Adult education and poverty: Politics and social change

Application of learning to real life is clearly important if adult education programmes are to affect the standard of living. It would be satisfying to be able to demonstrate conclusively that adult education reduced poverty by quantities or levels and at cost-efficiencies superior to reductions in poverty achieved through other means of spending the same dollars. It is plausibly argued that revolutions tend to follow amelioration of conditions which gives rise to hope, and that mass education, for example, follows rather than causes economic development. Liberal adult education for self-development, leisure and richer personal living, while not necessarily demeaned, is irrelevant for policy purposes. 'Participation' is adult education's international password; many see it as a prerequisite for effective learning and effective action. The relationship of participation to political systems and purposes is evident. These studies throw light on the possibilities and limitations of 'participation' for learning in different political contexts.