Perspectives on Adult Education

Group	Roles	Commented On
Samantha McFadden	Introduction, Perspective #3	Group 3
Amelia Boggess	Discussions, Perspective #2	Group 1
Nathan Stoll	Implications, Perspective #1

           

Following the Funding: Perspectives on Adult Education

According to Dr. Sharan Marriam, “People are always going to see the field through their particular lens” (Marriam, 2019). Adult education can take on many hats from formal higher adult education such as post-secondary, adult basic education (ABE), and even education on social issues such as the opioid crisis. Equally interesting, is where funding for these different avenues of adult education come from. Dr. John Boulmetis states that significant financial funds going into social justices or community learning will not happen (Boulmetis). In order to understand the impact and importance of different avenues of adult education, this essay will dive into how funding is allocated and shapes three unique perspectives of adult education: formal adult education, workforce development through adult basic education, and community education on the opioid crisis.

Discussions

As noted by Dr. Marriam, “If you’re in education, whether it's higher ed or adult basic education…you're going to see [Adult Education] as education in developing the person and the skills they need for today's world” (Merriam, 2019). She went on to address the adult education field created by things such as the National Issues Forum.

This discussion is broken into three perspectives on the differing lenses that quantify “adult education” as mentioned by Dr. Merriam. Each perspective is presented with its ties to federal funding as discussed in an interview with Dr. Boulmetis.

Perspective 1: Formal Higher Education

Formal higher education is utilized as a way to educate adults most often with the intention of pursuing a specific field or career path. Students take classes in a variety of settings to gain an understanding of the knowledge and tools necessary to work in a field. College education for older adults is often used as a means to change career paths or advance within their current field. For decades, college has also been shown to increase earning potential which helps provide economic growth for the nation as well as individuals.

The article “Does Education Pay?” (2013) by Mark Schneider provides a summary of earning potentials for individuals who receive an education and the effects of getting different levels of degrees on first year income. This resource clearly illustrates the income differential between degree holders and non-degree holders. It is helpful in providing support to establish the importance of formal adult education.

Modern day objectives of formal adult education are to engage the critical thinking skills in adults and focus them on a specific field or major. This focus helps determine the courses necessary to develop a competency in the field of choice and, upon completion, is marked by a degree in that field. The various tiers of formal education range from certificates to doctoral degrees with a range in between delineating various levels of expertise in that field. 

Formal education is heavily funded by the state and federal government. The federal government is one of the largest loan providers for college students. It is often seen as a key interest of the government to have educated workers particularly in the modern job market which has increased its expectations of workers over the years. A majority of jobs today are requiring some form of formal education. To help stem unemployment, it is in the interest of the government to fund these schools and students to keep the people working and happy. Additionally, education is also often used as a lure by the government to attract people to serve in the armed services. Following a few years of service, veterans can use benefits provided by the government to obtain a degree at little to no cost to them. This has been used to help reacclimate veterans into society and keeps the flow of necessary human resources into the military.

This focus on job preparation as supported by federal funds is discussed in an article by Dan Berret.  “The Day the Purpose of College Changed” (2015) describes the shift in priority when it comes to attending college. The author discusses the shift from post-secondary education’s liberal arts-based approach to that of a skills focused job seeking approach. College became less about learning to learn and more about learning to do. This article aptly reflects the purpose and agenda behind subsidizing college education and the shift in attitudes that took place during the period of conservatism that followed the 70s and persists today. Much of this focuses on the use of college today as a means for vocational training and job preparation. 

Overall the field is necessary for providing adults opportunities to get the training and knowledge necessary for them to move forward in their career or to break into a new career. Over the decades, college has been transformed from a place of intellectual curiosity to a structured training center for future employment. This is one of the keystone pieces of adult education and it’s important to have it properly funded because the access to higher education is a life changing factor in a person’s ability to pursue the career of their choice.  

Perspective 2: Adult Basic Education (ABE)

Adult Basic Education (ABE) began to formulate as a fight to eradicate illiteracy in the early 1900s (Sticht, 2007), however it has grown to include “basic literacy and numeracy, English-language learning, pre-GED, GED, and adult high school instruction for adults” (Belzer and Kim, 2018). As an ever-evolving field, however, modern-day ABE is more akin to career development and job training with the above-mentioned components of literacy, mathematics, and GED preparation contextualized within the scope of workforce development.

In 1964, the first federal funds were allocated to ABE by the Economic Opportunity Act; this was a part of the War on Poverty (Belzer & Kim, 2018). In 1966, funding transferred to the U.S. Office of Education (Rose, 1991) and the scope of recipients was broadened to more diverse educational needs. “ABE has always been a core service area within federal work-based antipoverty strategies for the poor, lowest skilled population in the country” (Belzer & Kim, 2018).

In 1974, there came a federal amendment requiring states to show a demonstrated effort to coordinate with the workforce development system. It was at this point that, though the funding for ABE came from federal and state monies, the two funding streams became aligned to one goal. The purpose of ABE became “full human potential development” (Belzer & Kim). Interestingly, despite this core value of human development, the clear target of improved literacy in the U.S. became turning out employable people into the economic workforce, rather than increasing literacy for improvement’s sake, and that of the individual.

This thought development can further be seen in the 1998 Workforce Investment Act (WIA). With WIA, “integration of ABE into the workforce development system sent a clear message about its connection to employment. (Belzer & Kim, 2018) There was now a demand for specific attention to employment in ABE. This shifted emphasis for federally funded programs “to job search, retention, and career advancement skills, sometimes to the detriment of working toward meeting other learner goals” (Belzer, 2007).

            In 2014, the federal government replaced WIA with the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA). “WIOA is explicitly designed to create greater alignment within the workforce development system” (Belzer & Kim, 2018). WIOA also required states to provide unified plans for serving clients within all programs and for the programs to provide information on assessments and outcomes. These measurements allow the federal government to decided where and how to divide the funding for ABE based on each state meeting the requirements (and industrial needs) of the federal government.

            Debra D. Bragg wrote Is WIOA Good for Adult Learners? A Response to Amy Pickard’s Forum Essay (2016). The article explored three issues with WIOA as brought up by Amy Pickard. Bragg and Pickard grapple with the increased emphasis of adult education policy on workforce preparation and postsecondary education and its link to the possible detriment of classroom literacy instruction, the focus on performance measures pertaining to employment for adult learners, and the inequalities in access and outcomes for students of color going through ABE/ASE. (Bragg, 2016) This is an excellent article to consider the importance of ABE, the significance of the requirements created by WIOA, as well as the limitations and opportunities created by federal funding.

Perspective 3: Community Education and the Opioid Crisis

In addition to forms of adult education such as formal higher education and adult basic education, there has also been a surge of community education stepping up to fill needs-based education on social crisis. As referenced by Dr. Marriam, “[There’s] this whole National Issues Forum (NIF) where people get together and they produce these booklets on [the opioid crisis] or something and as a community, as a coming together of people in a volunteer in a community” (Marriam, 2019). An example of this type of education based on social need can be seen in the efforts to educate the public on the opioid crisis in Ohio.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2017), adults between the ages of 45–54 had the highest death rate from drug overdose and overdose death rates increased the greatest in adults aged 55–64. Additionally, reports from AARP (2018) indicated that approximately 2.7 million Americans over age 50 are currently taking opioids for reasons contrary to or in amounts beyond what was originally prescribed. While there has been a national emphasis to address the opioid crisis, few efforts are currently in place that specifically address the impact of the opioid crisis on adults over age 50. The availability of web-based opioid prevention education materials on the websites of the Ohio Department of Aging (ODA) and all 12 Area Agencies on Aging (AAAs) in Ohio were investigated. Results indicated that these 13 websites did not include pertinent information on the impact of the opioid crisis on middle-aged and older adults (Orel, 2018).

The United States Surgeon General (2018) released a report, “Facing Addiction in America”. The report provides insight into why so little progress toward this goal has been made:

“Until recently, substance misuse problems and substance use disorders were viewed as social problems, best managed at the individual and family levels, and sometimes through the existing social infrastructure [such as the criminal justice system].…Despite a compelling national need for treatment, the existing health care system was neither trained to care for nor especially eager to accept patients with substance use disorders.” (Sharfstein, 2017, pages 24-25)

Currently education on the opioid crisis is coming from either first-hand experience (recovering addicts), or from local non-profit organizations such as churches. The federal government has not stepped up to sanction funding, neither has the Joint Commission, the major private organization that accredits hospitals, because in that would likely look as though they are taking the fault for this growing addiction issue. By ignoring the problem, and allowing communities to step in and do what they can to education adults on the dangers and risks associated with opioid use, the larger organizations can keep their hands and reputations free and clear.

Summary

The three perspectives explored above show the significance in how different each field of adult education is, and yet, all three are tied to the core idea of growth and learning for the betterment of people. The content of the education may be different, the obvious objective of the education may be different, and yet the objective outcome of learning within adults remains the same. Those in each of these fields may fail to understand that they share the umbrella of adult education together. Dr. Marriam muses, “what does it matter, you know, that everybody who is doing something educational with adults calls it adult education? Does that matter?” (Merriam, 2019).

This essay would argue that because of the commonalities of ultimate purpose – education of adults – it does not matter what label each perspective holds. They are still able to be fairly categorized in the field of adult education.

Marriam and our group are not alone in this conclusion; Elisabeth Hayes and Daniele D. Flannery wrote, “Adult education as a field of scholarship and practice is concerned with the learning and education of adults in multiple settings, such as adult literacy education, vocational education, continuing education for professionals, training in business and industry, religious education, and labor education” (Hayes & Flannery, 2002).

Dr. Boulmetis’s interview, however, points out significant differences in agenda of each perspective. In both ABE and formal higher education, the link to economic growth of the country can be seen to bring with it federal backing in the form of money. However, as can be noted in perspective 3, community education with a purpose that is not directly financially beneficial to the government must go without funding – despite the social need. The support of this sort of education is backed by those on the ground, dealing with the crisis first-hand. The above perspectives found every word of Dr. Boulmetis’s following statement to be true:

“You see money still going into adult literacy, you see money still going into vocational training, you see money still going into higher education (postsecondary education of some sort), but you’re never going to see federal monies - or substantial federal monies -  going into social justice. You're not going to see it going into community education or community development. You're not going to see it going into a variety of the personal growth kinds of things. It’s not going to happen because there's no payoff, or pay back, to the federal government from those kinds of things.” (Boulmetis)

Implications

Understanding the implications of the agendas that set the focus for adult education is a paramount part of being able to understand the field and its trajectory. When listening to Dr. Boulmetis about the trends in federal support and the use of taxpayer dollars, you can see the role that government and politics plays in the field of adult education. Throughout the paper we have discussed the ways in which agendas exist to pull focus onto specific areas of adult education and as we look at the effects of those in our own lives, we are able to underscore the importance of those agendas. Looking at it through the lenses provided by the interviews and the areas focused on throughout our discussion, we delve into the implications for each of us individually based on our personal experience and our futures.

Amelia worked in, and will probably work again, in the ABE field. To her, this growing demand for workforce preparation is both a positive and a negative. However, having the livelihood of careers and programs dependent on the ever-changing federal aid is somewhat unstable. Teachers are taught to listen to the needs of their students and to help them reach their goals; these goals are not always aligned to the work needs of the industry. To have teacher/program success measured by outcomes linking to industry recognized credentials rather than the desired path the student chooses to take can drain the teachers' motivation for doing the work they do. While it can lead to students’ personal and career growth, it can also lead to disengagement when they feel pushed to a specific industry-recognized field. Without this push, however, federal funding becomes limited and programs are not able to provide the services their community needs.

Samantha is going into the field of foster care, and the opioid crisis has had a profound effect on the number of children needing safe placement. Funding for community education on opioid addiction may help to decrease the number of families being ripped apart by this disease. It will also help to give foster families a better idea on how this crisis effects the children, so they are better able to cater to their foster kids’ needs. When we know better, we can do better. The role of funding for programs to educate on the opioid crisis impacts her field in a significant way and the troubling trend right now is that there is a lot of talk and little follow through when it comes to getting those funds to the communities affected by this crisis.

Nathan’s future is in formal secondary and post-secondary education. There has been a lot of attention given in recent years to the rising costs of formal education and the debt incurred by people choosing to pursue this field. Nathan experiences this firsthand right now working at the Indiana Academy where the line item from the state budget has gone down since 2002 all while the cost of housing provided by Ball State University has gone up. These costs have been passed onto the students and their families making the school unaffordable to those with the greatest need. This is just one example, but this is a challenge being faced by colleges and universities throughout the country and passing the costs onto students has the effect of keeping students who need the equalizing forces of education to earn enough to provide for themselves and their families.

In our discussion, we talked about how holding a degree has historically increased your earning potential and for those who are already struggling financially this is an important opportunity to a better future. (Schneider 2013) The problem though comes from states that are not matching the costs of education today that they once did and as this shift happens, students who go to school to pursue greater financial security are now leaving with greater financial burden. This has started the conversation again about whether or not the earnings differential is greater than the lifelong debt brought on by student loans. As this conversation pans out, colleges and universities across the country in states that are not meeting the needs of schools are now beginning to cut costs by reducing staff and reassigning those that remain with extra work. Fortunately, politicians are catching on to the situation and more and more are fighting for a better funded education system. The question that remains is will it be too late to stop the bleeding of institutions already struggling.

The impact of money on education of all kinds is profound. The role of politics in that money is equally profound. To be able to see how the government picks and chooses what it views as investments is to be able to understand the ways in which our elected officials decide what and who truly matters to them.

Summary of Assignment
Introduction	·       Funding for formal adult education ·       Funding for workforce development ·       Funding for community education
Discussions	·       Perspective #1: Government funding for higher education in a college setting is necessary to maintain educated workers and entice enrollment into the armed forces. Colleges have transformed from curious learning to job training centers. ·       Perspective #2: In 1964 government funding for ABE began, in which the objective was to increase literacy in adults. After funding began, however the focus shifted to literacy efforts only to build more employable people, not for the sake of ensuring literacy for adults’ well-being. ·       Perspective #3: Community education on the opioid epidemic is not funded by the government or major organizations, but is an area of focus that needs more attention.
Implications	·       Instability in funding for ABE shifts the ability for members of the field to be able to enjoy job security. ·       For people working in the foster care system, the opioid crisis has a significant effect and the education provided to help stem that is crucial, but without the proper funding, the problem becomes more and more difficult to manage. ·       The defunding of formal education is changing the ability for people to pursue degree obtaining education and this affects those working in higher education.

References

Belzer, A. (2007). Implementing the Workfoce Investment Act from in-between: State agency responses to federal accountability policy in adult basic education. Educational Policy, 21(4), 555-588. Retrieved from https:doi.org/10.1177/0895904806289263



Belzer, A., & Kim, J. (2018). We Are What We Do: Adult Basic Education Should Be About More Than Employability. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 61( 6), 603– 608. Retrieved from https://doi-org.proxy.bsu.edu/10.1002/jaal.693



Berrett, D. (2015). The Day the Purpose of College Changed; After February 28, 1967, the main reason to go was to get a job. The Chronicle of Higher Education, 61(20). Retrieved from https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A402007226/BIC?u=munc80314&sid=BIC&xid=6ce2ce23



Boulmetis, J. (Interviewee) Chang, Bo (Producer).  (2019). Interview 2 Result driven financial support. Retrieved from https://bsu.instructure.com/courses/73839/files/2264585?module_item_id=769490



Bragg, D. D. (2016). Is WIOA Good for Adult Learners? A Response to Amy Pickard’s Forum Essay. Journal of Research and Practice for Adult Literacy, Secondary, and Basic Education., 5(2).



Hayes, E., Flannery, D. D., Brooks, A. K., Tisdell, E. J., & Hugo, J. M. (2002). Women as learners: the significance of gender in adult learning. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers.



Merriam, S. (Interviewee) Chang, Bo (Producer).  (2019, January 16). Interview 1 Adult education with different hats. Retrieved from https://bsu.instructure.com/courses/73839/files/2264586?module_item_id=769489





Orel, N. (2018). Impact Of Opioid Crisis On Middle-Aged And Older Adults: Addressing Through Prevention Education. Innovation in Aging. 2(1).

Rose, A.D.  (1991). Ends or means: An overview of the history of the Adult Education Act (Information Series No. 346). Columbus: ERIC Clearinghouse on Adult, Career, and Vocational Education, Center on Education and Training for Employment, The Ohio State University.



Schneider, M. (2013). Does Education Pay? Issues in Science & Technology, 30(1), 33–38. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=91982548&site=ehost-live&scope=site



Sharfstein J. M. (2017). The Opioid Crisis From Research to Practice. The Milbank quarterly, 95(1), 24–27. doi:10.1111/1468-0009.12241



Sticht, T. G. (2007, July 27). The Rise of the Adult Education and Literacy System in the United States: 1600-2000. Retrieved from http://ncsall.net/index.html@id=576.html


United States. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration; United States. Public Health Service. (2018) Facing addiction in America: the Surgeon General's spotlight on opioids. Office of the Surgeon General. Retrieved from https://permanent.fdlp.gov/gpo122832/Spotlight-on-Opioids_09192018.pdf