Lifelong learning and adult education is not just a trend, it is something that has the potential to lower our nation’s health care costs and prolong the quality of life for each and every one of us. In relatively wealthy countries, individuals who have stayed in formal education for longer, and who have gained higher qualifications tend to enjoy better mental and physiological health than their less well-educated counter-parts. (e.g. Burnette & Mui, 1994; Montgomery & Schoon, 1997; Vega Deinstmaier et al., 1999) Education has always been something that we did for ourselves to improve our lives personally as well as the society we are a part of. The idea that adults are not capable of continuing to learn into their golden years is no longer …show more content…
The more we study the brain, and how we learn and form memories, the more it becomes feasible to continue to improve our lives, decrease our likelihood of depression, and even treat old age diseases such as dementia and Alzheimer’s. Educational research into the immediate soft outcomes of learning suggest that learning can develop a number of psychosocial qualities including; self-confidence, self-efficacy, self-understanding, competences, communication skills, civic engagement, and a sense of belonging to a social group. (Hammond, 2004) The simple fact that older people are better educated about health concerns and how their brain functions, leads to them knowing how to better take care of themselves and play an active role in their aging. Because adults tend to engage in learning voluntarily they are also more likely to enjoy the experience and not have the negative emotions and anxiety that may have been tied to education at a younger age. Adult education gives those individuals a feeling of control and self-worth that they may feel they have lost as they age, simply because they no longer have full-time jobs or the daily responsibilities that they had as young adults. Jacob Nielsen Arendt did a study that provided, that each year of education roughly improves the probability of good or
In society, independent learners are those who seek to further their education to the next level. In the article, “Why We Are Looking at the ‘Value’ of College All Wrong” by Valerie Strauss, Christopher B. Nelson argues that people can’t compare economics with receiving a higher education. Individuals who look at college from an economic lens are viewing education the wrong way. Instead, individuals should look at the bigger picture which is gaining an education and taking in the knowledge. When having an education, people grow and expand their knowledge. By expanding and gaining knowledge from the experience of college, people are able to become independent learners. However, most people tend to start evolving into independent learners after
Merriam, S.B., Caffarella, R.S. &Baumgartner (2007) Learning in Adulthood: A comprehensive guide, san Francisco, CA:Jossey-Bass
As Wlodkowski (2008) contends, most people show consistency throughout adulthood. Traits, habits, modes of thinking, and the ways by which people cope and interact remain stable through old age. In other words, motivations seems stabilize in adult learning which may lead to future participation in education (Gorges & Kandler, 2011). In order to see their values on learning, classifying the four beliefs suggested by Wigfield et al. (2011) is required. Firstly, the attainment value which refers to the importance of activity could be seen from students rational in taking English course. Secondly, the intrinsic value which refers to the enjoyment in doing the activity could be seen on how they respond to the task given by the teacher and their engagement in the classroom activities. Thirdly, utility value which refers to the usefulness of activity for the future can also be seen from their reasons why taking this course. It is assumed that some of them might want to take a higher degree in education, while others want advance in their job. Finally, cost value which refers to effort to finish the activity could be seen from their commitment in learning. Attending class on time is an evidence that they value this English
“Researchers have found a surprising effect of education: On average, the farther that people go in school, the longer they live. On average, compared with high school drop-outs, those who complete college live at least ten years longer (Kaplan et al. 2014). The most likely reasons for the longer life are that the more educated have healthier lifestyles (better diets, less smoking), better jobs, higher pay, and superior medical services” (Henslin, 2017, p. 505). This excerpt from Henslin’s textbook shows how crucial education can be to a person’s life: without it, they tend to be much unhealthier. This proves how important an influence education is on
Younger people have tended to look towards the elderly for wisdom and guidance since the beginning of recorded history and beyond. Students to teachers, children to parents, ordinary people to royalty and politicians – generally those who have lived longer are not only believed, but expected to have garnered more knowledge in their longer lives. Abraham Lincoln once said, “I do not think much of a man who is not wiser today than he was yesterday. Also, in 2008 the Australian newspaper published an article detailing a study undertaken by the University of Aarhus in Denmark, which disproved the theory that the mind is at its peak in the late teens to mid-twenties. But all this is not to say that older people should not sometimes listen to and heed advice from younger people.
The learning process for adults is never ending and can be very challenging. As an adult educator, teaching adult learners you will face many challenges in the learning process. It is our responsibility to keep the learners engaged, and to help them to realize their full learning potential.
Mirriam, S. B., Caffarella, R. S., & Baumgartner, L. M. (2007). Learning in adulthood: A
One theorist that is relevant to this study is Malcolm Knowles’s theory of adult learning. Though Malcom Knowles may not be the first one to introduce adult learning, he was the one that introduced andragogy in North America. (McEwen and Wills 2014). Andragogy means adult learning. The core concept of Knowles’s Adult learning theory is to create a learning environment or awareness for adults to understand why they learn .Knowles developed six main assumptions of adult learners. Those assumptions are the need to know, self- concept, experience, readiness to learn, orientation to learning and motivation. (McEwen and Wills, 2014)
A defining condition of being human is that we have to understand the meaning of our experience. For some, any uncritically assimilated explanation by an authority figure will suffice. But in contemporary societies we must learn to make our own interpretations rather than act on the purposes, beliefs, judgments, and feelings of others. Facilitating such understandings is the cardinal goal of adult education. Transformative learning develops autonomous thinking. (Mezirow 1997, p. 5)
Adults bring life experiences and knowledge to learning experiences. As adults mature they grow a vast base of experiences that could create a foundation of knowledge. People attach more meaning to learning they gain from experience than those they acquire ...
Dr Sam Wass, Dr Elizabeth Kilby and Psychologist Paul Howard Jones conclusion was that what they learn at these ages is crucial to the blueprint for adult life.
In the current health care system change has become constant so it has been recognised that lifelong learning is even more imperative for nurses to ensure that they can develop their skills to keep pace with these changes and improve their performance. One of the nursing registration requirements that are outlined in the current Nursing and Midwifery Council Code of Conduct (NMC, 2015, p.17) is to “keep your knowledge and skills up to date, taking part in appropriate and regular learning and professional development activities that aim to maintain and develop your competence and improve your performance.” Nurses are required to involve themselves in lifelong learning activities to ensure that they can practice effectively and maintain their
In our culture today, there is a huge emphasis on education, especially higher education. Society basically says the more educated you are, the better off you are. That is pretty much true if you live by the means of society. The basic idea that education, especially a college education, is something that people should pursue even into their adult years is not by any means a new idea.
Rich people assume that College is important, but it is not a one way ticket to success, and happiness. However, Middle class people believe that education is important to be successful in the future. Education for middle class student is an important tool that is applied in the modern world to succeed, as it reduces the challenges, which are faced in life. “With nearly half of the nation 's undergraduates enrolled in community colleges,…….are playing an increasingly important role in higher education.”(David Hosansky). The information gained through education allows individuals’ future life to be optimally utilized due to training of the human mind. This eventually opens doors of opportunities for individual to achieve better chance in career growth. Education has played a major role in the modern industrial world. “This is attributed to the fact prospective employees must be qualified adequately to perform various tasks effectively.”(David Hosansky) Industries entail resources that are sufficiently equipped with the modern technology to suit the needs and wants of the society. This makes education to become a norm for services in all industrial
Lifelong learning is the process of gaining knowledge based on an individual’s interest and developing skills throughout the life to improve their life irrespective of traditional educational schooling activities. This long term process influences an individual’s personal development and improves their thinking and thought process thus recreating themselves in a new experience of the positiveness. These learning’s can be of different types ranging from the home education, cultural learning, personal learning, spiritual learning, learning to keep up to date with technologies and local medical sciences education etc. Learning through experiences in life helps an individual to visualize the purpose of life from a new prospective that inspires them to be self-contended.