For Kant, education was understood as the "means" to become human--and that is to say, rational. For Rousseau by contrast, and the many child-centred educators that followed him, the adult world, far from representing reason, is essentially corrupt and given over to the superficialities of worldly vanity. On this view, the child, as a product of…

Entropy is defined as that condition in which the lack of order, information, and energy prevent useful work. What does vocational education contribute to the order, information flow, and useful work in industry and society? Is vocational education the appropriate method for extracting meaning, providing new information, new order, and new life in…

Ireland's economic and social problems in the 1980s spawned a new kind of community education. Key characteristics of the new community education are as follows: (1) it is a learning environment and located in the community; (2) it provides learning programs based on identified needs; (3) its control remains in the local community's hands; (4) its…

This report explores the connections among diversity, democratic aspirations and goals for student learning in higher education contrasting old ways of thinking and habits with new alternatives. The introduction discusses how the "special" programs and emerging fields, such as American Indian Studies and Deaf Studies, influence…

Current histories of adult education trace it back to the early part of the 20th century. They share several assumptions: (1) "modern" adult education started early in this century; (2) antecedents go back to early European colonization of North America--but ignore Spanish colonizers; (3) the movement is exclusively Eurocentric, seeing no…