ADULTHOOD:

THE TEACHER
AS AN ADULT
Dr CM Kwenda
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“0nly by reclaiming a meaningful conception of
adulthood can education be defended and only by
so doing can individuals hope to understand the
world around them" 
(Quill, 2011).
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• Adulthood- denotes a sense of responsibility,
individuality, dignity and independence.
• Historical definition- Adult male citizen (adult
women not considered as 'adults'. See Quill,
2011:334).
• Legal definition- Citizens above the legal 'age of
majority'.
• Full liberty and autonomy versus 'minimal
autonomy' as defining concepts for 'adulthood'.
• Adult citizens, from a liberal perspective,
expected to be educated and to work.
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• The purpose of education is therefore to produce
adult citizens (a literate and technologically literate
society, a high-skilled society of 'knowledge workers').
• Liberal democracy and the electronic age are causing
the disappearance of 'adulthood'.
• Old ways of achieving adult autonomy through
work/employment are being redefined by new ways of
relating to work and production.
• The link between education and work has weakened
(no assurance of finding work after school or
university. Note: Notion of 'Young Adulthood').
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• Invention of 'writing' in Europe created
'adulthood' symbolically through the novel and
the media.
• Adulthood had to be earned, as a symbolic
rather than a biological achievement.
• Children would 'need to become adults'
through the process of reading and education.
• European civilization invented 'schools' where
children were turned gradually into adults.
• Childhood became a necessary prerequisite to
become an adult.
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Cognitive stage theory re-enforced the
idea of children‘ becoming adults'
characterized by:
• Logical thinking
• High order abstraction
• Ability to defer gratification
• Self-control
• Schooling (reading, writing) is not natural but
requires maturation and discipline, hence
development.
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• Philosophically, education was considered to be
'hard' so needed strict discipline and control.
• Television changed earlier conceptions of the role
of education in developing adults (How do you
think this happened?).
• Television broke the child-adult divide in several
ways.
• It made most children learn about adult things
without having to work hard in school.
• Childhood became meaningless.
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"In a non-literate world there is no need to
distinguish sharply between the child and the adult,
for there are a few secrets, and the culture does not
need to provide training in how to understand itself''
(Postman, 1986:13 in Quill, 2011: 330).
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Discussion:
 
• The terms 'man' and 'woman' relate to the state of no longer being a
'child'. How does the term 'adult' differ from the former terms?
• Is the critique of post-modern 'adulthood' presented above justified?
• Elite schools and universities exist alongside public mass schools and
universities in many countries. How do these differences impact on our
idea of 'adulthood' (independent, dignified, productive citizenship)?
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The Creation of Adulthood
 
• Historically- no symbolic or functional distinction between 'childhood' and
'adulthood'.
• Changes in technology, social organization, politics and economic organization
in Europe led to the differentiation between the 'child' and the 'adult'.
• Policy-makers had a re-think about the connection between children, adults,
schools, society and the economy.
• Stable industrial economies re-defined family, parenting, employment and
social life. Life-long career paths for adults after school and college.
• Infancy and old-age became divided by an uncertain period of the 'adult-child'.
• Technology redefines our notions of 'self', 'identity', 'relationships' 'education',
'society', etc.
• The internet is redefining the concepts of 'childhood', 'adulthood' and
'education'.
 
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New technologies (knowledge economy) are alienating
many adults from work and citizenship.
The Loss of Adulthood
What is needed is a new 'knowledge democracy'.
“While the [knowledge economy} measures educational success by striving
towards the ever cheaper creation of an army of technically literate workers that
increasingly find themselves unprepared and overwhelmed by the demands of
the market, [knowledge democracy} conceives a technologically advanced
society, and the education within that society, as one that empowers and
liberates individuals
(i.e. restores their 'adulthood'). To recover adulthood will require us, therefore, to
consider the purpose not only of education, but of technology and employment
as well”.

(Quill, 2011:329).
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The new Post-modern Conception of 'Adulthood' 
• Scientific Rationality now defines everything human
(culture, society, politics, economy, relationships,
careers, etc.).
• Democracy is disappearing under the onslaught of
powerful economic and technological elites who are
the new political force which is replacing 'public
democratic will’.
• Technology-aided education is changing the
philosophical purpose of education in society (that of
creating upstanding, productive adult citizens. See
Quill, 2011:331).
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• The 'adult' is becoming a 'global citizen', stripped
of local identifiers of self, and feeling and thinking
like a child, without much sense of achievement
of anything permanent.
• 'Adults' have become lazy, they are cleverer but
less wise, more emotionally under-developed,
have shorter attention-spans, love fun more than
hard concentration and toil.
• The 'adult' is becoming less self-respectful.
• Less 'adults' care to vote or attend civic meetings
or demonstrate community responsibility.