Thirty years after the demise of the Soviet bloc, there still persists a rhetoric of differentiation and a discursive polarisation between the Western and the non-Western educational thinking and practices. This rhetoric overshadows a potential similarity, or homogeneity, between the dominant and several marginalised contexts. Regional, local and…

These papers, produced for a graduate seminar at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, represent an attempt to devise a methodology for the comparative study of adult education. "Introduction," by G.S. Bains, provides a justification for the study of comparative adult education. "Comparative Philosophies of Adult Education," by…

Compares educational philosophies in the United States, the Soviet Union, and Western Europe with regard to relationships between school and the workplace. Concludes that work study programs are more accepted in the United States and the Soviet Union than in western Europe, where they are generally restricted to less intellectual pupils. Available…

Sociopolitical influences on education and research in the United States, China, and the Soviet Union are contrasted. Discussions with American scholars who have knowledge of educational practice in socialist nations are presented. The major philosophical difference stressed by these scholars is the pervasive influence of dialectical materialism…

This paper sketches major programs for adult education in Sweden, the Soviet Union, France, and England and considers several policy implications for adult education in the United States. The first section examines the reforms in Swedish public education designed to facilitate social equality, with special emphasis on the study circle. A…