Personal Philosophy Of Adult Education Essay

Upon undertaking this assignment, I did not fully understand the purpose behind it. I told myself I was not an adult educator (yet), therefore I questioned how I was supposed to define my own educational philosophy. After being reminded that I had indeed been an adult educator at one time in my life, just not in a school setting, and reading the text again along with new literature, I discovered how important it is to know my personal philosophy. When we become aware of our values and assumptions, it provides guidelines for decision making, setting policy, as well as curriculum and instruction. Also, by taking a step back and comparing what I say my educational philosophy is and what my actions speak (Tisdell & Taylor, 2001, p. 6), I expose any mismatches between the two and in turn unite theory and practice (Merriam & Brockett, 1997, p. 30). Tisdell states that, “we may not be able to articulate it well, but we all have a belief about what we should be doing in the adult education classroom” (Tisdell & Taylor, 2001, p. 6).

Liberalism was the first of five educational philosophies to come about in the history of adult education.

The view of the current system in place is where the two differ. Progressivism believes that the system can be modified in ways that will promote such change while radicalism believes there must be a total overhaul.

Malcolm Knowles was the philosopher to promote the term “andragogy”. For someone familiar with the education system, “pedagogy” is probably a familiar term: “the art and science of helping children learn” (Merriam & Brockett, 1997, p. 85). Knowles advocated that there was a difference between the child and adult learner and therefore, “andragogy” was created as “the art and science of helping adults learn” (Merriam & Brockett, 1997, p. 85). Since children and adults differ, the characteristics of the learner