Started by George Washington Carver in Alabama
• Book about the movement….
– Campbell, Thomas Monroe: THE MOVEABLE
SCHOOL GOES TO THE NEGRO FARMER ;
Tuskegee, Alabama: Tuskegee Institute Press, 1936.
Farmer Institutes
• Late 1800 to 1920-30s
• Modeled after teacher institutes and after
Chautauquas
• Involved societies and universities
• Connected to the extension movement
• Connected with the home/farm demonstrations
that motivated the formation of CES
• Died partly because of CES
The Smith Lever Act --1914
The Extension Service
• Some Texas counties started hiring agents in
early 1900s to help farmers.
• Seaman Knapp, founding father – used
demonstration methods
• Created the Extension Service
• Started with adult farmers but later included
women and youth (4H)
The Smith Hughes Act-- 1917
• For youth AND Adults
• First Federal legislation for vocational
education
• Included Ag, Home Economics, T&I and
Business
• After war there was a second Vocational Act
that brought vo ed to disabled vets.
WORLD WAR 1 POSTER
DISABLED SOLDIERS, SAILORS, MARINES
• "DISABLED SOLDIERS, SAILORS,
MARINES - BUSINESS NEEDS YOU
START BACK TO CIVIL LIFE RIGHT
UNCLE SAM WILL TRAIN YOU
FREE FOR A PERMANENT JOB - PAY
YOU WHILE IN TRAINING - HELP
YOU GET A GOOD JOB - WRITE
THE FEDERAL BOARD FOR
VOCATIONAL EDUCATION WASHINGTON, D.C. Poster No. 2 Government Printing Office - 9-780. The
artwork is done by GORDON GRANT,
Captain, U. S. Army
Vo-Rehab ca. 1918-1920
Useful and Profitable Vocational Training for Patients at
U.S. Army Base Hospital, Camp Devens, MA.
Radio
• Radio became a means of delivering adult
education in the 1930-40 in many rural
communities.
Current Legislation
• Perkins Act 1998
• Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (WIA)
The End