Adult Education and Influences of the 19th Century by Michael Pollock

   Mike Pollock commented on  :       Rachel Smith, LaTanya Robinson, Lisa Freeman

Some of the educational philosophies developed in the 19^th century were critical to developing the modern system of adult education we enjoy today. What might be called archaic forms of education and training evolved starting in the 1800s into systems that enable nearly anyone to access learning opportunities of many kinds such as university extension courses, online workplace safety training, and something called MOOC or massive online open courses where participation is unlimited and free in 2020.

    Those early archaic institutions such as the church, the military, and master-apprentice agreements focused on handing information down from a higher source to those less privileged. This could mean learning a trade from a master over a period of many years, being taught life lessons and bible stories from a pastor at church, or learning the bugle call regimentation of soldier life. These all required subservience to a system that was largely based on class and aristocracy, not on individual merit or ideas. These were the old, entrenched social systems that began to be replaced over the next century.

    Early in the 1800s, the Danish poet and Lutheran minister N.F.S. Grundtvig began a philosophical journey around the possibility of empowering the individual through commitment to group discussion of differing viewpoints. This democratic ideal came to be called the Folk High School philosophy of education and foreshadowed later experiments such as the Highlander school in Tennessee. These were both residential schools of ideas where each student’s contributions were valued and encouraged. There was no goal in mind, rather a process of sharing and listening. At the same time as Grundtvig, the Lyceum concept was being explored in the U.S. which involved topical lectures and discussions in a public forum. This avenue of exchanging ideas was informal and accessible which led later to the Chautauqua movement popular in the late 1800s. These opportunities for democratic discussion and shared entertainment helped build communities and better citizens.

    Booker T Washington is one of the most influential thinkers and believers in education that empowers the common man. Born into slavery, he became a leader for black Americans and espoused the idea that trades education should go along with academics for everyone. After the land grant college system was established by the Morrill Act of 1862, he founded Tuskegee College and his thoughts continue to shape the course of vocational and adult education today. The idea that each American should have access to training in agriculture and mechanic arts as well as in math and literacy was part of the genius of the land grant college system, for “the liberal and practical education of the industrial classes.” (Andrews, 1918, p. 5)

    In signing the land grant college legislation and seeing an end to civil war in 1865, Abraham Lincoln was known as a champion of the common man regardless of race or class. His presidency and times dominates the 19^th century due to social advancement and unification of the country. He held to the truths of a government of the people, for the people and by the people which dominate our discussions around all of education today. Along with Grundtvig and Booker and many others, Lincoln ensured we would not go back to the archaic institutions that kept only the privileged in power and the masses unable to build and see a better life.

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

Areas Summary

Social background

• Post- Declaration of Independence and American Revolution

• Bill of Rights is brand new

• War of 1812

• Uncle Tom’s Cabin, by Harriet Beecher Stowe published

• Civil War

• Origin of Species, by Charles Darwin published

Highlights

• Trend toward democratic, student-centered learning

• Sharing of ideas develops strong citizenry

• Leaving old top-down models for grass roots empowerment of individual

• Democracy builds on ideas

• Opportunity for all adults

Influential factors

• New nation, new constitution

• Advancements in science

• Slavery abolished

• 14^th and 15^th amendments to constitution

• Civil war was about ideas, unity of the country, progress

Implications

• Grass roots process defeats authoritarian systems

• Leading thinkers in history come from all classes

• Folk education is continuing education

• Adult education is about reinventing life

References

    Reason TV. (Oct 10, 2013) Folk High Schools, Adult Education, and the Philosophy of Nikolaj         Grundtvig [Video] Youtube. https://youtu.be/cy2f4RnStlg

Andrews, B. F., & Department of the Interior, B. of E. (ED). (1918). The Land Grant of 1862 and the Land-Grant Colleges. Bulletin, 1918, No. 13. 

Denton, V. L. (1993) 93). Booker T. Washington and the Adult Education Movement.

 

Howell, S. L., & McGinn, A. D. (2006). The Chautauqua Movement and Its Influence on Adult Education Theory and Practice Today. In Online Submission. Online Submission.

 

Ludlow, M., Methuen, C., & Spicer, A. (2019). Churches and Education. Studies in Church History. Volume 55. Cambridge University Press.

Michelson, W. (1969). FROM RELIGIOUS MOVEMENT TO ECONOMIC CHANGE The Grundtvigian Case in Denmark, ark. Journal of Social History, or(4), 283–301. https://doi-org.proxy.bsu.edu/10.1353/jsh/2.4.283