6. WHY ADULT'S LEARN In researching why adults learn, Tough (1979) proposed the following reasons: 1. Explanatory interviews indicated that the anticipated benefits constitute a significant portion of the person's total motivation to learn. 2. Man is freer to choose his goals, direction, behavior. He is not always pushed and pulled by his environment and by unconscious inner forces. 3. Adults begin to learn when they make a free and conscious decision to undertake a project. 4. Adults learn because they want some outcome that can be achieve in a few days, weeks, or months (p. 47). Tough (1979) hypothesized that the main reason adults learn is pleasure. He diagrammed why people undertake learning projects. WHY ADULTS LEARN A During the episodes of a learning project, the person will perform certain activities such as reading, listening, watching, practicing. B As a result of these learning episodes, the learner will retain certain knowledge and skills. C This knowledge and skill will be used for performing some responsibility or action at a higher level. D He will receive a promotion, higher pay, or some other material reward for his participation in the learning exercise. (Tough, 1979, p. 51) From his extensive research, Tough (1979) found what he believed to be the thirteen major reasons why adults undertake learning projects. 1. Efficiency is a motive for some learners. They expect to achieve the action goal faster in the long run, by spending some early time at learning. The learning will save more time than it will cost. 2. Importing the knowledge and skill is another motivating factor for the adult learner, not only in beginning to learn new information but in continuing to learn. 3. Future understanding and use of knowledge and skills is a factor. 4. Pleasure, joy, happiness. 5. Self-esteem is improved and this leads to confidence. 6. Learning for credits - external recognition. 7. Satisfying curiosity, puzzlement, or a question. 8. Enjoyment from the content itself. 9. The activity of learning itself is a factor. 10. Enjoyment from practicing the skill. 11. Learning successfully -- forward progress. 12. Completing unfinished learning projects. 13. Aspects unrelated to learning -- open new avenues to pursue in life (pp. 53-55). Johnstone and Rivera (1965) treated self-planned projects merely as a residual category. In some subject matter areas (technical arts and hobbies, gardening and home improvement skills), they found that at least 80% of all learning projects were self-planned. They concluded, "The incidence of self- education throughout the adult population is much greater than we had anticipated (p. 37)." Blackburn (1967) was so impressed by the frequency of individual methods that he made the following recommendations: "Additional attention by educators should be devoted to designing and facilitating appealing educational experiences which adults can undertake through individual methods of study (pp. 207-208)." Several researchers studied the extent to which learners receive help and information from various types of persons. Examples are Hoeflin (1950), Johns (1967), Sharma (1967), and Tough (1967). They all concluded that almost every adult student was capable of providing some sort of help with some learning projects. Every adult was a potential helper as well as a learner. This further supported the contention that Knowles made that a learner's life experience must be utilized as part of the adult learning process. An ancient maxim "Each one-Teach one" seemed applicable here. Adults needed to be included in the learning process not only as learners but teachers as well. Learning environments must take into consideration these concepts in order to enhance adult learning programs. Tough (1979) described the process by which adult learners get help with self-planned learning projects, and without it, often cancel their own efforts. He labeled these as "six steps in an effective helping-seeking process." They are: SIX STEPS IN A HELPING-SEEKING PROCESS LEARNER WITH HELP 1. Learner becomes aware of the need for help. 2. Learner is clear on the preparatory steps with which he needs help/or on what help is needed. 3. He knows or decides how to seek help. 4. He actually seeks the help. 5. He receives, reaches or makes contact with help. 6. He gets the desired help from that particular resource. 7. He is able to find some way to pay for the assistance. (Tough, 1979) In his book relating individual learning and self-renewing societies, John Gardner (1964) expressed his views regarding adult education objectives: "Education at its best will develop the individual's inner resources to the point where he can learn (and will want to learn) on his own. It will equip him to cope with unforeseen challenges and to survive as a versatile individual in an unpredictable world. Individuals so educated will keep the society flexible, adaptive and innovative (p. 26)." Roby Kidd (1959) noted that a common purpose of adult education is to produce "a continuing inner-directed, self- operating learner." Knowles (1970) pointed out that "education is not yet perceived as a lifelong process, so that we are still taught in our youth what we ought to know, rather than how to keep finding out." Hence the need for "helping individuals to develop the attitude that learning is a lifelong process and to acquire the skills of self-directed learning (p. 23)." Arnold Toynbee (1968), the distinguished British historian, declared that "the learner should transform himself into a self-teacher, and the teacher should transform himself into a stimulator and then into a consultant. The initiative should be transferred to the learner himself (p. xxiv)." Suggesting a university course called "Learning to learn", Jahoda and Thomas (1965) said that, "The purpose of this course would be to encourage the students to think for themselves as autonomous people; i.e. as self-organizing systems responsible for their own learning, who can view the facilities offered by the university (e.g.), lectures, projects, work periods, programmed texts, teaching machines, seminars, tutorials, laboratory facilities, libraries, research staff, etc., as opportunities to be used for pursuing self-defined ends." Tough (1979) listed statistics depicting adults' motivation to learn taken from his own research. 1. Some anticipated use or application of knowledge or skill: 73% of total population. 2. Curiosity or puzzlement or wanting to posses the knowledge for its own sake: 10% 3. Learning for credit toward a degree, certificate or other certification: 5% 4. Other motivating factors: 12% (p. 174). Penland (1977) described why adults undertook learning projects and listed them in rank order of importance. 1. Desire to set my own learning pace. 2. Desire to use my own style of learning. 3. I wanted to keep the learning style flexible and easy to change. 4. Desire to put my own structure to the learning project. 5. I didn't know of any class that taught what I wanted to know. 6. I wanted to learn this right away and couldn't wait for a class. 7. Lack of time to engage in a group learning program. 8. I don't like a formal classroom situation with a teacher. 9. I don't have enough money for a course or a class. 10. Transportation to a class is too hard or too expensive (p. 40) Tough (1979) questioned why some adults make little effort to learn? What stops some individuals in key positions from trying to learn a great deal about an issue before making a major decision? Why do only a few citizens study peace, population, or pollution before voting on these matters spreading their opinions to others? Why do accident-prone individuals not try to improve? Why do some intelligent adults shy away from learning about the past and future of man's life on earth? What blocks many parents form trying to improve their competence in raising children? A large number of factors may form part of the answers to these questions. Tough speculated about which factors are especially influential. He noted it would be many years before researchers are able to determine the relative importance of the entire array of factors. He suggested that certain past experiences were probably among the most influential factors that determine how much time a person devotes to learning. Such factors included (1) the extent to which the person's parents read and learned, (2) the amount of activity or achievement in his childhood home, (3) the use of vocabulary there, (4) the number of years he spent in school, (5) the characteristics and curriculum of those schools, (6) his satisfaction with his previous attempts to learn, and (7) his ordinal position among his siblings. Landsman (1969) suggested another factor: the frequency and intensity of positive experiences at all ages, especially during childhood. Houle's (1961) exploratory study suggested several other factors. Childhood experiences have certainly influenced some mend and women strongly. One young adult, for example, stated: "From my childhood I was taught the beauty and adventure of books, and the necessity to constantly seek out answers. I was encouraged rather than discouraged to ask why as I grew. I developed in an atmosphere of openness where subjects ranging from Thoreau to the current crisis in the news were discussed, not around me, but with me, encouraging me to participate in the discussion. I was taught, and subsequently learned, that there is so much to know and so little time in which to learn it" (p. 331). An individual's current personality or psychological characteristics could also influence the amount of time the adult spends learning. If the person was outstanding in some following characteristics, for example, he would probably conduct more learning projects than most people: (1) level of mental ability; (2) energy level; (3) degree of initiative and aggressiveness in daily life; (4) degree of deliberateness and rationality in daily life; (5) amount of insight into himself; (6) amount of current knowledge and skill; (7) strength and number of interests; (8) positive perceptions regarding the pleasure, usefulness, and appropriateness of learning; (9) extent to which he is future- oriented, and willing to put forth effort in hopes of later gratification, rather than living essentially for the present (Kuhlen, 1963); (10) importance in his life of motivation for growth, expansion, achievement, creativity, self-actualization (compared to motivation from the lower-level needs, anxiety, threat, deficiency, defensiveness and protection, attempts to satisfy the real or imagined demands of others); (11) past or anticipated residential mobility; (12) general readiness to change, and optimism about the future (Johnstone & Rivera, 1965); (13) amount of energy, power, time, money, and other resources left over after the person deals with his current minimum tasks and routine demands; (14) strength of motivation for achievement (Parker & Paisley, 1966); (15) amount of enjoyment from using the mind; (16) amount of curiosity, and amount of pleasure from exploring new fields and phenomena; (17) clarity of life goals; (18) competence at setting learning goals; (19) extent to which his self-concept and self-assessment are clear and accurate rather than denied or distorted; (20) extent to which he perceives positive consequences in the development of new media and educational technology (Rees & Paisley, 1967); (21) extent to which he deals with a problem rather than its symptoms, understands the heart of a problem, realistically perceives his own role in causing a problem, and feels that he should accept at least partial responsibility for solving his problems (p. 189). Tough (1979) believed the absence of most of the characteristics just listed would reduce the number of learning projects that an adult undertakes. In addition, a person may be especially likely to make very few learning efforts if (1) his habitual reaction to new situations and requirements was negative, (2) he does not react positively to ambiguity, puzzlement, and unanswered questions, (3) he was fearful of failure, (4) he rarely returned to a task when interrupted, (5) he cannot clearly see the gap between his present self and his ideal self, and (6) he has not yet reached a high level of ability in thinking in a flexible and integrated manner (p. 190). Several other current characteristics of the adult learner must be understood before one can predict, with any assurance at all, why he would not initiate a learning project. These characteristics, Tough wrote, included (1) his concept of himself, (2) his high-priority, long-term goals, (3) his values, (4) his developmental tasks, role changes, transitions, personal crises (p. 191). Negative characteristics can have a positive influence on the why an adult undertakes learning projects, Tough (1979) concluded. Some individuals may be driven to learning by their emotional problems, by their difficult or boring or unsatisfying marriage, by their search for a husband, by their troubled childhood, or by their frequent failures in life. Attending a course or reading extensively may provide satisfaction or social stimulation to those who lack a happy home life or a variety of other satisfying activities (p. 191). The amount an adult learns was also influenced by various characteristics of the people around him. The customs and expectations of his circle of friends and relatives may be important. These acquaintances may praise and support anyone who tries to learn, or may scoff and tease. They may themselves learn frequently-or rarely. The types of people with whom a person interacts may be affected by his age, sex, occupation, income level, and social class. Studying the factors that make some people readers and others nonreaders, Ennis (1965) found that many readers feel they live "in a book-rich and book conscious circle of family and friends (p.24)." Many adult learners received stimulation and support by being part of an enclave of learners (Houle, 1961). Jourard (1968) suggested that the way to understand the person marked by "turned-on, fascinated, autonomous questioning" is to study the significant people in his world as he perceives them. Researchers were usually more productive if they worked in a stimulating intellectual milieu, or had contact with colleagues at meetings and by mail or phone. Some community or societal factors were considered important in assessing why adults want to learn. Entire communities or societies may be oriented to learning much more than other communities and societies. Urban and suburban Californians, for example, were more stimulated to learn than peasants in developing countries. The typical medical doctor or sales clerk in London and Boston might learn more now than his counterpart did 200 years ago; an even greater increase may occur in the next 200 years. Sometimes a community or group was established specifically to promote learning. Universities and residential adult education centers were sometimes examples of this. Some recently established utopian ("intentional") communities have individual development as a major goal ( Tough, 1979, p. 189). Other communities and situations marked by a great deal of free time lead to learning efforts by few individuals, through reading or discussion. Examples are prisons, hospitals, concentration camps, remote military outposts, and certain occupations. Some people left their ordinary surroundings, perhaps for a religious retreat or mountain cabin, in order to think or learn to write. The geographical proximity of certain facilities and services may increase the adult's learning efforts. In particular, the availability and accessibility of libraries, book stores, educational institutions, discussion groups, counseling, and other sources help and materials may be influential (Houle, 1969). In conclusion, Tough, Knowles, Houle and other adult learning theorists predicted that the adult learner would gradually be weaned away from the perception that he was engaged in schooling, and that when he acquired the skills of learning appropriate to his aspirations he would view himself as a self-directed learner, making use of the learning resources center as a resource that is available to him on his terms for the rest of his life. There would be no such thing as graduation. There would be no such things as adult education. There will only be lifelong learning.