ERIC Number: ED204501
Record Type: RIE
Publication Date: 1981-Feb
Pages: 22
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Lifelong Learning as a Worldwide Movement Reflecting and Contributing to Social Transformation.
Boucouvalas, Marcie
The lifelong learning movement is part of an attempt to change the social order, particularly since its ultimate purpose--the creation of a learning society--implies a total restructuring of the relationship between society and education. The concept of lifelong learning is not new--it finds a strong model in ancient Greek society--but its extension to all levels of society, rather than just the elite, is new. Lifelong learning has emerged as an organizing principle of the worldwide movement from an industrial to a "transindustrial" society, from emphasis on material goods to emphasis on development of the person. Lifelong learning is seen as a movement away from the idea of "terminal education," which is "pumped into" students up to age eighteen. In lifelong learning the emphasis is on the learner, rather than the teacher. Trend analysis by sociologists and futurologists shows that there have been only about three great transformations in the history of the human race. A fourth transformation, to the age of the transindustrial society, is under way now. Evidence for this change can be found by an analysis of the contents of major city daily newspapers, as well as in scholarly writings, and the advent of the United States as a knowledge, rather than an industrial, society (witness the number of knowledge workers today as compared to 30 years ago). The challenge for adult educators is to reflect on what this social transformation might mean for each one's particular program area and institution. (KC)
Publication Type: Opinion Papers; Speeches/Meeting Papers
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Note: Paper presented at the Annual Lifelong Learning Research Conference (3rd, College Park, MD, February 6-7, 1981).