Ronald J. Manheimer, Ph.D.

North Carolina Center for Creative Retirement

University of North Carolina at Asheville

2002

Older adult education in the United States is shaped more by consumer demand and the rise of a multitude of non-profit educational organization than by state-run institutions or government policies. Fueling the demand is a new generation of retirees who are more affluent, better educated, and healthier than any previous generation in American history. Thirty or forty years ago, only a tiny fractions of the population, the wealthy and healthy, could really enjoy a robust Third Age. Now that leisure time period has become democratized, giving millions of ordinary citizens more options than they had ever dreamed of (Laslett, 1991). And since prior education remains a main determinant of demand for education in the later years (Snyder, Hoffman & Geddes, 1997), this combination of factors has generated a growing population of older learners.

Responding to meet this demand, community-based, non-profit organizations as well as for-profit ones have supplemented more traditional providers such as adult education programs at colleges and universities. Some of the new players that have come upon the U.S. scene in the last 20-30 years include Elderhostel, a travel-learning program offering to those 50 and over, one or two week-long residencies at educational centers in the U.S. and abroad, and reaching about 300,000 annually; Institutes for Learning in Retirement (ILRs), largely run by participants who help to develop curricula, teach and govern some 300 programs connected to college and universities, involving about 100,000 annually; a department store-based senior center type program called OASIS (Older Adult Service and Information Systems) Institutes at some 30 shopping center location across the country and serving approximately 300,000 annually; SeniorNet, a senior-user computer network with over 100 centers where courses on computer use are taught by members to members; and Shepherd’s Centers, religious organization-sponsored, volunteer run community service and education centers located at churches and synagogues (Manheimer, Snodgrass & Moskow-McKenzie, 1995).

In addition, there are 15,000 community-based senior centers supported by local municipalities, usually also receiving some federal and state funds that, in addition to social services and low-cost or free meals, offer a variety of recreational and educational programs. And 1200 community colleges, many that attract older learners to free or low-fee programs in subjects ranging from crafts to foreign languages. Publicly funded American colleges and universities in many states offer tuition-free enrollment in regular college classes for those 62 or 65 and over on a space available basis. And added to these, one finds educational programs offered free or for a fee through college and university alumni organization, hospitals, banks, investment companies, museums, labor organizations, recreation centers and via the Internet. There has also been a surge of outdoor education programs ranging from inexpensive hiking and biking clubs to businesses offering deluxe adventure trips to exotic places (Manheimer, 1998).

Most of the organizations described above offer non-formal or non-credit courses, seminars, workshops and learning tours. Most depend on user fees to operate. Others, such as colleges and universities, also offer credit and degree-generating courses, though participation rates remain relatively low for people over 55 or 60. Workplace or workforce-related education and training is offered by many companies and businesses but, as we shall see, the private sector is slow to see the value of enhancing the skills of older workers. The most recent national survey of how and where senior adults participate in continued learning shows the largest growth in non-formal, community-based programs.

According to the National Household Education Surveys (NHES), during the 1990s, the percentage of people in the United States aged 66-74 who took at least one adult education class in the previous year more than doubled -- from 8.4 percent in 1991 to 19.9 percent in 1999. The biggest growth in participation of individuals aged 55-74 was in community-provided, non-formal education. This includes not-for-credit courses, workshops, and seminars offered by churches, libraries, department stores, senior centers and so on where the rate went from 4.6 in 1991 to 11.6 in 1999. This compares to rates of 5.5 percent taking courses in a school or university in 1991 and 8.6 percent in 1999. The increase among the "young-old" surpassed that of any other age group (Hamil-Luker & Uhlenberg, 2002).

Age-related role expectations still seems to be a defining factor for workplace educational participation. Participation rates for job-related education reveal modest increases compared to younger age groups. For example, between 1991 and 1999, the rate of those ages 48-56 participating in educational programs offered by business or industry rose from 12.6 percent to 19.6 percent, while for the age group 66-74, the rate rose from 2.0 to 4.8 percent (Hamil-Luker & Uhlenberg, 2002). This reflects a continuing trend as business and industry prefer to invest their training dollars in the younger workforce.

Degree of prior education remains the chief predictor of educational participation for adults of all ages. But greater visibility of educational opportunities and a growing acceptance of the value of lifelong learning were also factors. In all likelihood this trend will continue as an even better educated American Baby Boom population enters the retirement period and since average age of retirement in the U.S. holds fairly steady at about 63. However, another strong trend, desire to return to the workforce after formal retirement in both full and part time second careers, may alter this pattern (AARP, 1999, 2002). If the high percentage of today’s Baby Boomers actually do seek post-retirement careers, there should be a huge increased demand for continuing education.

Unprecedented participation rates of older adult in adult education confirm an overall pattern -- emergence of a so-called "lifelong learning society." It is estimated that almost half of the entire adult population in the U.S. participates in organized education in a given year (Belanger, 1999; Belanger & Tuijnman, 1997). With regard to older adults, the U.S. is in what might be called a "rehearsal stage." While the U.S. is certainly an "aging society" with a median age of 36 that will rise the 39 by the year 2010, it is the aging of the huge Baby Boomer population (born between 1946-1964) that will truly challenge cultural and educational institutions.. Currently, those 65+ make up 13 percent of the U.S. population, and those 60+ comprise about 16 percent. The U.S. actually saw little growth in the percentage of its 65+ population during the 1990s because of the low birth rate for the cohort born during the era of the Great Depression of the 30s and into the early part of the 1940s. But by the year 2020, those 65 and over will comprise 18 percent of the U.S. population and that percentage will continue to rise until the 2050s (23 percent). The percentage of college educated older adults will rise from the current 12 percent to 20 percent by 2010 and continue to rise dramatically thereafter (Manheimer, 1994). Moreover, this rising percentage applies to a numerically vastly larger cohort.

In the current rehearsal stage, we have seen demand for education growing as education in the later years is viewed as valuable for everything from preparation for second or third careers, personal enrichment and psychological growth, prevention or delay in the onset of cognitive decline, and aiding in adjustment to life beyond or after work. In all likelihood, the demand for educational opportunities will overwhelm current providers in terms of both numbers and range of curricular diversity. People in every industry in the U.S. have been gazing into crystal balls (or hiring consultants, which is almost the same thing) to predict what Baby Boomers will want in their role as consumers. And this is no less true for providers of lifelong learning opportunities. But thinking only in terms of consumers may be a big mistake. What is called for is new leadership and vision.

Currently, organizational leadership in older adult education is fragmented and decentralized in the U.S. There is no organized group lobbying Congress or state governments for increased funding to educational programs primarily serving older adults. There are a number of national associations with subcommittees or affinity groups focused on older learners. For example, the American Society on Aging has its Lifetime Education and Renewal Network (LEARN) composed of about 250 individuals whose work (usually only in part) is associated with some form of older adult education. And the Association for Continuing Higher Education (ACHE) has its division of Older Adults. The Association for Gerontology in Higher Education (AGHE) focuses primarily on professional-level teaching of gerontology and only to a slight extent on education for seniors. A majority of the Institute for Learning in Retirement (ILRs) are members of a consortium, Elderhostel Institute Network (EIN), affiliated with the Elderhostel organization. EIN’s main activities consist of biennial regional conferences, maintenance of an informative web site, and advice on how to start new ILRs.

Professionally speaking, older adult education has no real independent standing. As a field, it is a subject of peripheral concern to both aging and educational organizations. The field lacks monetary significance since it is not a major revenue source for institutions of higher education and only a few non-profit organizations, Elderhostel, perhaps the most significant, derive its main income from offering services and programs to seniors. Education for seniors is seen as an important marketing tool for investment companies, banks, hospitals, and cultural organizations that regard it as a mechanism to lure in potential clients, contributors, and members. In the sphere of higher education, affiliated ILR programs have proven to be a point of access to successfully solicit major donors.

Even in the area of research, where millions of dollars are spent on the causes of and potential remedies for cognitive decline as related to aging, hardly any research looks at the potential impact of older adult education on sustaining cognitive functioning. And little research involves applying what has been learned in cognitive science to better ways to educate or foster older adult learning.

Having presented this largely negative view, how can one argue that older adult education has a positive future?

The key lies in understanding the larger framework of an aging society and the growing ranks of members of the so-called Third Age. The modern phenomenon of retirement as an expanding segment of the life course has been shaped by private and public sector policies emerging in the middle to late part of the 20th century. For the U.S., these include government social security, private pension plans, public health care insurance, and federal anti-age discrimination laws. Meanwhile, social attitudes towards retirement continue to change. Major national studies show that 75-80 percent of today’s Baby Boomers plan to extend their working years (AARP, 1999, 2002) by engaging in post-retirement employment. The majority of middle-aged adults regard later life not simply as a period for rest and relaxation but as a time for personal growth through acquiring new skills, exploring new leisure activities and expanding involvement in current ones. Community service among older adults has been rising as seniors view volunteering as both a way to give back to society and as a mechanism for establishing new friendships to offset those lost when exiting the workforce.

The media further reflect these changes. Books about getting the most out of the retirement years are flooding bookstores, and articles on new roles for older adults fill the pages of magazines and newspapers. New books are appearing each year on the progressive role older people will play in improving the quality of life in the society. And major popular films keep appearing showing older people as both socially redeemable and redeeming of those of younger generations.

Nor can one underestimate the anti-aging, stay-young ethos so prevalent in the U.S. where billions of dollars are spent on cosmetic surgery. Critics are probably correct that preoccupation with youthfulness may cloak a denial of the aging process and fear of death. But the quest to extend youthfulness may also involve the desire to stay socially engaged and connected to productive roles that garner social approval and produce self-esteem.

Given the positive respect for education in American society and for the long tradition of education serving as a mechanism for economic advancement, personal growth, and as an indicator of social stature, older adult education should fare well in the coming years. Questions remains: what are the characteristics of future successful programs and will everyone benefit? Here are some predictions.

A rapidly growing pool of competent, college-educated adults will soon reach their retirement years. Even though many will choose to work part time, they will also seek out continued learning opportunities. Many of these individuals will be attracted to educational organizations that allow them to play active roles by helping to shape curricula, teach by drawing on both their expertise and life experiences, organize courses, participate in governing the organization, and serve in a multitude of ways that satisfy their desire for a renewed sense of community. They will be prepared to pay sufficient fees and to volunteer their time to make these organization financially viable.

Those educational organization that can generate an image of creative or productive aging, either by being associated with institutions primarily serving younger generations such as colleges and universities, or by linking to age-neutral organizations such as museums and cultural groups, will attract seniors who seek continued learning but who shun identification with being old, infirm, or needy. Opportunity to learn together with younger people through formal courses and informal exchange will be attractive to a subset of these older learners who prefer intergenerational and age-integrated experience.

Programs that offer hands-on experiences rather than passive, traditional classroom learning will attract the growing legions of experiential learners ranging from those seeking courses in the arts, environmental sciences, fitness, outdoor study and outdoor adventure.

Flexible scheduling of learning opportunities including evening or weekend programs, and intensive short courses will appeal to those continuing to work full or part time, and to those who want to mix education with myriad other activities such as travel, family involvement, and recreation (gardening, golf, tennis, swimming, skiing, biking and hiking, being among the most popular).

Education via the Internet and through computer user groups (such as SeniorNet) should continue to grow but will supplement, not replace, face-to-face learning experiences. Older learners will increasingly expect telecommunications to be utilized in their learning experiences both in and out of the classroom.

Given continued rapid technological changes and a highly unstable and unpredictable global political situation, those educational organizations that can help learners assimilate new knowledge will enjoy increased participation rates.

Again, because older adult education does not fall into one academic discipline but overlaps several and is marginal to all, opportunities to prepare for professional careers in the field are lacking. There is a great need for curricula to help prepare planners, administrators, and educational facilitators of older adults that incorporates the latest research findings on cognitive and emotional development in midlife and old age. The pedagogy of the elderly, sometimes called andragogy or "gerontagogy," needs to be infused into both adult education degree programs and in social gerontology. Ensuring high quality programs remains limited to counting enrollments rather than utilizing professional assessment techniques.

The downside of this optimistic picture of the future of older adult education is that it will leave many behind. Those privileged by earlier college education who can afford user fees and tuition will discover a wealth of opportunities while those with lesser levels of prior formal education, who lack skills for accessing educational programs and/or cannot afford to pay for them, will have few resources to draw on. There have been few signs, even during the economically heady years of American affluence of the 1990s, that federal and state governments plan to become major factors in leveling the playing field. The era of government support to bring free or low-cost educational opportunities to working class and underserved people (including minorities) is long past. Unless large advocacy organizations such as AARP start lobbying for an expanded role for lifelong learning that includes older adults, this situation is unlikely to change. The U.S. does not enjoy a long tradition of government-sponsored adult education programs such as is found in the Scandinavian countries.

Having said this, we believe there will be a change once the teaming millions of retirees begin to express disappointment with their options for filling time in a satisfying and meaningful way. The federal and state government agencies will be hard pressed to come up with solutions. Health care and income supports will no longer be viewed as sufficient government involvement in improving the life quality of senior adults. But this next action step will probably not occur for another ten years.

The situation of older adult education in the U.S. is clearly the result of the dominant ideology of laissez-faire capitalism in which the market place, not principles of social justice, plays the major role. The positive side of this situation is that it invites a wide range of private and public organizations to develop innovative programs for older learners and compete for their time, energy and money. This ensures a wide diversity of programs, curricula, and delivery formats (e.g. in person, via the Internet) and lets participants "vote with their feet" as far as which programs succeed and which fail. Moreover, the American tradition of voluntary service supports an increasing number of senior adults to take leadership roles in older learner programs. In this sense, older adult education can be highly emancipatory and empowering. Too often government designed and managed educational programs, even innovative ones, become resistant to change and entrenched in bureaucracies that seek to perpetuate themselves. Or funding priorities change and programs disappear over night leaving no template for the future.

The negative side is that recruitment and access to these programs is limited to the well educated, well off, and well connected. Few cultural and educational organizations seem to have made it part of their mission to reach the underserved. When they do, it is usually only episodic and often based on the whims of outside funding sources such as private foundations and government agencies. Perhaps older adults who are themselves leaders and organizers of educational programs will take it upon themselves to develop outreach programs to the underserved.

The demand for continued education in midlife and the later years will grow dramatically over the coming decades. Organizations that seek to meet that demand will need to develop well-thought out plans to ensure long term growth and stability. Most will have to be financially self-sustaining, meaning they will need to charge high enough fees and/or recruit enough volunteer leadership to cover the cost of offering a diverse curriculum and occupying large enough facilities for future growth. In many ways, they will have to follow a business model. They will need to tap into the wealth and expertise of their clientele and help create learning communities in which participants play active roles as both learners and decision makers. When older adult education becomes a large enough business, it will generate sufficient funds to afford more professionally trained administrative staff and to establish training programs for facilitators of older adult education. Eventually, the concept of lifelong learning will embrace a continuum of learners from youth to old age, and the idea of lifelong education will become an accepted part of American society.

AARP. 1999. Baby Boomers Envision Their Retirement: An AARP Segmentation Analysis. Washington, D.C.: AARP.

AARP. 2002. Staying Ahead of the Curve: The AARP Work and Career Study. For on-line summary and full report, go to http://research.aarp.org/econ/multiwork.html

Belanger, Paul. 1999. The Silent Revolution of Adult Learning Societies: Who Participates in Adult Learning? New York: Elsevier Science, Ltd.

Belanger, Paul. & Tuijman, A.1997. New Patterns of Adult Learning: A Six-Country Comparative Study. New York: Elsevier Science, Ltd.

Hamil-Luker, Jenifer & Uhlenberg, Peter. 2002. "Later Life Education in the 1990s: Increasing Involvement and Continuing Disparity." Journal of Gerontology, 57B,6.

Laslett, Peter. 1991. A Fresh Map of Life: The Emergence of the Third Age. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

Manheimer, Ronald J., Snodgrass, Denise D., Moskow-McKenzie, Diane. 1995. Older Adult Education: A Guide to Research, Programs, and Policies. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.

Manheimer, R.J. 1998. "The Promise and Politics of Older Adult Education," Research on Aging, 20, 391-414.

Rowe, John W. & Kahn, Robert L. 1998. Successful Aging: The MacArthur Foundation Study. New York: Pantheon Books.

Snyder, T.D., Hoffman, C.M. & Geddes, C.M. 1997. Digest of Educational Statistics, 1997. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Educational Statistics.

Lamdin, Lois with Fugate, Mary. 1997. Elderlearning: New Frontier in An Aging Society. Phoenix, AZ: Oryx Press.

Association for Continuing Higher Education (ACHE) -- www.acheinc.org

Association for Gerontology in Higher Education (AGHE) -- www.aghe.org

Association of Learning in Retirement Organization of the West (ALIROW) -- www.alirow.org

American Association for Adult and Continuing Education (AAACE) -- www.aaace.org

American Society on Aging, Lifetime Education and Renewal Network (LEARN) -- www.asaging.org/learn

Council of Adult and Experiential Education -- www.cael.org

Elderhostel Institute Network -- http://eh.elderhostel.org/ein/

Older Adult Services and Information Systems (OASIS) Institutes -- www.oasisnet.org

SeniorNet -- www.seniornet.org

Shepherd’s Centers -- www.shepherdcenters.org

SPRY Foundation -- www.spry.org

University Continuing Education Association (UCEA) -- www.ucea.edu

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