An increasing number of mayors are adding 'learning' to traditional city responsibility for sewers, roads, parks, garbage and dog-catching. However, just like in the 1970s, there is uncertainty about what is meant by 'learning' and considerable variance embedded in the notion of 'city'. Some Learning City advocates look to UNESCO's Faure and…

After Deng Xiaoping's 1978 reform and opening, foreigners had a chance to see adult education in China. As a result, many met Yao Zhongda, Chief of the Bureau of Workers' and Peasants Education. From 1921 onwards, adult education has been a vital corollary of Communist revolution. Although Yao's biography was extremely relevant to what foreigners…

Prior to 1949 the Chinese Communist Party orchestrated innovative and participatory forms of adult education. This article concerns Madame Li Li, a leading Chinese Communist woman adult educator. Western delegates at the International Council for Adult Education 1984 Shanghai symposium on adult education were fascinated by Madame Li Li because,…

Without adult education, there would have been no Communist government in China. Once the Long March arrived in Yan'an, Mao and Communist leaders used adult education in informal and nonformal settings to build momentum for revolution. This article analyzes the theory and practice of adult education during the Yan'an "golden years"…

Staff and students grumble about how research allegedly obscures the merits of exemplary teaching at universities. Modern efforts to move teaching from the periphery to the centre of the university were marked by books on the scholarship of teaching (SoT). Starting in the 1990s it became possible for academic staff to cite their SoT in claims for…

In March 2006, Premier Wen Jiabao acknowledged that the situation in the Chinese countryside is desperate and claimed new resources would be devoted to healthcare and education. This announcement should have pleased architects of the Chinese "learning initiative" who are building learning cities and villages. The authors describe why…

From the 1920s until 1949, foreign adult educators (mostly women) in the Shanghai YWCA worked to foster labor unrest and build a better world. Many started out as liberal Christians but ended up supporting Chairman Mao. They used street theater, mass singing, games, pageants, structured exercises, and "bible classes," where learners read…

Soon after remnants of the Long March reached Yan'an, the Communist Party established adult and higher education institutions. K'angta--the anti-Japanese university--was at the centre of attempts to resist foreign invaders and, after October 1, 1949, became a model for the rest of China. K'angta owed much to Mao's essays On Practice and On…

Edgar Snow scored an extraordinary scoop in 1936 when he persuaded Mao Zedong to tell his story. The resulting book--"Red Star Over China"--was a best-seller in the West and translated editions caused a sensation in China. Adult education was the centrepiece of Communist revolution and featured prominently in Red Star. It is now the…

Describes the agenda of the European Conference on Motivation for Adult Education, held by the German Commission for Unesco as one of the regional consultations preparatory to the Fourth International Conference on Adult Education, scheduled for April 1985. (SK)

This article analyzes the clientele of three New Zealand Adult Education institutes. The report deals with the variables that determine the clientele and it has been shown that they are generally fulfilling elitist functions. They have not been reaching those for whom it was originally intended. (AS)

Explores the circumstances surrounding the creation of education schemes in the armies of the British Empire. Discusses attitudes toward war and toward the soldier's role in the early 1900s, attitudes of the soldiers toward war, the University of Vimy Ridge, the Canadian Khaki University, the Oatlands program, and education for the New Zealand…

A study of the citation patterns of articles published in "Adult Education" revealed that only 20 percent of citations appearing in volume 19 (1968) were of primary literature, contrasted to nearly 60 percent in volume 27 (1977). (LRA)

This memoir of Paulo Freire looks at how others have perceived his life and work, concluding that his influence stems from being both an adult educator and a celebrity. (SK)