Scientist

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Scientist looking through a microscope at the NIH National Cancer Institute
Occupation
Names	Scientist
Occupation type	Profession
Activity sectors	Laboratory, field research
Description
Competencies	Scientific research
Education required	Science
Fields of employment	Academia, industry, government, nonprofit
Related jobs	Engineers

A scientist is someone who conducts scientific research to advance knowledge in an area of interest.

In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, philosophers engaged in the philosophical study of nature called natural philosophy, a precursor of natural science. It was not until the 19th century that the term scientist came into regular use after it was coined by the theologian, philosopher, and historian of science William Whewell in 1833. The term 'scientist' was first coined by him for Mary Somerville, partly because the term "man of science", more custom at that time, was clearly inappropriate here.

In modern times, many scientists have advanced degrees in an area of science and pursue careers in various sectors of the economy such as academia, industry, government, and nonprofit environments.

History

"No one in the history of civilization has shaped our understanding of science and natural philosophy more than the great Greek philosopher and scientist Aristotle (384-322 BC), who exerted a profound and pervasive influence for more than two thousand years" —Gary B. Ferngren

 

Alessandro Volta, the inventor of the electrical battery and discoverer of methane, is widely regarded as one of the greatest scientists in history.

 

Francesco Redi, referred to as the "father of modern parasitology", is the founder of experimental biology.

 

Physicist Albert Einstein developed the general theory of relativity and made many substantial contributions to physics.

 

Physicist Enrico Fermi is credited with the creation of the world's first atomic bomb and nuclear reactor.

 

Atomic physicist Niels Bohr made fundamental contributions to understanding atomic structure and quantum theory.

 

Marine Biologist Rachel Carson launched the 20th century environmental movement.

 

The roles of "scientists", and their predecessors before the emergence of modern scientific disciplines, have evolved considerably over time. Scientists of different eras (and before them, natural philosophers, mathematicians, natural historians, natural theologians, engineers, and others who contributed to the development of science) have had widely different places in society, and the social norms, ethical values, and epistemic virtues associated with scientists—and expected of them—have changed over time as well. Accordingly, many different historical figures can be identified as early scientists, depending on which characteristics of modern science are taken to be essential.

Some historians point to the Scientific Revolution that began in 16th century as the period when science in a recognizably modern form developed. It wasn't until the 19th century that sufficient socioeconomic changes occurred for scientists to emerge as a major profession.

Classical antiquity

Knowledge about nature in classical antiquity was pursued by many kinds of scholars. Greek contributions to science—including works of geometry and mathematical astronomy, early accounts of biological processes and catalogs of plants and animals, and theories of knowledge and learning—were produced by philosophers and physicians, as well as practitioners of various trades. These roles, and their associations with scientific knowledge, spread with the Roman Empire and, with the spread of Christianity, became closely linked to religious institutions in most of European countries. Astrology and astronomy became an important area of knowledge, and the role of astronomer/astrologer developed with the support of political and religious patronage. By the time of the medieval university system, knowledge was divided into the trivium—philosophy, including natural philosophy—and the quadrivium—mathematics, including astronomy. Hence, the medieval analogs of scientists were often either philosophers or mathematicians. Knowledge of plants and animals was broadly the province of physicians.

Middle Ages

Science in medieval Islam generated some new modes of developing natural knowledge, although still within the bounds of existing social roles such as philosopher and mathematician. Many proto-scientists from the Islamic Golden Age are considered polymaths, in part because of the lack of anything corresponding to modern scientific disciplines. Many of these early polymaths were also religious priests and theologians: for example, Alhazen and al-Biruni were mutakallimiin; the physician Avicenna was a hafiz; the physician Ibn al-Nafis was a hafiz, muhaddith and ulema; the botanist Otto Brunfels was a theologian and historian of Protestantism; the astronomer and physician Nicolaus Copernicus was a priest. During the Italian Renaissance scientists like Leonardo Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Galileo Galilei and Gerolamo Cardano have been considered as the most recognizable polymaths.

Renaissance

During the Renaissance, Italians made substantial contributions in science. Leonardo Da Vinci made significant discoveries in paleontology and anatomy. The Father of modern Science, Galileo Galilei, made key improvements on the thermometer and telescope which allowed him to observe and clearly describe the solar system. Descartes was not only a pioneer of analytic geometry but formulated a theory of mechanics and advanced ideas about the origins of animal movement and perception. Vision interested the physicists Young and Helmholtz, who also studied optics, hearing and music. Newton extended Descartes' mathematics by inventing calculus (contemporaneously with Leibniz). He provided a comprehensive formulation of classical mechanics and investigated light and optics. Fourier founded a new branch of mathematics — infinite, periodic series — studied heat flow and infrared radiation, and discovered the greenhouse effect. Girolamo Cardano, Blaise Pascal Pierre de Fermat, Von Neumann, Turing, Khinchin, Markov and Wiener, all mathematicians, made major contributions to science and probability theory, including the ideas behind computers, and some of the foundations of statistical mechanics and quantum mechanics. Many mathematically inclined scientists, including Galileo, were also musicians. 

There are many compelling stories in medicine and biology, such as the development of ideas about the circulation of blood from Galen to Harvey.

Age of Enlightenment

During the age of Enlightenment, Luigi Galvani, the pioneer of the bioelectromagnetics, discovered the animal electricity. He discovered that a charge applied to the spinal cord of a frog could generate muscular spasms throughout its body. Charges could make frog legs jump even if the legs were no longer attached to a frog. While cutting a frog leg, Galvani's steel scalpel touched a brass hook that was holding the leg in place. The leg twitched. Further experiments confirmed this effect, and Galvani was convinced that he was seeing the effects of what he called animal electricity, the life force within the muscles of the frog. At the University of Pavia, Galvani's colleague Alessandro Volta was able to reproduce the results, but was sceptical of Galvani's explanation.

Lazzaro Spallanzani is one of the most influential figures in experimental physiology and the natural sciences. His investigations have exerted a lasting influence on the medical sciences. He made important contributions to the experimental study of bodily functions and animal reproduction.

Francesco Redi discovered that microorganisms can cause disease.

19th century

Until the late 19th or early 20th century, scientists were still referred to as "natural philosophers" or "men of science".

English philosopher and historian of science William Whewell coined the term scientist in 1833, and it first appeared in print in Whewell's anonymous 1834 review of Mary Somerville's On the Connexion of the Physical Sciences published in the Quarterly Review. Whewell's suggestion of the term was partly satirical, a response to changing conceptions of science itself in which natural knowledge was increasingly seen as distinct from other forms of knowledge. Whewell wrote of "an increasing proclivity of separation and dismemberment" in the sciences; while highly specific terms proliferated—chemist, mathematician, naturalist—the broad term "philosopher" was no longer satisfactory to group together those who pursued science, without the caveats of "natural" or "experimental" philosopher. Members of the British Association for the Advancement of Science had been complaining about the lack of a good term at recent meetings, Whewell reported in his review; alluding to himself, he noted that "some ingenious gentleman proposed that, by analogy with artist, they might form [the word] scientist, and added that there could be no scruple in making free with this term since we already have such words as economist, and atheist—but this was not generally palatable".

Whewell proposed the word again more seriously (and not anonymously) in his 1840 "The Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences:

As we cannot use physician for a cultivator of physics, I have called him a physicist. We need very much a name to describe a cultivator of science in general. I should incline to call him a Scientist. Thus we might say, that as an Artist is a Musician, Painter, or Poet, a Scientist is a Mathematician, Physicist, or Naturalist.

He also proposed the term physicist at the same time, as a counterpart to the French word physicien. Neither term gained wide acceptance until decades later; scientist became a common term in the late 19th century in the United States and around the turn of the 20th century in Great Britain. By the twentieth century, the modern notion of science as a special brand of information about the world, practiced by a distinct group and pursued through a unique method, was essentially in place.

20th century

Ramón y Cajal won the Nobel Prize in 1906 for his remarkable observations in neuroanatomy. 

Marie Curie became the first female to win the Nobel Prize and the first person to win it twice. Her efforts led to the development of nuclear energy and Radio therapy for the treatment of cancer. In 1922, she was appointed a member of the International Commission on Intellectual Co-operation by the Council of the League of Nations. She campaigned for scientist's right to patent their discoveries and inventions. She also campaigned for free access to international scientific literature and for internationally recognized scientific symbols.

Education

In modern times, many professional scientists are trained in an academic setting (e.g., universities and research institutes), mostly at the level of graduate schools. Upon completion, they would normally attain an academic degree, with the highest degree being a doctorate such as a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Doctor of Medicine (MD), Doctor of Engineering (DEng), or even a dual doctoral degree (e.g., MD, PhD). Although graduate education for scientists varies among institutions and countries, some common training requirements include specializing in an area of interest, publishing research findings in peer-reviewed scientific journals and presenting them at scientific conferences, giving lectures or teaching, and defending a thesis (or dissertation) during an oral examination. To aid them in this endeavor, graduate students often work under the guidance of a mentor, usually a senior scientist, which may continue after the completion of their doctorates whereby they work as postdoctoral researchers.

Career

After the completion of their training, many scientists pursue careers in a variety of work settings and conditions. In 2017, the British scientific journal Nature published the results of a large-scale survey of more than 5,700 doctoral students worldwide, asking them which sectors of the economy that would like to work in. A little over half of the respondents wanted to pursue a career in academia, with smaller proportions hoping to work in industry, government, and nonprofit environments.

Scientists are motivated to work in several ways. Many have a desire to understand why the world is as we see it and how it came to be. They exhibit a strong curiosity about reality. Other motivations are recognition by their peers and prestige. The Nobel Prize, a widely regarded prestigious award, is awarded annually to those who have achieved scientific advances in the fields of medicine, physics, chemistry, and economics. Some scientists have a desire to apply scientific knowledge for the benefit of people's health, the nations, the world, nature, or industries (academic scientist and industrial scientist). Scientists tend to be less motivated by direct financial reward for their work than other careers. As a result, scientific researchers often accept lower average salaries when compared with many other professions which require a similar amount of training and qualification.

Research interests

Scientists include experimentalists who mainly perform experiments to test hypotheses, and theoreticians who mainly develop models to explain existing data and predict new results. There is a continuum between two activities and the division between them is not clear-cut, with many scientists performing both tasks.

Those considering science as a career often look to the frontiers. These include cosmology and biology, especially molecular biology and the human genome project. Other areas of active research include the exploration of matter at the scale of elementary particles as described by high-energy physics, and materials science, which seeks to discover and design new materials. Although there have been remarkable discoveries with regard to brain function and neurotransmitters, the nature of the mind and human thought still remains unknown.

By specialization

Natural science

Physical science

Astronomer Astrobiologist Planetary scientist Chemist Agrochemist Analytical chemist Astrochemist Atmospheric chemist Biophysical chemist Clinical chemist Computational chemist Electrochemist Femtochemist Green chemist Inorganic chemist Medicinal chemist Neurochemist Nuclear chemist Organic chemist Organometallic chemist Pharmacologist Physical chemist Quantum chemist Solid-state chemist Stereochemist Structural chemist Supramolecular chemist Theoretical chemist Thermochemist

Earth scientist Astrogeologist Biogeochemist Climatologist Dendroarchaeologist Dendrologist Edaphologist Gemologist Geoarchaeologist Geobiologist Geochemist Geographer Geologist Geomicrobiologist Geomorphologist Geophysicist Glaciologist Hydrogeologist Hydrologist Hydrometeorologist Limnologist Meteorologist Mineralogist Oceanographer Paleoclimatologist Paleoecologist Paleogeologist Paleoseismologist Palynologist Petrologist Sedimentologist Seismologist Speleologist Volcanologist

Physicist Agrophysicist Astrophysicist Atmospheric physicist Atomic physicist Chemical physicist Computational physicist Cosmologist Condensed-matter physicist Engineering physicist Material physicist Molecular physicist Nuclear physicist Particle physicist Plasma physicist Polymer physicist Psychophysicist Quantum physicist Theoretical physicist

Life science

Biologist Acarologist Aerobiologist Anatomist Arachnologist Bacteriologist Biochemist Bioclimatologist Biogeographer Biotechnologist Bioarcheologist Biolinguist Botanist Cell biologist Chronobiologist Cognitive biologist Cognitive neuroscienist Computational biologist

Conservation biologist Dendrochronologist Developmental biologist Ecologist Electrophysiologist Embryologist Endocrinologist Entomologist Epidemiologist Ethologist Evolutionary biologist Geneticist Hematologist Herbchronologist Herpetologist Histologist Human behavioral ecologist Human biologist

Ichnologist Ichthyologist Immunologist Integrative biologist Lepidopterist Mammalogist Marine biologist Microbiologist Molecular biologist Mycologist Neuroendocrinologist Neuroscientist Ornithologist Osteologist Paleoanthropologist Paleobotanist Paleobiologist Paleontologist Paleopathologist

Parasitologist Pathologist Physiologist Phytopathologist Population biologist Primatologist Quantum biologist Radiobiologist Sclerochronologist Sociobiologist Structural biologist Theoretical biologist Toxicologist Virologist Wildlife biologist Zoologist

Social science

Anthropologist Archaeologist Biological anthropologist Cultural anthropologist Communication scientist Criminologist Demographer Economist Linguist Management scientist Political economist Political scientist

Psychologist Abnormal psychologist Behavioral psychologist Biopsychologist Clinical psychologist Cognitive psychologist Comparative psychologist Developmental psychologist Educational psychologist Evolutionary psychologist Experimental psychologist Forensic psychologist Health psychologist Industrial and organizational psychologist Medical psychologist Neuropsychologist Psychopharmacologist Psychophysicist Social psychologist Sport psychologist Sociologist

Formal science

Computer scientist Data scientist Mathematician Statistician Systems scientist

Applied

Agricultural scientist Agronomist Horticulturalist Biomedical scientist Food scientist Military scientist Nutritionist Operations research and management analysts

Interdisciplinary

Applied physicists Bioinformatician Biophysicist Neurophysicist Biostatistician Health physicist Library scientist Materials chemist Materials scientist Mathematical biologist Mathematical chemist Mathematical physicist

By employer

• Academic
• Independent scientist
• Industrial/applied scientist
• Laypeople scientists/citizen scientist
• Government scientist

Demography

By country

The number of scientists is vastly different from country to country. For instance, there are only four full-time scientists per 10,000 workers in India while this number is 79 for the United Kingdom and the United States.

Scientists per 10,000 workers for selected countries

Nigeria: 1 Indonesia: 1 Malaysia: 2 Thailand: 2 Bangladesh: 2 Pakistan: 3

India: 4 Kenya: 6 Chile: 7 Brazil: 14 Egypt: 14

United Arab Emirates: 15 Saudi Arabia: 15 China: 18 South Africa: 20 New Zealand: 35

Spain: 54 Russia: 58 France: 68 Australia: 69 Germany: 70 Italy: 70

Canada: 73 United Kingdom: 79 Japan: 83 United States: 85 Israel: 140

United States

According to the United States National Science Foundation 4.7 million people with science degrees worked in the United States in 2015, across all disciplines and employment sectors. The figure included twice as many men as women. Of that total, 17% worked in academia, that is, at universities and undergraduate institutions, and men held 53% of those positions. 5% of scientists worked for the federal government and about 3.5% were self-employed. Of the latter two groups, two-thirds were men. 59% of US scientists were employed in industry or business, and another 6% worked in non-profit positions.

By gender

Scientist and engineering statistics are usually intertwined, but they indicate that women enter the field far less than men, though this gap is narrowing. The number of science and engineering doctorates awarded to women rose from a mere 7 percent in 1970 to 34 percent in 1985 and in engineering alone the numbers of bachelor's degrees awarded to women rose from only 385 in 1975 to more than 11000 in 1985.

Intellectual

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Erasmus of Rotterdam was a foremost intellectual of his time.

 

The French-American intellectual Jacques Barzun was a teacher, a man of letters, and a scholar.

 

An intellectual is a person who engages in critical thinking, research, and reflection about society and proposes solutions for its normative problems, and gain authority as public intellectuals. Coming from the world of culture, either as a creator or as a mediator, the intellectual participates in politics either to defend a concrete proposition or to denounce an injustice, usually by rejecting, producing or extending an ideology, and by defending a system of values.

Definition

The intellectual is a type of intelligent person, who is associated with reason and critical thinking. Many everyday roles require the application of intelligence to skills that may have a psychomotor component, for example, in the fields of medicine or the arts, but these do not necessarily involve the practitioner in the "world of ideas". The distinctive quality of the intellectual person is that the mental skills, which one demonstrates, are not simply intelligent, but even more, they focus on thinking about the abstract, philosophical and esoteric aspects of human inquiry and the value of their thinking.

The intellectual and the scholarly classes are related; the intellectual usually is not a teacher involved in the production of scholarship, but has an academic background, and works in a profession, practices an art, or a science. The intellectual person is one who applies critical thinking and reason in either a professional or a personal capacity, and so has authority in the public sphere of their society; the term intellectual identifies three types of person, one who:

1. is erudite, and develops abstract ideas and theories
2. a professional who produces cultural capital, as in philosophy, literary criticism, sociology, law, medicine, science, and
3. an artist who writes, composes, paints, etc.

Historical definitions

In Latin language, at least starting from the Carolingian Empire, they could be called litterati, a term which is sometimes applied until this day. 

Socially, intellectuals constitute the intelligentsia, a status class organised either by ideology (conservative, fascist, socialist, liberal, reactionary, revolutionary, democratic, communist intellectuals, et al.), or by nationality (American intellectuals, French intellectuals, Ibero–American intellectuals, et al.). The contemporary intellectual class originated from the intelligentsiya of Tsarist Russia (c. 1860s–1870s), the social stratum of those possessing intellectual formation (schooling, education, Enlightenment), and who were Russian society's counterpart to the German Bildungsbürgertum and to the French bourgeoisie éclairée, the enlightened middle classes of those realms.

In the late 19th century, amidst the Dreyfus affair (1894–1906), an identity crisis of anti-semitic nationalism for the French Third Republic (1870–1940), the reactionary anti–Dreyfusards (Maurice Barrès, Ferdinand Brunetière, et al.) used the terms intellectual and the intellectuals to deride the liberal Dreyfusards (Émile Zola, Octave Mirbeau, Anatole France, et al.) as political dilettantes from the realms of French culture, art, and science, who had become involved in politics, by publicly advocating for the exoneration and liberation of Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish French artillery captain falsely accused of betraying France to Germany.

In the 20th century, the term Intellectual acquired positive connotations of social prestige, derived from possessing intellect and intelligence, especially when the intellectual's activities exerted positive consequences in the public sphere and so increased the intellectual understanding of the public, by means of moral responsibility, altruism, and solidarity, without resorting to the manipulations of demagoguery, paternalism, and incivility (condescension). Hence, for the educated person of a society, participating in the public sphere—the political affairs of the city-state—is a civic responsibility dating from the Græco–Latin Classical era:

I am a human; I reckon nothing human to be foreign to me. (Homo sum: humani nihil a me alienum puto.)

— The Self-Tormentor (163 BC), Terence

The determining factor for a Thinker (historian, philosopher, scientist, writer, artist, et al.) to be considered a public intellectual is the degree to which he or she is implicated and engaged with the vital reality of the contemporary world; that is to say, participation in the public affairs of society. Consequently, being designated as a public intellectual is determined by the degree of influence of the designator's motivations, opinions, and options of action (social, political, ideological), and by affinity with the given thinker; therefore:

The Intellectual is someone who meddles in what does not concern them. (L'intellectuel est quelqu'un qui se mêle de ce qui ne le regarde pas.)

— Jean-Paul Sartre

Analogously, the application and the conceptual value of the terms Intellectual and the Intellectuals are socially negative when the practice of intellectuality is exclusively in service to The Establishment who wield power in a society, as such:

The Intellectuals are specialists in defamation, they are basically political commissars, they are the ideological administrators, the most threatened by dissidence.

— Noam Chomsky

Noam Chomsky's negative view of the Establishment Intellectual suggests the existence of another kind of intellectual one might call "the public intellectual," which is:

... someone able to speak the truth, a ... courageous and angry individual for whom no worldly power is too big and imposing to be criticised and pointedly taken to task. The real or true intellectual is therefore always an outsider, living in self-imposed exile, and on the margins of society. He or she speaks to, as well as for, a public, necessarily in public, and is properly on the side of the dispossessed, the un-represented and the forgotten.

— Edward Saïd

"Man of letters"

The term "man of letters" derives from the French term belletrist or homme de lettres but is not synonymous with "an academic". A "man of letters" was a literate man ("able to read and write") as opposed to an illiterate man, in a time when literacy was a rare form of cultural capital. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the Belletrists were the literati, the French "citizens of the Republic of Letters", which evolved into the salon, a social institution, usually run by a hostess, meant for the edification, education, and cultural refinement of the participants.

Historical background

In English, the term intellectual identifies a "literate thinker"; its earlier usage, as in the book title The Evolution of an Intellectual (1920), by John Middleton Murry, denotes literary activity, rather than the activities of the public intellectual.

19th-century

The front page of L'Aurore (13 January 1898) featured Émile Zola's open letter, J'Accuse…!, asking the French President, Félix Faure, to resolve the Dreyfus affair.

Britain

In the late 19th century, when literacy was relatively common in European countries such as the United Kingdom, the "Man of Letters" (littérateur) denotation broadened to mean "specialized", a man who earned his living writing intellectually (not creatively) about literature: the essayist, the journalist, the critic, et al. In the 20th century, such an approach was gradually superseded by the academic method, and the term "Man of Letters" became disused, replaced by the generic term "intellectual", describing the intellectual person. In late 19th century, the term intellectual became common usage to denote the defenders of the falsely accused artillery officer Alfred Dreyfus.

Continental Europe

In early 19th century Britain, Samuel Taylor Coleridge coined the term clerisy, the intellectual class responsible for upholding and maintaining the national culture, the secular equivalent of the Anglican clergy. Likewise, in Tsarist Russia, there arose the intelligentsia (1860s–70s), who were the status class of white-collar workers. The theologian Alister McGrath said that "the emergence of a socially alienated, theologically literate, antiestablishment lay intelligentsia is one of the more significant phenomena of the social history of Germany in the 1830s", and that "three or four theological graduates in ten might hope to find employment" in a church post. As such, politically radical thinkers already had participated in the French Revolution (1789–1799); Robert Darnton said that they were not societal outsiders, but "respectable, domesticated, and assimilated".

Thenceforth, in Europe, an intellectual class was socially important, especially to self-styled intellectuals, whose participation in society's arts, politics, journalism, and education—of either nationalist, internationalist, or ethnic sentiment—constitute "vocation of the intellectual". Moreover, some intellectuals were anti-academic, despite universities (the Academy) being synonymous with intellectualism. 

In France, the Dreyfus affair marked the full emergence of the "intellectual in public life", especially Émile Zola, Octave Mirbeau, and Anatole France directly addressing the matter of French antisemitism to the public; thenceforward, "intellectual" became common, yet occasionally derogatory, usage; its French noun usage is attributed to Georges Clemenceau in 1898.

Germany

Habermas' Structural Transformation of Public Sphere (1963) made significant contribution to the notion of public intellectual by historically and conceptually delineating the idea of private and public.

In the East

In Imperial China, in the period from 206 BC until AD 1912, the intellectuals were the Scholar-officials ("Scholar-gentlemen"), who were civil servants appointed by the Emperor of China to perform the tasks of daily governance. Such civil servants earned academic degrees by means of imperial examination, and also were skilled calligraphers, and knew Confucian philosophy. Historian Wing-Tsit Chan concludes that:

Generally speaking, the record of these scholar-gentlemen has been a worthy one. It was good enough to be praised and imitated in 18th century Europe. Nevertheless, it has given China a tremendous handicap in their transition from government by men to government by law, and personal considerations in Chinese government have been a curse.

In Joseon Korea (1392–1910), the intellectuals were the literati, who knew how to read and write, and had been designated, as the chungin (the "middle people"), in accordance with the Confucian system. Socially, they constituted the petite bourgeoisie, composed of scholar-bureaucrats (scholars, professionals, and technicians) who administered the dynastic rule of the Joseon dynasty.

Intelligentsia

Addressing their role as a social class, Jean-Paul Sartre said that intellectuals are the moral conscience of their age; that their moral and ethical responsibilities are to observe the socio-political moment, and to freely speak to their society, in accordance with their consciences. Like Sartre and Noam Chomsky, public intellectuals usually are polymaths, knowledgeable of the international order of the world, the political and economic organization of contemporary society, the institutions and laws that regulate the lives of the layman citizen, the educational systems, and the private networks of mass communication media that control the broadcasting of information to the public.

Whereas, intellectuals (political scientists and sociologists), liberals, and democratic socialists usually hold, advocate, and support the principles of democracy (liberty, equality, fraternity, human rights, social justice, social welfare, environmental conservation), and the improvement of socio-political relations in domestic and international politics, the conservative public-intellectuals usually defend the social, economic, and political status quo as the realisation of the "perfect ideals" of Platonism, and present a static dominant ideology, in which utopias are unattainable and politically destabilizing of society.

Marxist perspective

In Marxist philosophy, the social class function of the intellectuals (the intelligentsia) is to be the source of progressive ideas for the transformation of society; to provide advice and counsel to the political leaders; to interpret the country's politics to the mass of the population (urban workers and peasants); and, as required, to provide leaders from within their own ranks.

The Italian Communist theoretician Antonio Gramsci (1891–1937) developed Karl Marx's conception of the intelligentsia to include political leadership in the public sphere. That, because "all knowledge is existentially-based", the intellectuals, who create and preserve knowledge, are "spokesmen for different social groups, and articulate particular social interests". That intellectuals occur in each social class and throughout the right wing, the centre, and the left wing of the political spectrum. That, as a social class, the "intellectuals view themselves as autonomous from the ruling class" of their society. That, in the course of class struggle meant to achieve political power, every social class requires a native intelligentsia who shape the ideology (world view) particular to the social class from which they originated. Therefore, the leadership of intellectuals is required for effecting and realizing social change, because:

A human mass does not "distinguish" itself, does not become independent, in its own right, without, in the widest sense, organizing itself; and there is no organisation without intellectuals, that is, without organizers and leaders, in other words, without ... a group of people "specialized" in [the] conceptual and philosophical elaboration of ideas.

In the pamphlet What Is to Be Done? (1902), Lenin (1870–1924) said that vanguard-party revolution required the participation of the intellectuals to explain the complexities of socialist ideology to the uneducated proletariat and the urban industrial workers, in order to integrate them to the revolution; because "the history of all countries shows that the working class, exclusively by its own efforts, is able to develop only trade-union consciousness", and will settle for the limited, socio-economic gains so achieved. In Russia, as in Continental Europe, Socialist theory was the product of the "educated representatives of the propertied classes", of "revolutionary socialist intellectuals", such as were Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels.

In the formal codification of Leninism, the Hungarian Marxist philosopher, György Lukács (1885–1971) identified the intelligentsia as the privileged social class who provide revolutionary leadership. By means of intelligible and accessible interpretation, the intellectuals explain to the workers and peasants the "Who?", the "How?", and the "Why?" of the social, economic, and political status quo—the ideological totality of society—and its practical, revolutionary application to the transformation of their society.

Public intellectual

The term public intellectual describes the intellectual participating in the public-affairs discourse of society, in addition to an academic career. Regardless of the academic field or the professional expertise, the public intellectual addresses and responds to the normative problems of society, and, as such, is expected to be an impartial critic who can "rise above the partial preoccupation of one's own profession—and engage with the global issues of truth, judgment, and taste of the time." In Representations of the Intellectual (1994), In summarizing a quote by Edward Saïd, Jennings and Kemp-Welch state that the "… true intellectual is, therefore, always an outsider, living in self-imposed exile, and on the margins of society".

An intellectual usually is associated with an ideology or with a philosophy; e.g., the Third Way centrism of Anthony Giddens in the Labour Government of Tony Blair. The Czech intellectual Václav Havel said that politics and intellectuals can be linked, but that moral responsibility for the intellectual's ideas, even when advocated by a politician, remains with the intellectual. Therefore, it is best to avoid utopian intellectuals who offer 'universal insights' to resolve the problems of political economy with public policies that might harm and that have harmed civil society; that intellectuals be mindful of the social and cultural ties created with their words, insights, and ideas; and should be heard as social critics of politics and power.

Social background

The American academic Peter H. Smith describes the intellectuals of Latin America as people from an identifiable social class, who have been conditioned by that common experience, and thus are inclined to share a set of common assumptions (values and ethics); that ninety-four per cent of intellectuals come either from the middle class or from the upper class, and that only six per cent come from the working class. In The Intellectual (2005), philosopher Steven Fuller said that, because cultural capital confers power and social status, as a status group, they must be autonomous in order to be credible as intellectuals:

It is relatively easy to demonstrate autonomy, if you come from a wealthy or [an] aristocratic background. You simply need to disown your status and champion the poor and [the] downtrodden ... autonomy is much harder to demonstrate if you come from a poor or proletarian background ... [thus] calls to join the wealthy in common cause appear to betray one's class origins.

The political importance and effective consequence of Émile Zola in the Dreyfus affair (1894–1906) derived from his being a leading French thinker; thus, J'accuse (I Accuse), his open letter to the French government and the nation proved critical to achieving the exoneration of Captain Alfred Dreyfus of the false charges of treason, which were facilitated by institutional anti-Semitism, among other ideological defects of the French Establishment.

Academic background

In journalism, the term intellectual usually connotes "a university academic" of the humanities—especially a philosopher—who addresses important social and political matters of the day. Hence, such an academic functions as a public intellectual who explains the theoretic bases of said problems and communicates possible answers to the policy makers and executive leaders of society. The sociologist Frank Furedi said that "Intellectuals are not defined according to the jobs they do, but [by] the manner in which they act, the way they see themselves, and the [social and political] values that they uphold. Public intellectuals usually arise from the educated élite of a society; although the North American usage of the term "intellectual" includes the university academics. The difference between "intellectual" and "academic" is participation in the realm of public affairs.

Public policy role

In the matters of public policy, the public intellectual connects scholarly research to the practical matters of solving societal problems. The British sociologist Michael Burawoy, an exponent of public sociology, said that professional sociology has failed, by giving insufficient attention to resolving social problems, and that a dialogue between the academic and the layman would bridge the gap. An example is how Chilean intellectuals worked to reestablish democracy within the right-wing, neoliberal governments of the Military dictatorship of Chile (1973–90), the Pinochet régime allowed professional opportunities for some liberal and left-wing social scientists to work as politicians and as consultants in effort to realize the theoretical economics of the Chicago Boys, but their access to power was contingent upon political pragmatism, abandoning the political neutrality of the academic intellectual.

In The Sociological Imagination (1959), C. Wright Mills said that academics had become ill-equipped for participating in public discourse, and that journalists usually are "more politically alert and knowledgeable than sociologists, economists, and especially ... political scientists". That, because the universities of the U.S. are bureaucratic, private businesses, they "do not teach critical reasoning to the student", who then does not "how to gauge what is going on in the general struggle for power in modern society". Likewise, Richard Rorty criticized the participation of intellectuals in public discourse as an example of the "civic irresponsibility of intellect, especially academic intellect".

The American legal scholar Richard Posner said that the participation of academic public intellectuals in the public life of society is characterized by logically untidy and politically biased statements of the kind that would be unacceptable to academia. That there are few ideologically and politically independent public intellectuals, and disapproves that public intellectuals limit themselves to practical matters of public policy, and not with values or public philosophy, or public ethics, or public theology, not with matters of moral and spiritual outrage.

Criticism

The economist Milton Friedman identified the intelligentsia and the business class as interfering with the economic functions of a society.

 

Socrates proposed for philosophers a private monopoly of knowledge separate from the public sphere. (the Louvre)

 

The Congregational theologian Edwards Amasa Park proposed segregating the intellectuals from the public sphere of society in the U.S.

 

As an intellectual, Bertrand Russell was a pacifist who advised Britain against re-arming for World War I.

 

In "An Interview with Milton Friedman" (1974), the American libertarian economist Milton Friedman said that businessmen and the intellectuals are enemies of capitalism; the intellectuals, because most believed in socialism, while the businessman expected economic privileges:

The two, chief enemies of the free society or free enterprise are intellectuals, on the one hand, and businessmen, on the other, for opposite reasons. Every intellectual believes in freedom for himself, but he's opposed to freedom for others. ... He thinks ... [that] there ought to be a central planning board that will establish social priorities. ... The businessmen are just the opposite—every businessman is in favor of freedom for everybody else, but, when it comes to himself that's a different question. He's always "the special case". He ought to get special privileges from the government, a tariff, this, that, and the other thing. 

In "The Intellectuals and Socialism" (1949), the British libertarian economist Friedrich Hayek, said that "journalists, teachers, ministers, lecturers, publicists, radio commentators, writers of fiction, cartoonists, and artists", are the intellectual social class whose function is to communicate the complex and specialized knowledge of the scientist to the general public. That, in the twentieth century, the intellectuals were attracted to socialism and to social democracy, because the socialists offered "broad visions; the spacious comprehension of the social order, as a whole, which a planned system promises" and that such broad-vision philosophies "succeeded in inspiring the imagination of the intellectuals" to change and improve their societies.

According to Hayek, intellectuals disproportionately support socialism for idealistic and utopian reasons that cannot be realized in practical terms. Nonetheless, in the article "Why Socialism?" (1949), Albert Einstein said that the economy of the world is not private property because it is a "planetary community of production and consumption". In U.S. society, the intellectual status class are demographically characterized as people who hold liberal-to-leftist political perspectives about guns-or-butter fiscal policy.

In "The Heartless Lovers of Humankind" (1987), the journalist and popular historian Paul Johnson said:

It is not the formulation of ideas, however misguided, but the desire to impose them on others that is the deadly sin of the intellectuals. That is why they so incline, by temperament, to the Left. For capitalism merely occurs; if no-one does anything to stop it. It is socialism that has to be constructed, and, as a rule, forcibly imposed, thus providing a far bigger role for intellectuals in its genesis. The progressive intellectual habitually entertains Walter Mitty visions of exercising power.

The public- and private-knowledge dichotomy originated in Ancient Greece, from Socrates's rejection of the Sophist concept that the pursuit of knowledge (truth) is a "public market of ideas", open to all men of the city, not only to philosophers. In contradiction to the Sophist's public market of knowledge, Socrates proposed a knowledge monopoly for and by the philosophers; thus, "those who sought a more penetrating and rigorous intellectual life rejected, and withdrew from, the general culture of the city, in order to embrace a new model of professionalism"; the private market of ideas.

In the 19th century, addressing the societal place, roles, and functions of intellectuals in American society, the Congregational theologian Edwards Amasa Park said, "We do wrong to our own minds, when we carry out scientific difficulties down to the arena of popular dissension". That for the stability of society (social, economic, political) it is necessary "to separate the serious, technical role of professionals from their responsibility [for] supplying usable philosophies for the general public"; thus operated Socrate's cultural dichotomy of public-knowledge and private-knowledge, of "civic culture" and "professional culture", the social constructs that describe and establish the intellectual sphere of life as separate and apart from the civic sphere of life.

Intelligentsia

The American historian Norman Stone said that the intellectual social class misunderstand the reality of society and so are doomed to the errors of logical fallacy, ideological stupidity, and poor planning hampered by ideology. In her memoirs, the Conservative politician Margaret Thatcher said that the anti-monarchical French Revolution (1789–1799) was "a utopian attempt to overthrow a traditional order ... in the name of abstract ideas, formulated by vain intellectuals". Yet, as Prime Minister, Thatcher asked Britain's academics to help her government resolve the social problems of British society—whilst she retained the populist opinion of "The Intellectual" as being a man of un-British character, a thinker, not a doer; Thatcher's anti-intellectualist perspective was shared by the mass media, especially The Spectator and The Sunday Telegraph newspapers, whose reportage documented a "lack of intellectuals" in Britain.

In his essay "Why do intellectuals oppose capitalism?" (1998), libertarian philosopher Robert Nozick of the Cato Institute argued that intellectuals become embittered leftists because their academic skills, much rewarded at school and at university, are under-valued and under-paid in the capitalist market economy; so, the intellectuals turned against capitalism—despite enjoying a more economically and financially comfortable life in a capitalist society than they might enjoy in either a socialist or a communist society.

In post-Communist Europe, the social attitude perception of the intelligentsia became anti-intellectual; in the Netherlands, the word "intellectual" negatively connotes an overeducated person of "unrealistic visions of the World". In Hungary, the intellectual is perceived as an "egghead", a person who is "too-clever" for the good of society. In the Czech Republic, the intellectual is a cerebral person, aloof from reality. Such derogatory connotations of "intellectual" are not definitive, because, in the "case of English usage, positive, neutral, and pejorative uses can easily coexist"; the example is Václav Havel who, "to many outside observers, [became] a favoured instance of The Intellectual as National Icon" in the early history of the post-Communist Czech Republic.

In the book, Intellectuals and Society (2010), the economist Thomas Sowell said that, lacking disincentives in professional life, the intellectual (producer of knowledge, not material goods) tends to speak outside his or her area of expertise, and expects social and professional benefits from the halo effect, derived from possessing professional expertise. That, in relation to other professions, the public intellectual is socially detached from the negative and unintended consequences of public policy derived from his or her ideas. As such, the philosopher and mathematician Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) advised the British government against national rearmament in the years before World War I (1914–1918), while the German Empire prepared for war. Yet, the post-war intellectual reputation of Bertrand Russell remained almost immaculate and his opinions respected by the general public because of the halo effect.

Adult education

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Open air school for adults, Guinea-Bissau, 1974

 

Adult education is a practice in which adults engage in systematic and sustained self-educating activities in order to gain new forms of knowledge, skills, attitudes, or values. It can mean any form of learning adults engage in beyond traditional schooling, encompassing basic literacy to personal fulfillment as a lifelong learner.

In particular, adult education reflects a specific philosophy about learning and teaching based on the assumption that adults can and want to learn, that they are able and willing to take responsibility for that learning, and that the learning itself should respond to their needs.

Driven by what one needs or wants to learn, the available opportunities, and the manner in which one learns, adult learning is affected by demographics, globalization and technology. The learning happens in many ways and in many contexts just as all adults' lives differ. Adult learning can be in any of the three contexts, i.e.:

• Formal – Structured learning that typically takes place in an education or training institution, usually with a set curriculum and carries credentials;
• Non-formal – Learning that is organized by educational institutions but non credential. Non-formal learning opportunities may be provided in the workplace and through the activities of civil society organizations and groups;
• Informal education – Learning that goes on all the time, resulting from daily life activities related to work, family, community or leisure (e.g. community baking class).

The World Bank's 2019 World Development Report on The Changing Nature of Work^[8] argues that adult learning is an important channel to help readjust workers' skills to fit in the future of work and suggests ways to improve its effectiveness.

Characteristics

Educating adults differs from educating children in several ways given that adults have accumulated knowledge and work experience which can add to the learning experience. Most adult education is voluntary, therefore, the participants are generally self-motivated, unless required to participate, by an employer. The science and art of helping adults learn, the practice of adult education is referred to as andragogy, to distinguish it from the traditional school-based education for children pedagogy. Unlike children, adults are seen as more self-directed, rather than relying on others for help. 

Adults are mature and therefore have knowledge and have gained life experiences which provide them a foundation of learning. An adult's readiness to learn is linked to their need to have the information. Their orientation to learn is problem-centered rather than subject-centered. Their motivation to learn is internal.

Adults frequently apply their knowledge in a practical fashion to learn effectively. They must have a reasonable expectation that the knowledge they gain will help them further their goals. For example, during the 1990s, many adults, including mostly office workers, enrolled in computer training courses. These courses would teach basic use of the operating system or specific application software. Because the abstractions governing the user's interactions with a PC were so new, many people who had been working white-collar jobs for ten years or more eventually took such training courses, either at their own whim (to gain computer skills and thus earn higher pay) or at the behest of their managers. 

In the United States and many areas in Canada, a more general example is when adults who dropped out of high school return to school to complete general education requirements. Most upwardly mobile positions require at the very least a high school diploma or equivalent. A working adult is unlikely to have the freedom to simply quit his or her job and go "back to school" full-time.

Public school systems and community colleges usually offer evening or weekend classes for this reason. In Europe this is often referred to as "second-chance", and many schools offer tailor-made courses and learning programs for these returning learners. Furthermore, adults with poor reading skills can obtain help from volunteer literacy programs. These national organizations provide training, tutor certification, and accreditation for local volunteer programs. States often have organizations which provide field services for volunteer literacy programs. 

The purpose of adult education in the form of college or university is distinct. In these institutions, the aim is typically related to personal growth and development as well as occupation and career preparedness. Another goal might be to not only sustain the democratic society, but to even challenge and improve its social structure.

A common problem in adult education in the US is the lack of professional development opportunities for adult educators. Most adult educators come from other professions and are not well trained to deal with adult learning issues. Most of the positions available in this field are only part-time without any benefits or stability since they are usually funded by government grants that might last for only a couple of years. 

However, in Canada, professional development is available in all provinces and territories through post-secondary institutions and most Provinces also provide professional development through their ministry of education or school boards and through nongovernmental organizations. In addition, there are programs about adult education for existing and aspiring practitioners offered, at various academic levels, by universities, colleges, and professional organizations.

Types

Continuing education can help adults maintain certifications, fulfill job requirements and stay up to date on new developments in their field. Also, the purpose of adult education can be vocational, social, recreational or for self-development. One of its goals may be to help adult learners satisfy their personal needs and achieve their professional goals. Therefore, its ultimate goal might be to achieve human fulfillment. The goal might also be to achieve an institution's needs. For example, this might include improving its operational effectiveness and productivity. A larger scale goal of adult education may be the growth of society by enabling its citizens to keep up with societal change and maintain good social order.

One fast-growing sector of adult education is English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL), also referred to as English as a Second Language (ESL) or English Language Learners (ELL). These courses are key in assisting immigrants with not only the acquisition of the English language, but the acclimation process to the culture of the United States as well as other English speaking countries like Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.

Principles

The principles of andragogy flow directly from an understanding of the characteristics of adults as learners and can be recognized when we understand the characteristics of adults, and see the way those characteristics influence how adults learn best. Teachers who follow the principles of andragogy when choosing materials for training and when designing program delivery, find that their learners progress more quickly, and are more successful in reaching their goals. The Canadian Literacy and Learning Network outlines the 7 key principles of adult learning. In other words, these 7 principles distinguish adult learners from children and youth.

1. Adults cannot be made to learn. They will only learn when they are internally motivated to do so.
2. Adults will only learn what they feel they need to learn. In other words, they are practical.
3. Adults learn by doing. Active participation is especially important to adult learners in comparison to children.
4. Adult learning is problem-based and these problems must be realistic. Adult learners like finding solutions to problems.
5. Adult learning is affected by the experience each adult brings.
6. Adults learn best informally. Adults learn what they feel they need to know whereas children learn from a curriculum.
7. Children want guidance. Adults want information that will help them improve their situation or that of their children.

Malcolm Knowles introduces andragogy as the central theory of adult learning in the 1970s, defining andragogy as “the art and science of helping adults learn” (Knowles, 1980, p43; Merriam, Caffarella & Baumgartner, 2007). 

Andragogy proposes the following six main assumptions about adults as learners: 1) As a person matures, his or her self-concept moves from that of a dependent personality toward one of a self-directing human being. Adults, thus, make decisions themselves and manage their lives as they think they are able to do and they are autonomous. 2) An adult has rich experiences that accumulated through family responsibilities, work-related activities, and prior education. Experiences of an adult can contribute to his or her learning, as well as support co-learners. 3) The readiness of an adult to learn is closely connected to the developmental tasks of his or her social role. Thus, adults are relevancy oriented. It means that when adults see any reason that closely related their social roles (work or family, etc.), they are ready to learn. 4) As a person matures, he or she refers to immediacy application of knowledge rather than the future application of knowledge which used to have occurred in his or her childhood. Thus, an adult tends to refer problem-centered than subject-centered in learning. In other words, an adult refers to involve in any form of learning to solve their life problems. Adults, therefore, are very eager to learn and immediately want to apply new knowledge and skills to their life situation. 5) An adult is motivated to involve in any form of learning based on his or her internal drives rather than external ones. 6) Adults need to know why they need to learn something (Knowles, 1980, p43; Merriam, Caffarella & Baumgartner, 2007). 

Further, Knowles suggests that these characteristics should be taken into consideration when designing programmes for adults as well as facilitating their learning process. 

Even though the theory has been questioned, it is still helpful for adult learning practitioners to understand the learning characteristics of adults (Merriam, Caffarella & Baumgartner, 2007).

Challenges and motivating factors

Adults have many responsibilities that they must balance against the demands of learning. Because of these responsibilities, adults have barriers and challenges against participating in learning and continuing their education. The barriers can be classified into three groups including institutional, situational and dispositional.

Some of these barriers include the lack of time balancing career and family demands, finances and transportation. As well, things such as confidence, interest, lack of information about opportunities to learn, scheduling problems, entrance requirements and problems with child care can be barriers in learning. Distance and/or online learning can address some problems with adult education that cause these barriers.

Understanding what motivates adult learners and what their barriers are, can assist in enrolling more adult learners. When adult learners clearly know the benefits of their continuing education, such as getting promotions or better job performance, they are more likely to be motivated to attend. When teachers are aware of the student's characteristics, they can develop lessons that address both the strengths and the needs of each student. Adults that are motivated have confidence and positive self-esteem are more likely to develop into lifelong learners.

Characteristics of non-participating adults in education

Previous research findings suggest that as adults get older, they are less likely to participate in AE. The International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS), nationally representative samples of adults aged 16-65 in 23 OECD countries, has found that older age groups had lower participation rates than younger age groups (Tuijnman & Boudard, 2001, p23). Particularly, adults aged 16 to 25 were on average about three times more likely to participate than older adults aged 56 to 65. Eurobarometer survey, national representative samples of adult aged 15 to 65 of European Union countries, also revealed that adults in the three youngest age groups examined (ages 15-24, ages 25-39, and ages 40-54) were more likely to participate in AE than age group of 55+ (Chisholm, Larson & Mossoux, 2004, p72). Moreover, the Eurobarometer survey shows that participation rate declined from younger to older adults. Participation rate of European countries was 59% for adults aged 15-24. The rate began to decline 38% for adults aged 25-39 and it also fell down to 31% for adults aged 40-54. Participation rate was 17% for adults above 55 (Chisholm, Larson & Mossoux, 2004, p72). Reason of why older adults’ participation declined relates mainly to lack of promotion and support. When people get old, their chances to take promotion for any AE programs are reduced. In many OECD and European countries, employers often support their workers to attend in AE programs since they consider that workers with higher-educated and skilled are crucial indicators of development for companies (UIL, 2010, pp49-55). Therefore, older adults cannot get promotions from their employers because of the gradual loss of seniority, learning ability and performance (Desjardins, Rubenson & Milana, 2006, p63). Since older adults are rarely offered a promotion from their employers, and the cost would be an obstacle for participation, they are unable to take the courses even if they wanted to take part in programmes. Moreover, lack of motivation and unavailability of learning opportunities could be additional reasons of older adults’ low-participation (Desjardins, Rubenson & Milana, 2006, p64). 

Findings of previous research are quite mixed when participation in AE comes to gender. According to the IALS (Tuijnman & Boudard, 2001, p22), there is no a statistically significant difference between men and women in AE. However, the average participation rate of men was a bit higher than women (Tuijnman & Boudard, 2001, p52). It was 38.7% for men and 37.9% for women. The Eurobarometer survey shows a similar result to the IALS data. Specifically the average participation of males was 35%; while, it was 30% for females (Chisholm, Larson & Mossoux, 2004, p72). Women’s low participation is mainly resulted from family burdens and lack of financial support (Desjardins, Rubenson & Milana, 2006, p65). However, an opposite tendency can be observed in the US. A study based on National Household Education Survey [NCES] in 2001 revealed that although gender difference did not exist much, females were more likely to participate in AE than males in the US (Kim, Hagedorn, Williamson & Chapman, 2004, p12). The participation rate was 49% for women and 43% for men. 

Educational attainment is determined as the most important factor in predicting participation in AE. It is known that those with higher levels of educational attainment participate more in AE programs. The IALS showed that there was a clear relationship between previous educational attainment and participation in AE (Tuijnman & Boudard, 2001, p20). The data found those with low educational background were less likely to participate in OECD countries. Specifically, the participation rate was 57.6% for adults who completed college or university education; while, it was 15.5% for adults who did not complete high school (Tuijnman & Boudard, 2001, p51). The Eurobarometer survey also showed that 87% of low-educated people belonged to the non-participant group (Chisholm, Larson & Mossoux, 2004, p72). Reason of low or non-participation of the less-educated can be explained from perspectives of individual and employers, according to Desjardins, Rubenson and Milana (2006, p68). Individual point illustrated that low self-confidence regarding the learning, which mainly derived from previous bad educational experiences, could be a major obstacle for the less-educated. Apart from low self-confidence, those less-educated might not perceive their need of participation or might actually not have a need to participate. Yet, employers’ view was apparent that they tended to support high-educated because they were more trainable than the low-educated. Therefore, the participation of the less-educated was low since they could not get promotions from their employers.

At last, adults who come from a better socio-economic background tend to participate more in AE programs. The OECD data showed that higher the parents’ educational level could produce the higher participation rate (OECD, 2003 as cited in Desjardins, Rubenson & Milana, 2006, p66).

Summarizing above findings, people, those are young and men, with high levels of education, high-status of jobs are more likely to take part in any form of education and training. On the contrary, typical non-participants tend to be women, older, less educated, and coming from poor socio-economic backgrounds. In addition, less-skilled, unemployed, immigrants, language minorities, and rural residents are less likely to participate in AE programs. 

Deterring factors for participation in education

Deterrents are characteristics that explain why adults respond in negative manners to participate in education and learning. Deterrents faced by adults are multifaceted, including both external and internal factors. However, cost and time have been remained as the most frequently reported deterrents (Bariso, 2008; Boeren, 2009; 2011; Chang & Lin, 2012; Chisholm, Larson & Mossoux, 2004; Raghavan & Ismail, 2009; Kim, Hagedorn, Williamson & Chapman, 2004; Malhotra, Shapero, Sizoo & Munro, 2007; Rubenson & Desjardins, 2009; Tuijnman & Boudard, 2001). Large sampled (nationwide and international) surveys on barriers to participation such as a study of National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) of the US (Kim, Hagedorn, Williamson & Chapman, 2004), IALS (Tuijnman & Boudard, 2001) and Eurobarometer (Chisholm, Larson & Mossoux, 2004) indicated that time and cost were the main deterrents for adults. Moreover, some empirical studies (Chang & Lin, 2012; Bariso, 2008; Malhotra, Shapero, Sizoo & Munro, 2007) discovered time and cost as the most cited deterrents through studying various groups of adults. Cost includes tuition fee of a program as well as extra expenditures for learning such as clothes, food, transportation and other school necessities (textbooks and stationaries). It is well known that adults those less educated, low skilled and unemployed are less likely to participate in education/learning. For the unemployed, it is obvious that cost can hinder their participation in education. And people those lacking education and skills must be paid low salaries. In this way, cost could be the most influential deterrent. Even employed adults seem not wanting to invest money for a course, but they could attend if their employers supported them financially. For the time barrier, most adults those involved in above mentioned studies reported that they could not participated in educational activities because due to lack of time. Adults tended to say that they were busy with their daily routines. Apart from cost and time deterrents, family and job commitments are other most commonly cited deterrents. The large sampled surveys and empirical studies as mentioned earlier revealed that adults tended to report family and job responsibilities as deterrents and rated right after the cost and time deterrents. However, Desjardins, Rubenson, and Milana (2006) suggested that busy workload and family responsibilities can be associated with the time barrier, otherwise time barrier itself is a vague concept. Adults feel they do not have time to learn because they are busy at work and home. Thus, the time barrier should be considered in line with family and job commitments. After above-mentioned deterrents, another mostly reported deterrent is irrelevant and inadequate supplies of trainings/activities. In other words, AE programs and courses do not always suit the needs of adult learners (Desjardins, Rubenson & Milana, 2006). It, therefore, is also important for educational planners to recognize that AE opportunities available may not always suit the learner’s need. 

Deterrents related to an individual’s internal issues tend to be reported in lowest rate. For example, the IALS showed that the least deterrent was lack of self-confidence (Tuijnman & Boudard, 2001). Also, the Eurobarometer survey indicated that adults’ perception of being too old to learn was the least significant deterrent (Chisholm, Larson & Mossoux, 2004). 

Moreover, perceived deterrents are differentiated into social groups. According to Merriam, Caffarella and Baumgartner (2005), Johnstone and Rivera (1965) found that older adults faced more dispositional barriers such as low self-confidence and too late for being learners. Also, younger adults and women were more experienced with situational barriers such as cost and child care arrangements. Among the less educated, one’s low-confidence regarding the learning ability could be the main deterrent (Desjardins, Rubenson & Milana, 2006; Illeris, 2006).

Benefits

Adult education can have many benefits ranging from better health and personal well-being to greater social inclusion. It can also support the function of democratic systems and provide greater opportunities for finding new or better employment. Adult education has been shown to have a positive impact on the economy.

Adult education provides opportunities for personal growth, goal fulfillment and socialization. Chris McAllister's research of semi-structured interviews with older adult learners shows a motivation to communicate with people and to get out of the house to keep mentally active. Researchers have documented the social aspects of older adult education. Friendship was described as important aspects of adult learning and the classroom was seen as an important part of their social network. The development of social networks and support was found to be a key motivation of adult learners. As editor of a book entitled Adult Education and Health, Leona English claims that including health education as part of adult education makes for a healthier community.

When surveying adult education programs in Japan, Nojima (2010) found that classes focusing on hobbies and very specific recreational activities were by far the most popular. The author noted that more time, money and resources needed to be in place so participants would be able to take advantage of these types of activities. Withnall (2006) explored the influences on later life learning in various parts in the U.K. Results were similar in that later in life education afforded these older adults opportunities to socialize. 

Some experts claim that adult education has a long-term impact on the economy and that there is a correlation between innovation and learning at the workplace.

Monitoring

Global Reports on Adult Learning and Education (GRALE)

Global Reports on Adult Learning and Education (GRALE) are a series of reports that monitor progress on Adult Learning and Education (ALE), promote action, identify trends in the field of ALE, and explore solutions to challenges. GRALE play a key role in meeting UNESCO's commitment to monitor and report on countries’ implementation of the Belém Framework for Action. This Framework was adopted by 144 UNESCO Member States at the Sixth International Conference on Adult Learning and Education (CONFINTEA VI), which was held in Belém, Brazil, in 2009. In the Belém Framework for Action, countries agreed to improve ALE across five areas of action: policy; governance; financing; participation, inclusion and equity; and quality.