those 56–65 years old (Desjardins, 2015). In adults age 16–65 (excluding individuals from 16 to 24 in formal studies), 31% with less than a high school education participated in adult education activities whereas 79% of those with a high school education or higher participated in adult education activities (Desjardins, 2015).
Participation in adult education is also affected by literacy and economics. In the United States, 27% of low-literate adults said they had participated in adult education within the last year, while 84% of those with higher levels of literacy participated (Desjardins, 2015). This pattern is seen in other countries as well. In Korea, the respective figures are 13% for low-literates and 77% for those with higher literacy rates, and Cyprus's figures are 24% and 51%, respectively (Desjardins, 2015). Participation rates for U.S. adults ages 16–65 whose parents had not graduated from high school was 39%, while individuals where at least one parent completed high school was 72%.
Another demographic characteristic of the social context is the growing cultural and ethnic diversity of America's population. Roughly 13.4% or 43.7 million people residing in the United States are foreign born (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development [OECD], 2018). Twenty-six percent of those who are foreign born and living in the United States are from Mexico (OECD, 2018). Applications for asylum in the United States have risen especially from citizens from Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador (OECD, 2018). Although immigration rates are expected to slow somewhat in the short term due to U.S. governmental policies enacted in the late 2010s, (OECD, 2018), starting in 2030, “net international migration is projected to become the largest driver of population growth” (Vespa, Armstrong, & Medina, 2018, p. 12). Immigration combined with birthrate projections in the United States mean there will be an increase in the Latinx, Asian, and African American populations with a decrease in Whites. In 2016, non-Hispanic Whites comprised 61.3% of the population and by 2060 they will make up 44.3% of the population. In contrast, the Latinx population is expected to increase almost 10% from 17.8% of the U.S. population in 2016 to 27.5% in 2060. The African American population is projected to increase almost 2% from 13.3% in 2016 to 15% of the population by 2060. The Asian population is expected to grow from 5.7% to 9.1% of the population. The percentage of those of two or more races is expected to expand from 2.6% of the population in 2016 to 6.2% in 2060 (U.S. Census Bureau, 2017c). By 2045, people of color will account for 51.3% of the population (Frey, 2018).
The socioeconomic and cultural diversity of today's immigrant population presents special challenges. In 2016, 30% of the foreign-born population age 25 or older possessed a bachelor's degree or higher and 29% lacked a high school diploma or GED (Zong, Batalova, & Hallock, 2018). Fifty-two percent of the immigrants in the United States over age 5 are English proficient (Radford, 2019). Immigrants' income varies with education level, occupation, industry, and geographic region, but immigrants tend to earn less than their native-born counterparts although the gap is small for those with a bachelor's degree or higher (U.S. Department of Labor, 2018). Hence, immigrants' income and opportunities can vary depending on their education level and language proficiency, with the less educated and less English proficient “concentrated in trade and labour professions and confined mostly to general education programmes” (Calvo & Sarkisian, 2015, p. 1044). Courses for immigrants include English as a second language courses, adult basic education (ABE), and other community-based courses in “nutrition, parenting, immigration issues and other informal education opportunities” (Larrotta, 2017, p. 67). Typically, churches, libraries, social service centers, and community centers are places where immigrants engage in adult education (Larrotta, 2017).
In summary, the composition of society is an important factor in the provision of learning opportunities for citizens of all ages. In the United States, there are more adults than youth, the number of older adults is growing, the population as a whole is better educated, and more diverse—racially, ethnically, and culturally—than ever before.
Globalization
Globalization is an overarching concept encompassing changes taking place worldwide. But globalization is not a new concept because it can be argued that the world has always sought to connect through travel, trade, and cultural exchange. (For a brief overview of the history and various definitions of globalization see Gulmez, 2017) Since the 1980s, the term has more frequently been used to reflect the increasing integration of economies around the world, particularly through trade and the flow of finances. Globalization includes the flow of “goods, services, people, knowledge, ideas, information and financial capital across borders” (Desjardins, 2013, p. 184). An incredibly complex and controversial phenomenon, we can only try to convey some of its essential characteristics and some of the issues and speculate as to how it is shaping adult learning in our context.
Neoliberal ideas of free trade, privatization, and “reduced capital controls on cross-border flow of finance” fuel the images most associated with the economic view of economic globalization (Desjardins, 2013, p. 183). These images include the loss of low-wage manufacturing jobs to less developed corners of the world, with transnational companies operating in a space outside national boundaries and control, with consumerism and commercialism supplanting other interests. Those opposed to the neoliberal agenda say that the costs of globalization include the loss of human rights including poor working conditions, although proponents indicate that globalization promotes economic growth (Richards & Gelleny, 2016). Although the market economy is clearly a driving force in globalization, so too is information technology. Technology has changed the way we work in that individuals can work from anywhere in the world. Changes in information technology have changed the teaching/learning transaction. Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), synchronous and asynchronous distance courses, communication tools such as Skype, Zoom, and Google Hangouts, and the plethora of web-based resources including LinkedIn Learning, and YouTube have affected the way individuals learn alone and in groups.
But globalization is not only about economics. Brysk (2003, p. 22) contends that it is a combination of four elements:
Connection means greater traffic in bodies, goods, services, and information across borders.
Cosmopolitanism describes the growth of multiple centers of power and influence above, below, and across national governments: international organizations, grassroots groups, and transnational bodies from Microsoft to Greenpeace.
Communication is an increase in technological capacity that strengthens transnational networks of all kinds (from multinational corporations to nongovernmental organizations [NGOs] to terrorists) and diffuses ideas and values more quickly and broadly.
Commodification is the expansion of world markets, and the extension of market-like behavior across more states and social realms. Increases in global capital flows, privatization of formerly state-owned enterprises, and increasing employment of children are all examples of commodification.
Brysk goes on to show how these elements of globalization are both a plus and a minus for human rights issues:
Connection brings human rights monitors to Chiapas, but it also brings sex tourists to Thailand. Cosmopolitanism creates a U.N. Human Rights Commission and countless NGOs to condemn China's abuse of political dissidents and religious minorities; yet commodification makes China the United States's second-leading trade partner. (p. 22)
Part of the controversy surrounding globalization has to do with economics. Those countries that can be competitive are already better off and become even richer through globalization. Critics of neoliberal policies observe that more wealthy countries hurt less developed countries because richer countries “extract more money from developing countries than they invest, displace local capital, and add to unemployment by promoting capital-intensive production rather than labour-intensive activities” (Richards & Gelleny, 2016, p. 219).
What does all this mean for adult learning? Walters (2014) asserts
