Adult Education as a New Educational Frontier: Review of the Journal of Adult Education 1929-1941.

Abstract

Interest in adult education in the United States burgeoned in the third and fourth decades of this century, reaching its highest expression when the American Association for Adult Education (AAAE) was formed in 1926. For twenty-five years the AAAE directed the course of the American adult education movement. Yet little is known of the Association, and little is known of the factors which supported the movement. Through a review of the adult education literature, this study illustrates some of the forces which fueled the American adult education movement in the 1920's: a strong social reform spirit, indigenous adult education activities such as Chautauqua, international adult education activities, the Carnegie Corporation, the scientific investigations of Edward L. Thorndike, institutions such as libraries and museums becoming aware of new adult education activities, and the emergence of a literature directed primarily towards the subject of adult education. Through an in depth review of the Journal of Adult Education (the mouthpiece of the AAAE, 1929-1941), this study furnishes a new interpretation of the major contribution of the AAAE to the adult education movement. The Association sanctioned and added credibility to the idea that education is the responsibility of many agencies and individuals. The task of popular enlightenment had proven too great for a single agency, i.e., the schools. Because of the AAAE, the idea of education reaching beyond the walls of the classroom began to enjoy, for the first time, a widespread hearing. In this investigation 620 entries from the Journal of Adult Education (JAE) which comprise the major articles and discussions appearing in the Journal from 1929-1941--the entire period it was in publication--are analyzed. Also, JAE contributors are identified and discussed. Included in the Appendices is an Author Index of the JAE 1929-1941, and a listing of Journal entries grouped under the following headings: adult education agencies; programs; methods; content; instruments; close-ups of adult education students, teachers and leaders; adult learning and development; key adult education figures; international adult education; and generic concerns.