ABSTRACT
In the early twenties, Harry Overstreet took a year’s leave of absence from his position at the College of the City of New York to study labor problems. Overstreet came to attach great importance to adult education as a means to help persons live more intelligently. His efforts at mediation often ran contrary to popular opinion, but Overstreet did not shrink from controversy. Overstreet’s exploration of how the sciences of man and adult education could help persons live more intelligently began in the early twenties with lectures in courses at the New School for Social Research to adult students. To Overstreet’s dismay, many advocates of adult education interpreted narrowly its scope and meaning. An adult education institution such as Town Hall treated knowledge as one piece, refusing to divide knowledge into small segments. The Overstreets stood for adult education that addressed unique concerns. They regarded workers as exploited members of society who had not won their full rights.
