                                     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.
