Meredith Freeman - Adult Education in the 1990s

*I commented on Emily Sheperd's blog post in Group 1's blog this week.
*I also commented on Caroline Klein's paper in Group 4's blog.

Meredith Freeman

Adult Education in the 1990s

EDAC 631

Spring 2017

Introduction:

Adult education, in any time period, consists of formal, non-formal and informal education.  Formal education is typically standardized and credential-based, like any of this country’s high schools or higher education school systems.  Non-formal education is usually community related, short-term, specific training, such as a CPR class at a local YMCA.  Informal education is a lifelong process, and includes things that are learned from life experiences, like learning about current events from nightly news shows (Smith, 2001). 

People participate in these three types of education for different reasons and at difference stages of life.  Hamil-Luker and Uhlenberg note that more than 40% of adults participated in some kind of education in the 1990s (2002).  According to a survey in 1994, “90% of Americans aged 64 and younger who engaged in adult education did so for career or job-related purposes (Hamil-Luker & Uhlenberg, 2002, pg. S325).”  It is also important to recognize that “the opportunity to participate in adult learning is unbalanced between . . . social strata” like income, race and gender (Hamil-Luker & Uhlenberg, 2002, pg. S325).

Highlights:

            According to the United States Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics, "approximately 32 percent of adults 17 years old or older participated in some type of adult education” in 1990, the first year of this important decade (1998, pg. xiii).  More than half of all adult education participants in 1990 were female, and almost 90% of them were Caucasian (U.S. Department of Education, 1998). 

According to Hamil-Luker and Uhlenberg’s research, there was “a 22% inflation-adjusted increase in spending by the U.S. Department of Education between 1990 and 2000”, but “federal funds for vocational and adult education decreased by 37% (2002, pg. S325).”  This lent itself toward a national trend of privatized education, with students using public adult education less in the 1990s (Hamil-Luker, 2002).  Corporations, clubs, alumni organizations and other groups could provide privatized education.  Also according to Hamil-Luker and Uhlenberg, “previous research has shown that older adults are not as likely as younger people to engage in organized forms of adult education (2002, pg. S325).” 

Influential Factors:

            Adult education in the 1990s was influenced by many different factors.  The United States was run by two presidents during this decade: George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton.  George H.W. Bush took a more conservative approach to education in this country, focusing mainly on outcomes for middle and high school students, but also mentioning adult education at times.  In his 1990 State of the Union message to Congress, President Bush laid out a plan for “every American adult” to become a skilled, literate worker by the year 2000 (ontheissues.org, n.d.).

            President Clinton seemed to focus his educational efforts during his presidency on learning at all ages, including getting more tax credits for college tuition, through programs like work-study programs and Pell Grants, as reported by ontheissues.org (n.d.).  President Clinton’s 1997 State of the Union message to Congress included his plans to “expand the frontiers of learning across a lifetime” as well as to make two-years of college universal for all Americans (ontheissues.org, n.d.).  According to an excerpt from the Bill Clinton for President 1996 website, found on 4President.us, President Clinton also encouraged all types of education via “local partnerships among businesses, schools, community organizations, and state and local governments” to broaden “educational, career, and economic opportunities for students not immediately bound for four-year colleges (2011).”

            Welfare-to-work programs were also popular during this decade, which saw the signing of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act of 1996.  This act created Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), which provides “cash assistance and supportive services to assist families . . . [in] achieving economic self sufficiency (Indiana Family and Social Services Administration, n.d.).”  TANF requires recipients to begin working within two years of receiving benefits, and to actively complete job applications during this time (Indiana Family and Social Services Administration, n.d.).  The need to begin working surely required many adults to learn new skills and participate in adult education in the 1990s.

During the 1990s, higher education institutions encouraged enrollment from a broader group of people.  “Influenced by prevailing ideals of social inclusion, universities seek to widen the participation of groups who have been traditionally underrepresented on college campuses (Hamil-Luker & Uhlenberg, 2002, pg. S325).”  Hamil-Luker and Uhlenberg found “there is a relaxation of expected age-related transitions . . . younger people are more likely to engage in formal educational programs, but that the association between involvement and age weakened over the 1990s (2002, pg. S325).”

Implications:

            It seems that employment status was a main reason for participating in adult education in the 1990s.  “A 1994 survey of adult learning, for example, found that 90% of Americans aged 64 and younger who engaged in adult education did so for career or job-related purposes (Hamil-Luker & Uhlenberg, 2002, pg. S325).”  The National Center for Educational Statistics reports similar data, saying that throughout just 1990, close to 60% of adults reported taking courses “to improve or advance in a current job or career (1998, pg. 19).” 

As stated by Hamil-Luker and Uhlenberg’s research, “those who were employed were more than four times as likely to have participated in an educational program provided by business or industry as those who were not employed (2002, pg. S328).”  Hamil-Luker and Uhlenberg also found that adults who were employed were more likely to take courses offered by schools than those who were not employed (2002).  The National Center for Educational Statistics found that “individuals in service occupations were among the most likely to engage in course taking to improve basic skills (1998, pg. 20).”  Conversely, people employed in craft occupations were more likely to take courses in preparation for a new job or career (National Center for Educational Statistics, 1998).

            Gender and income also seem to be an emerging reason throughout research for a person to either participate or not participate in adult education in the 1990s.  Hamil-Luker and Uhlenberg found that “females had greater odds than males of participating in educational programs provided by schools and community organizations, and persons with higher incomes were more likely to engage in all types of adult education (2002, pg. S328).”  Interestingly, this same paper found that marital status did not have an affect on adult education participation rates during this time. 

            The research done for this paper has shown that adult education in the 1990s was affected by many factors, including those that we may be dealing with currently.  Politics, gender roles and other important aspects of life will continue to impact adult education in this country.

References

Bill Clinton 1996 on the issues improving education. (2011). Retrieved February 7, 2017, from http://www.4president.us/issues/clinton1996/clinton1996education.htm

Bill Clinton on education. (n.d.). Retrieved February 7, 2017, from http://www.ontheissues.org/Celeb/Bill_Clinton__Education.htm

George Bush, Sr. on education. (n.d.). Retrieved February 7, 2017, from http://www.ontheissues.org/Celeb/George_Bush_Sr__Education.htm

Hamil-Luker, J., & Uhlenberg, P. (2002). Later life education in the 1990s: Increasing involvement and continuing disparity. Journal of Gerontology, 57B(6), S324-S331. Retrieved February 07, 2017.

Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. (n.d.). Retrieved February 8, 2017, from https://www.in.gov/fssa/dfr/2684.htm

U.S. Department of Education. National Center for Education Statistics. Adult Education in the 1990s: A Report on the 1991 National Household Education Survey, Working Paper No. 98-03, by Teresita L. Chan Kopka, Nancy Borkow Schantz, and Roslyn Abrevaya Korb. Project Officer, Peter Stowe. Washington, D.C.: 1998.