In the new economy, increased polarization of rich and poor is supported by the rhetoric of lifelong learning policies focused on training as panacea. Adult educators are urged to analyze the new economy from alternative perspectives, adopt a holistic view of lifelong learning, and advocate more progressive policies. (Contains 47 references.) (SK)

Economic globalization has resulted in funding cuts and a commercial orientation in university extension. Resistance to this agenda involves both looking inward at the survival of extension work and outward at community efforts to combat attempts to cut social programs. (SK)

A three-year series of interviews with Canadian university extension staff (n=35) found that advocacy is all but extinct because of the "entrepreneurial" values of the university and the professionalization of adult education. As social justice values increase in importance, extension educators should resume an advocacy role. (SK)