Educators and researchers have long equated the term "educated" with number of grades of formal schooling completed, relegating to the ranks of the "undereducated" those persons without higher education, and especially those without at least 12 years of schooling. Recent research by Alan Tough, however, and case studies in rural Vermont, challenge these cherished notions. Tough and the researchers in Vermont found that most adults they interviewed were involved in self-directed learning, usually averaging about 100 hours per year. Amount of formal education did not seem to influence amount of this self-directed learning. These rural residents seemed to have well-developed methods of learning and to have been engaged profitably in lifelong learning, albeit without formal institutional structures. This research suggests that educators should pay more attention to the lifelong learning experiences of adults and stop defining as "undereducated" persons who have acquired their educations outside formal learning structures. (KC)