Readers respond to a Guardian editorial about the vital role that adult education plays in society and the threats it faces
Your leader rightly deplores the severe reductions in adult education and part-time learning provision in recent years (The Guardian view on adult education: bring back evening classes, 21 March). This has numerous negative consequences, not only for potential adult learners themselves but also for wider society. One key aspect of such education, which has now virtually disappeared, is critical liberal adult education. In my view, this is a foundational aspect of a vibrant, participative democracy, which requires an informed, socially aware and tolerant citizenry. Adult education is thus a key element in civil society.
Some years ago, Raymond Williams argued that the primary task of the adult educator was “to critique the prevailing common sense”. University extramural departments and the Workers’ Educational Association (WEA) and other similar organisations provided the space where such critical education was provided – much of it for adults who had had no opportunities for education since leaving school at the minimum age. Moreover, from this symbiotic relationship between adult students, with rich life experience, and tutors, with academic expertise, emerged such seminal works as EP Thompson’s The Making of the English Working Class.
