ABSTRACT
LOOKING back upon the many influences which have come together to form the present movement for adult education in this country, it is not surprising to find some complexity and lack of logic in the resulting pattern. The foreign observer, and indeed those nearer home who have not been involved in it, must find it incomprehensible; and there is some evidence that those more closely concerned are less clear than they were about present trends and that, in the complexities and cross currents which have characterized the more recent growth of adult education, the original sense of purpose may tend to be lost. It is necessary therefore to try to obtain a clear picture of its present organization and general character, its strength, its weaknesses and its possibilities, before attempting to compare our experience with that of other countries and finally to distil from the whole some philosophy of adult education for the future.
