Why We Should Expand Adult Education

Since Prussia established the earliest modern mandatory education system in the 19th century, more and more countries followed suit. Nowadays, the proportion of people who have received proper education is very large. However, due to some historical problems, there are still a big groups of adults are currently illiterate. While education fund is limited, debates whether we should spend more money on adult education for those who cannot read and right or not occurred. This short essay discusses why it is absolutely beneficial and rightful for countries to put more money on adult education. This is because: 1. Basic education is not only a duty, but a self-righteous right of all the citizens; 2. Adult education leads to a stable society. In most modernized nation-states, legislatively citizens have the right to receive mandatory education from the length range of 3 years to 12 years–depending on the prosperity and history of the country. Therefore, ignorance towards this right for the adult citizens is not only immoral, but also illegal in the sense of “rule of law”. Hence, denying illiterate adults from primary schoolings would become the direct performance of inequity and inequality, also known as the discrimination based on age in this case. In mainland China, adults who cannot read or write, can legally attend courses held by adult schools established by the local governments. Rewards such as diploma certificates or finance supports are usually offered to adult students, to encourage them continueing their education. This is a representative of the “rule of law”, as both young and adult students receive opportunities in knowing how to read and write without age discrimination. Other than the notion of “rule of law”, practical benefits on educating illiterate adults are great, too. Researches reveal that, in most common cases, there is a positive correlation between a region’s social stability or security, and a region’s average citizen education level. Education is definitely an effective tool for people to search for a job. Without proper education, adults may not easily participate in a satisfied occupation. Difficulties on getting a job for the people raise the unemployment rate, which further step causes the dissatisfaction of the mass majority. Hostile and negative views on the authority or the “higher class” during high unemployment rate periods are crucial to attempts in maintaining a stable society, as riots and protests participated by strong adults continue. After the industrial revolution, unemployed British ex-workers from the farms and gardens were marching and demanding help from the authorities. This was partially due to their lack of education, because they could not participate in factory production. Adult education really is vital to the stability of society. To conclude, distributing more funds towards the adult education budget for those cannot read or write is essential, as this is those adults’ right to receive basic education. Despite legislative and moral reasons, practical reasonings on the benefits of adult education makes spending more money on teaching adults in school something we have to do.