Читать книгу Learning in Adulthood - Sharan B. Merriam - Страница 18

Adult learning does not occur in a vacuum. What one needs or wants to learn, what opportunities are available, the way one learns—all are to a large extent determined by the society in which one lives. This chapter has discussed several characteristics of American society today that are shaping the nature of learning in adulthood.

Demographics, globalization, and technology are three forces affecting all of society's endeavors, including adult learning. Regarding the American population, adults outnumber youth, there are more older adults, adults are better educated compared to previous generations, and there is more cultural and ethnic diversity among the population than ever before.

Globalization is linking the world through economics, knowledge, information, culture, and services. Transnational companies benefit the most from globalization but at what expense to workers? As a result of globalization, critics note learning has become increasingly individualized with greater gaps between the rich and the poor (Walters, 2014), whereas others say that lower skilled U.S. workers are finding more opportunities for pursuing additional skills at community colleges as a result of globalization and immigration (Hickman & Olney, 2011).

Technology is integral to the global economy and has contributed to, if not caused, the shift to an information society, creating dramatic changes in the workforce. Although we have treated them separately, these three forces are interactive and firmly embedded in the American capitalist value system. Adult education both reflects and responds to the forces prevalent in the sociocultural context. Among the implications discussed in the chapter are the field's responsiveness to special groups of people, the economic productivity rationale behind much of adult education, the need for the development of critical thinking skills in order to assess the endless flow of information, and the need for educators, indeed, all adults, to constantly learn in a tech-driven society.