History of Adult Education: 1950 to 1959

I commented on Alex and Keith from Group 4

                                                     Adult Education: 1950 to 1959

Ben Ranfeld

Ball State University

EDAC 631 Adult & Community Education

May 2, 2014

Abstract

This paper seeks to give an overview of adult education from 1950 to 1959 in conjunction with the social background and influential factors of the time period.  A world at war both figuratively and literally spurred the growth of formalized education, and a race to space.  The evolution of media in the form of movies, music, and television also provided new ways to inform and educate the public en masse.  Adult Education was by no means new during this era, but more and more were starting to take advantage of formalized education opportunities through an increase in funding opportunities that was traditionally reserved for the elite.

Introduction

            The first half of the twentieth century was marked by war, and the preparation and recovery thereof.  World War II ended in 1945, which led to the Cold War between the United States and Russia that would last for decades.  This passive aggressive standoff effectively started the Korean War and Vietnam War, using portions of the Asian continent to further the conflict between world super powers.  Throughout the world, the old system of colonization was starting to break down as European control weakened amongst its satellite nations.  The Suez Crisis, Algerian War, Cuban Revolution, and civil wars in Kenya and Rwanda brought about much change with both freedom and oppression as communism and capitalism spread around the globe. 

American soldiers coming home from serving their country were able to take advantage of the “Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944 – commonly known as the GI Bill of Rights” (U.S. Department of Veteran’s Affairs, n.d., para 2) to obtain home loans and education benefits.  Students back home were learning to “duck and cover,” protecting themselves from nuclear fallout, and focusing on math and science in an effort to beat the Russians to the Moon.

            President Dwight D. Eisenhower spearheaded the creation of the Interstate Highway System, a network of high capacity roads through the United States, reinforcing the freedom to travel across the country while also providing a system of impromptu runways and landing strips for airplanes if need be.  Television was becoming more popular with educational programming for adults on topics such as upholstery, parenting, cooking, and art (Rocky Mountain PBS, n.d., para 2).  Funding in general was being increased for education at both the government and non-profit levels to provide educational opportunities at all age-levels, and to remove financial hurdles for adults wanting to attend college.

Highlights

            The thought of not allowing someone the freedom to go about their business based on the color of their skin seems ludicrous today in the year 2014, but it wasn’t quite so long ago that Civil Rights were being hard fought in the United States.  In 1954 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled racially segregating schools was illegal and unconstitutional in Brown v. Board of Education (National Park Service, n.d., para 1).  This ruling was aimed at children attending K-12 schools, but segregation existed in many places across the nation.  It wasn’t until January of 1950 that President Truman’s plan to integrate the Armed Forces was approved and in 1953 “the Army announce[d] that 95% of African-American soldiers [were] serving in integrated units” (Harry S. Truman Library & Museum, n.d., para 69).  Even in the early stages of the G.I. Bill, only white soldiers were able to receive benefits (Herbold, 1994, p. 104).

            The National Defense Education Act of 1958 was passed in response to the Soviets launching Sputnik.  In an effort to land a man on the Moon first, the U.S. government passed this law to help ensure our best and brightest had the education they needed to participate.  The U.S. Department of Education (2012) states:

…the NDEA included support for loans to college students, the improvement of science, mathematics, and foreign language instruction in elementary and secondary schools, graduate fellowships, foreign language and area studies, and vocational-technical training (para 7).

Influential Factors

            While recovering from World War II, the world was seeing communism and capitalism butt heads in the form of a Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union.  This conflict led to the Korean War, a race to space, and the Vietnam War to name a few ramifications.  During this time funding was increased for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) in an effort to beat the Russians and be the first to land a man on the Moon.

            Adult education was becoming more formalized with the creation and establishment of organizations seeking to define and support the field.  The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) was founded in 1945 to promote lasting peace after World War II.  According to UNESCO (n.d.) it held:

…training courses on adult education (Mondsee, Austria, 1950), on adult education in rural areas (Hillerod, Denmark, 1954), on economics teaching in 150 Popular Federal Universities (Bled, Yugoslavia, 1956), on universities and adult education (Bignor, United Kingdom), on educational activities of womens’ organizations (Twickenham, UK, 1959)” (footnote 8).

The American Association for Adult and Continuing Education (AAACE) wouldn’t be as we know it today without two organizations originating in the 1950s.  The Adult Education Association of the USA (AEA) and the National Association of Public School Adult Educators (NAPSAE) formed in 1950 and 1952 respectively, and eventually merged in 1982 to form the AAACE (Hiemstra, ch. 2, para 8). 

During this decade, foundations and corporations who funded arts and education started to see adult education as a separate entity.  Wilson (2007) stated, “The Carnegie Corporation, the Kellogg Foundation, the Mott Foundation and the Ford Foundation became proponents of developing adult education programs at the state and local levels.” (p. 35).  Public libraries were also being heavily utilized by people from all walks of life as an informal learning center.  According to Kidd, libraries were the “community information base” (as cited in Coleman, 2008, p. 532).

            Educators of this time include many of the greats we study today.  Malcolm S. Knowles, Paulo Freire, Myles Horton, Shirley Sears Charter, W.E.B. DuBois, Loretta C. Ford, and Horace M. Kallen were all active during the 1950s.

Implications

            Providing access to education was a major theme throughout this decade.  The G.I. Bill of Rights provided American soldiers the necessary means to pursue higher education, and private entities were providing scholarships and funding for others to do the same.  The Civil Rights movement was working to ensure all had equal rights to education which successfully came to fruition some years later.  The United Nations founded UNESCO seeking a manner to foster lasting peace throughout a world riddled by war through education, and adult education became more formalized through the formation of organizations looking to define this field into what it is today.

Table 1

Summary of Adult Education: 1950 to 1959
Areas	Summary
Social background	Cold War, Space Race, Television
Highlights	Civil Rights, private and government funding, G.I. Bill, NDEA
Influential factors	STEM funding, formalization of Adult Education
Implications	Equal opportunities and access to education

References

Coleman, Brenda Weeks.  (2008).  Keeping the faith: The public library’s commitment to adult education, 1950—2006.  Retrieved from http://books.google.com/books?id=Lb5m-OO20EsC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

Harry S. Truman Library & Museum.  (n.d.).  Desegregation of the armed forces: Chronology.  Retrieved from http://www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/study_collections/desegregation/large/index.php?action=chronology

Hiemstra, Roger.  (2002).  Lifelong learning: An exploration of adult and continuing education within a setting of lifelong learning needs.  Retrieved from http://roghiemstra.com/lllch2.html

Herbold, Hilary.  (1994).  Never a level playing field: Blacks and the g.i. bill.  The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, Winter 1994-1995.  Retrieved from http://iasd.cc/piper/PiperJill_ITspec_cert/IT%20Portfolio/Portfolio_Pages/HistAndPhilFall06website/Ch1/Ch1-WaggEmily/Blacks%20and%20GI%20BIll.pdf

National Park Service.  (n.d.).  Brown v. board of education: History & culture.  Retrieved from http://www.nps.gov/brvb/historyculture/index.htm

Rocky Mountain PBS.  (n.d.).  Adult education in the 1950s.  Retrieved from http://www.rmpbs.org/volunteer/sam/adult-education-1950s/

UNESCO.  (n.d.).  Adult education.  Retrieved from http://www.unesco.org/education/educprog/50y/brochure/tle/138.htm

U.S. Department of Education.  (2012).  The federal role in education.  Retrieved from http://www2.ed.gov/about/overview/fed/role.html?src=ln

U.S. Department of Veteran’s Affairs.  (n.d.).  Education and training: History and timeline.  Retrieved from http://www.benefits.va.gov/gibill/history.asp

Wilson, Eric C.  (2007).  The effectiveness of adult education principles in teaching the golf swing.  Retrieved from http://books.google.com/books?id=zol69lWygIcC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false