A Study On The Curriculum Of Adult Education In Modern American Universities

The United States offers the best education across the world, including adult education. Adult education forms an important part of the U.S. education system, which has a history of many years and evolved into a large-scale mass education activity taken by lots of people. Curriculum setting is one of the most important factors in U.S. education, which is related with the development of adult education, the further development of American people and the long-term stability of local economy. This article emphasize on the curriculum setting of U.S. adult education, the contents of the curriculum, how the curricula are classified, the principle and characteristics of the curriculum. The college of adult education at University of California-Berkeley is taken as an example and studied, followed by the analyses on the current curriculum setting of adult education in our nation. Finally, by studying the curriculum setting of U.S. universities, some revelations beneficial for the development of adult education curriculum setting can be drawn. With the process of globalization, change of times and demand shift brought by the market economy system, adult education is gaining increasing importance. In order to conform to the development of the times, the adult education in universities of our nation has to be reformed.This article can be divided into four parts Chapter one briefly introduces the curriculum setting of adult education in U.S. universities and describes its historical background, which can be divided into three periods. The first period is the starting period, the second period is development period and the third period is the time when adult education becomes lifelong. Afterwards, the reasons behind the efforts to develop adult education are analyzed.Chapter two mainly analyzes the current status of the curriculum setting of adult education in U.S. universities. This chapter begins by analyzing the curriculum contents and classification in U.S. adult education, then summarizes the characteristics of the curriculum settingIn chapter three, the college of adult education at University of California-Berkeley is taken as an example and studied so as to summarize the characteristics in its curriculum setting.Chapter four makes a conclusion about the experiences in U.S. adult education curriculum setting and also depicts the shortcomings of such setting. Then the current status and problems in the curriculum setting in college adult education of our nation are discussed. Finally, some suggestions are put forward for the development of the curriculum setting in the adult education of China.