| Scope and method of study. Over the past 200 years, democracies have gradually traded rights based on property for rights based on experience. Thus, modern democracy is an adult activity; adult education is an also an adult activity. This commonality hinted at common roots for adult education and the American democratic tradition. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to analyze the content of the documented works of foundational figures of the modern, North American adult education movement to determine where the essential adult learning principles rest in relation to the American democratic tradition. The study used a naturalistic content analysis where the works of Thomas Jefferson, John Dewey, Eduard Lindeman, Cyril Houle, Malcolm Knowles, J. Roby Kidd, and Myles Horton were unitized and analyzed both qualitatively and quantitatively.; Findings and conclusions. The research inductively found four categories in the data that formed a common conceptual world. At the center existed in the archetypal Centering Individual. These individuals have a self-convergent attitude, grow throughout life, utilize personal experience, display endless creativity, transcend their own senses, and engage with objects outside of themselves. Multiple centering individuals form an Enhancing Community. Such a community comes about organically, has a common motivating purpose, has reciprocal internal relations, displays a fierce solidarity, and is guided by a peer leader. The individual and the community exist within an Interactive Environment consisting of three subsets. These are the physical, containing tangible things; the cultural, encompassing social mores; and the mental, a universal set of contested concepts. Finally, a Changing Reality impacts the prior categories in two ways. On one hand, individuals adapt to change; conversely, they can become change agents.; Because of the commonalities, adult education's roots trace back to Jefferson. In addition, the American democratic tradition and adult learning theory work together like two yoked oxen. The close yoked nature pointed to the need for adult educators, advocates of democracy, and democratic citizens to realize that engaging in adult learning and education supports democracy. |
