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Pursuit of Knowledge Under Difficulties: From Self-Improvement to Adult Education in America...

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After having read The pursuit of knowledge under difficulties: From self-improvement to adult education in America, 1750-1990 by Joseph F. Kett (1994), I can only describe it as an analysis of historical developments in adult education/learning from a white middle to upper class, male, Protestant perspective. Granted, I do not know enough about the author to determine either his race, socioeconomic status or religious affiliations, however, the tone of this work along with the examples which are cited represent the perspectives inherent in the above mentioned groups. While he has clearly attempted to include other perspectives in this work, his attempts are mediocre at best. The subtitle of the book "From self-improvement to adult education in America, 1750-1990"" says a great deal about the author's bias. Coming as it does as an elaboration of how knowledge was pursued under difficulties, it is ironic that he would choose to identify the progression as one springing from self-improvement. In fact, for many groups adult education was simply a survival and self-preservation tool rather than a simple desire for self-improvement. For many within these groups, mere self-improvement has just recently begun to be a true objective (if at all). Thus the fact that he has chosen this approach betrays his male, middle to upper class paradigm. For, as he so eloquently conveys in the book, it was the elite from whom the catalyst for self-improvement was to come rather than the poor. As he says: "By 1750 literature and philosophy in the Anglo-American world rested on several clear but narrow foundations.... knowledge still led, as in the Renaissance, to the ideal of the gentleman....The cultivation of knowledge could complement dress, manners, and furnishings." (p.4) In all fairness to the author, there is always a limit to the scope of any work and the possibility of exploring every aspect of all groups is not possible. However, the error of omission in the case of this historical analysis communicates the erroneous idea that all modern forms of adult education sprang exclusively from the efforts of those gentlemen he so eloquently describes. This is an idea to which I vehemently object. It is curious that in a work dealing with developments within American society, not a single mention is made of those individuals who are native to this country and whose presence predates the arrival of the early immigrants. Research in other works provides evidence that there was certainly activity within the Native American tribes that can, by Kett's definition, be labeled as adult education. Another group that has been given unfair coverage within this work is that of the African American. Although Kett does make some mention of the noted African American Booker T. Washington, he does not do justice to the struggle for advancement that existed within this group. For example, there is no mention made of individuals such as T. Thomas Fortune, Marcus Garvey, and W.E.B. Du Bois. Another example of Kett's unfair omission of the voice of this group is in the fact that he does not discuss the role of self-education within this group. His discussions in the early chapters of the book talk about self-education and its role for those within the middle and upper strata of society, but make no mention of self-education efforts by African Americans. While it could be argued that his discussion does not preclude this possibility, the fact that it is not even addressed (particularly given the fact that it was highly unlikely that blacks would be prominent within the groups Kett does discuss) serves to further reinforce the idea that activity in this realm was the privilege of white America. Another group that is not mentioned is that of the Jewish people. While I do not have substantial evidence to show that adult education efforts existed within Jewish communities, the fact that institutions such as the Hebrew Union College were in existence as early as 1873 indicates that this effort did, in fact, exist.. While Kett does make mention of this group of people (such as in his fleeting reference to the Jewish People's Institute in Chicago and the School for Adult Jewish Education in New York (p.391)), it is fleeting and within the larger societal context. Coming as this does after his extensive discussions regarding the development of adult education as an outcome of Protestant religious efforts (e.g. the Chautauqua movement), it does nothing in terms of representing the Jewish voice. I must confess that my own knowledge of American history or the history of the different groups is limited at best. However, even with this limited knowledge I was able to find out about American adult education developments not even touched upon by Kett. As such, this book is lacking. While it is a reasonable survey of developments as seen from a white middle to upper class, male, Protestant perspective, it leaves much to be desired in terms of its representation of the development of adult education in America.