The most famous educators throughout history have had influence far and beyond the teaching of children. Advancements in universal areas including philosophy and politics have been shaped by great teachers, whilst more specific parts of learning such as how adult education can be successfully implemented, or how a curriculum is designed today, have also been influenced by their ideas and methods. What follows is a list of educators who have had a significant influence on adult education today.
Aristotle. To disregard the influence the Ancient Greeks had on adult education is ignorance in its most blatant form. Aristotle, who was himself taught by Plato, taught and wrote about a wide range of subjects and was pioneering in his exploration of such subjects as: Physics, Philosophy, Poetry, Theatre, Music, and is considered the first to formally study Logic. In his writings on Ethics and Politics, he identified the difference between the notions of the individual and society, i.e. ‘that man must have a function uncommon to anything else…a happiness or joy that pervades a good life’ but together, politically, we are ‘like an organism’.
