History of Adult Education in the 1980s, by Jennifer Stout

EDAC 631

Adult Community Education

Jennifer Stout

Ball State University

Your Name:	Commented On:
Jennifer Stout	Sherry Price

 

Introduction

 Adult education refers to "any activity or program deliberately designed (by the learner, another, or others) to satisfy any learning need or interest that may be experienced at any stage in the adult's life" (Learning Opportunities for Adults, 1977). Adult education took on a new life in the 1980s thanks in part to the realization that many Americans were illiterate and under educated. New legislation was introduced by President Reagan as the Adult Literacy Initiative that was created “to have the U.S. Department of Education conduct a series of national meetings and conferences to increase awareness of adult illiteracy and promote cooperation among adult education programs in eradicating adult illiteracy” (U.S. Department of Education, 2013, p. 24). This became an initiative that included an AD campaign, more money for funding, and a literacy program (U.S. Department of Education, 2013, p. 24). The concern that lasted throughout this decade in regard to adult education was the quality of education. The focus of education was shifted from the federal and local governments to individual states (Ravich, 1990).  “Reform of teacher education and of the teaching profession became a key item on the agenda of the 80’s” (Ravich, 1990).

There were many large events that occurred during the 1980’s that impacted how to decade was shaped. A few of those events were-Sandra Day O’Connor was the first woman U.S. Supreme Court Justice, Sally Ride was the first U.S. Woman Astronaut, the MacIntosh Computer is introduced, the AIDS epidemic began, and The Challenger Shuttle explosion that killed everyone on board.  These are just a few of the events that took place in the 1980’s that would have an impact on the world and especially the United States.

Highlights

            “During the 1980s, the nation welcomed the largest and the most diverse group of immigrants since the beginning of the century. The decade of the 1980s was also marked by a comprehensive redesign of U.S. policy toward refugees, undocumented immigrants, temporary immigrants, and those gaining permanent status under the Immigration and Nationality Act” (Rolph, 1992, p. iii). There was a huge surge of immigrants coming into the country during this decade, which also led to a significant increase in illiteracy due to their inability to read or write English. This was not a skill that was taught to them in schools from their country of origin.

Due to the teacher reform that took place in the 1980’s, there was an education overhaul that would occur within schools, but it was done too late for many of the American’s who had graduated and remained illiterate. They were good at hiding their inability to read by memorizing, using their ability to fool others, and finding what they were familiar with (U.S. Department of Education, 2013, p. 25). The Bureau of the Census sent out a basic literacy test to randomly chosen Americans and it was determined that “approximately 1 out of 8 Americans could not read” (U.S. Department of Education, 2013, p. 25). This resulted in what was referred to as the Literacy Crisis. The U.S. Department of Education, Congress, and the individual states concluded something needed to be done, so they worked together and “passed legislation that provided a total of $421 million in state grant funds for adult basic education” (U.S. Department of Education, 2013, p. 25). According to research that was conducted by Varnum after the education overhaul, “approximately 23 million Americans are functionally illiterate and one quarter of the recent recruits to the US Navy cannot read at the ninth-grade level” (1986, p. 146). The reason that so many government agencies became involved in this was “to improve educational opportunities for adults who lack the level of literacy skills requisite to effective citizenship and productive employment” (U.S. House of Representatives, 1991, p. 505).

Influential Factors

            “Congress rarely enacts major immigration legislation more than once every several decades. Yet, in one 10-year span the lawmakers passed three separate statutes: the Refugee Act of 1980, the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA), and the Immigration Act of 1990 (Rolph, 1992, p. 1). While investigating how each of these statutes affected the country, Rolph (1992, p. 26) discovered that while the education levels were noticeably declining along with their skill levels, it was more noticeable in immigrants than in natives to the country.

            There was also an amendment to the Adult Education Act that aided “groups such as students with limited English proficiency, Indian students, women, and adults in need of acquiring basic literacy skills. This included the Adult Education Act…the statement of purpose was expanded to include a national priority on literacy” (U.S. Department of Education, 2013, p. 62). In 1988, another amendment was created to include secondary education and added to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act Amendments of 1966. In this amendment, the definition of adult education was rewritten to include only adults: “(1) who were not enrolled in secondary school; (2) who were not currently required to be enrolled in school; and (3) whose lack of mastery of basic skills resulted in an inability to speak, read, or write the English language that constituted a substantial impairment of their ability to obtain or retain employment commensurate with their real ability” (U.S. Department of Education, 2013, p. 64).  

Implications

            During this decade, many changes were made at the national level. Immigration significantly increased which led to new laws being created to address the influx of immigrants from other countries. With the increase of immigrants, an increase in illiteracy was also created which led to multiple amendments being written to address how the country would be working on helping adults who were lacking reading and writing skills. Programs were expanded to help those who were in need and the government gave more control to the states but remained involved in the inclusion of the new amendments and laws.

            The definition of what would be considered an “adult learner” was also rewritten to include anyone who was living in this country and was lacking basic skills related to speaking and writing English, which means that immigrants were now included in the definition. By included immigrants it gave them access to federal funding and the ability to receive adult education in America.

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

Areas                                                                                 Summary

Social background                          -Focus on illiteracy, teacher reform

Highlights                           -Immigration, Literacy crisis, productive employment

Influential factors             -IRCA, Adult Education Act, Amendments

Implications                      - Immigration, Adult education definition

 

References

Learning Opportunities for Adults, Vol. I, OECD (Paris, 1977), pp. 21-22.

Ravich, D. (1990, January 10). Education in the 1980’s; A Concern for ‘Quality.’ Education Week. Education in the 1980's: A Concern for 'Quality' (Opinion) (edweek.org)

Rolph, S. (1992). Legacy from the 1980s and Issues for the 1990s. (Rand).

U.S. Department of Education: Office of Vocational and Adult Education (2013). An American Heritage-Federal Adult Education: A Legislative History 1964-2013. *Federal Adult Education—A Legislative History

U.S. House of Representatives. A Compilation of Federal Education Laws. Volume II-- Elementary and Secondary Education, Individuals with Disabilities and Related Programs as Amended through December 31, 1990. Prepared for the Use of the Committee on Education and Labor, 102nd Congress, First Session. Serial No. 102-K. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1991.

Varnum, R. (1986). From Crisis to Crisis: The Evolution toward Higher Standards of Literacy in the United States. Rhetoric Society Quarterly, 16(3), 145–165. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3885715