The Promise and Politics of Older Adult Education

Abstract

Opportunities for senior adults the world over to participate in formal and informal educational programs have increased dramatically during the past 30 years. At the forefront of innovations in programs for older learners are those that invite members to share in teaching, governance, curriculum development, and future planning. This article traces how a variety of new programs have come about; reviews previous steps to expand and diversify older adult education, particularly in the Unites States and Canada; looks at levels of participation, learner objectives, institutional responses and rationales; and questions the underlying ideological commitments of government, aging organization, postsecondary educational institutions, and private sector groups to meet the needs and wants of today's retirement-age persons. A brief look in the "distant mirror" of China's universities for older people helps crystallize the current situation in the United States.