In Canada, the various educational systems developed to deliver adult basic education are invariably designed in such a way as to imply two basic sets of goals: (1) to improve the economic system or at least to increase employability by improving the individual who is undereducated and (2) to improve the social welfare system by reducing economic dependence on it and by improving the public social behavior of individuals. In both cases the improvement is sought in the individual and the goals are tied to the economic system. Since the educational service is tied directly to the economic systems, women are subject to the same sorts of discrimination in both systems. This discrimination will take the form of: the place of women is as an economic dependent, staying home to bear and rear children and thereby contributing to the overall growth of the economy.

It is also clear that some women espouse both types of goals as well as a third one which relates to personal growth and self-improvement. Therefore, adult basic education programs for women should emphasize all these goals and should allow a woman to make her own choice from within a range of viable alternatives. Some adult basic education programs need to be directly linked to Manpower programs, but others need to provide for family and child maintenance goals and for personal goals.

Whenever a conflict arises about the distribution of educational resources to support adult basic education programs, those with goals for women supporting family and child maintenance will receive top priority. Money which could be spent on educational programs tends to go into such activities as public relations campaigns to explain the child bonus to women; advertising campaigns to reduce mental retardation in children by informing the mother she is to blame if she doesn't get prenatal care; and so on.

In the United States, current adult basic education policy expresses a set; of goals which suggest that this type of education is for the purposes of developing an informed electorate and citizens capable of contributing to the social and politician, as well as the economic, systems of society. An educational delivery system designed on these goals would provide more equitable opportunities, treatment and policies for women.


Basic problems

1.

The goals of adult basic are often unclear, unarticulated, conflicting and incongruent.
 
2.

When the major emphasis is placed on employment and economic related goals, adult

basic education programs for women display the same attitudes which discriminate against women as are to be found in the economic and employment systems.
 
3.

When the major emphasis is placed on participation in the social and political aspects

of society adult basic education programs for women tend to focus on family maintenance and child care.
 
4.

When a variety of adult basic education programs are provided which allow for a

variety of goals, adult basic education programs for women are more equitable, provide easier access and are more likely to be perceived as successful. This is particularly true if the programs are designed to produce an informed electorate, a woman capable of participating in all aspects of social activity.
 
5.

In times of economic restraint, funds which might go into improved adult basic

education programs for women are likely to be diverted into other types of "educational" campaigns designed to encourage women to stay home and take care of their children.
 
6.

There is often a discrepancy between the explicit goals of an adult basic education

program and those implicit in the practices of those programs.

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