Leading
Adult Educators: Margaret Sanger and Sharan Merriam
Adult education is the
“activities intentionally designed for the purpose of bring about learning
among those whose age, social roles, or self-perception define them as adults
(Merriam & Brockett, 2007, p. 8). It supports local communities and changes
along with the culture to benefit society. Beder (1989) lists five core
principles of adult education. They are that adult education must play a
major in society, that lifelong learning is a must, the idea that all adults
can learn, adults should have access to learning, and the way adults are
educated should be different than how pre-adults are taught. Both Margaret
Sanger and Sharan Merriam believed in these core principles, too. Both of these
women have made contributions to the field of adult education that have changed
people’s lives so they can participate as a productive members of society.
Margaret
Sanger
Over the last century, the
natural family size of 11 to 18 children per mother has been replaced by an
average of 2.1 children per family (Haub, 2004). This is mostly due to the
radical social changes brought to America’s attention by Margaret Sanger who
began vocalizing and writing about sex education and birth control in 1912 and
never stopped. Although she died in 1966, her legacy still lives on and she
continues to provoke controversy.
Born in the city of Coming, New
York on September 14, 1879 as Margaret Higgins, she was one of eleven children
(Lader, 1953). Her father was a free thinking stone mason and her mother was a
devout Catholic Irish American. After 18 pregnancies and 11 live births in 22
years, her mother died from tuberculosis and cervical cancer most likely
brought on by problems associated with the pregnancies. Seeing her mother
suffer not only in death, but through life as she was truly the caregiver of
the family, Margaret swore to not repeat her mother’s life.
In 1896, Margaret entered Claverack
College and the Hudson River Institute (Lader, 1953). Her oldest sisters paid
the tuition and she worked for room and board money. When her father beckoned
her home to nurse her ailing1896 she did, and remained there until her death in
1899. Afterwards, she entered into the nursing program at the White Plains
hospital and in 1902 she became a nurse after two years of practical training.
Months before completing nursing
school, she met William Sanger, who quickly pressured her into marriage (Lader,
1953). Forgetting her oath to not follow in the footsteps of her mother, she
almost died from her first pregnancy. In 1910 the family moved to New York City
to pursue her husband’s dream of painting. Margaret worked as a nurse to help
support the family.
However, her earlier vow led her
to an epiphany during her time as a nurse. She was motivated her to learn more
about sex education and women’s health but could not find the information (Lader,
1953). Sanger was working in a poor part of New York and saw the suffering and
death associated with pregnancies, miscarriages, and botched abortions and felt
helpless. In 1912 she wrote a column for the New York Call magazine called “What Every Girl Should Know.” She wrote that
women are more than child bearing machines and they must be education on birth
contraceptives, birth spacing, and venereal disease. A later article in 1913 in
the magazine on the topic of venereal disease was banned by the postal
authorities.
Margaret Sanger, though an
accomplished author of several crucial pieces on women’s rights, women’s
health, marriage, abortion, and, most notably, birth control, is best known for
her many stands against the Comstock laws of the early 1900’s. The Comstock
laws were initiated by Anthony Comstock, an essentially self-appointed Special
Agent for the U.S. Post Office, and made it illegal to distribute materials
prevention conception. Sanger sought to drive public outcry against these
efforts and laws brought about by Comstock, and this served as the motivation
for Sanger’s efforts (Wardell, 1980).
She had experienced the need for
preservation of women’s liberties and sexual freedoms through her mother,
herself, and a repeating patient, Sadie Sachs, who endured a terrible death in
1912 at the age of 28 due to a self-induced abortion. Sachs represented the
millions of women dying, living with disease, and committing suicides due to
unwanted pregnancies. Thus, starting in 1912 Sanger’s mission in life was to
raise awareness of, educate people on, and eventually make mainstream birth
control (Wardell, 1980).
Amid several arrests and constant
persecution by the New York police and even the federal government, Sanger
forged ahead, first distributing a monthly magazine titled The Woman Rebel for eight months until Comstock said it could not
be mailed. Knowing jail time was imminent, she wrote and printed the pamphlet Family Limitation before fleeing to
Europe. Sanger’s initiative worked, as
publicity centered around birth control and women’s rights to freedom quickly
escalated (Britannica Online, n.d.).
The turning point in Sanger’s
efforts came in 1916, when she opened the first birth control clinic in the United
States in Brooklyn. This clinic served as the birth of today’s Planned
Parenthood. After multiple arrests and great hardship, Sanger won a landmark
decision in the New York Court of Appeals in 1918. The court essentially said
doctors were not able to give patients advice on birth control as it pertained
to health risks. She continued to raise awareness around the country, as she
traveled with a doctor who spoke on birth control. She compiled lists of
doctors around the country who agreed to take on patients in need of birth
control advice. This served as an immense and pioneering referral database (Buerkle,
2008; Wardell, 1980).
Sanger founded and served as the
editor of Birth Control Review from
1917 to 1938. She also penned Comstockery
in America (1915), The Case for Birth
Control (1917), Why not Birth Control
Clinics in the U.S.? (1919), Woman
and the New Race (1920), The Pivot of
Civilization (1922), Happiness in
Marriage (1926) Motherhood in Bondage
(1928), My Fight for Birth Control (1931), and Margaret Sanger; an Autobiography (1938), among others (http://www.nyu.edu/projects/sanger/secure
/aboutms/ms_writings.html). Happiness in
Marriage had a significant impact on U.S. family culture, as many assert it
served as the first marriage manual in this country (Wardell, 1980).
Sanger’s work and publications
have left an undeniable impact on adult education and the feminism movement.
She fought her early battles alone, and forged ahead when most would have
backed down under the government pressure and lack of support. Her strength,
passion, and perseverance continue to be a model for adult education on social
causes even today. Without question, adult educators of today can draw from her
courage, determination, innovation, creativity, and strategies. Her clever
tactics, such as driving public support by leveraging her persecution, serve as
a valuable example as to how to fight for worthy causes. America is currently
at internal battle over issues such as capitalism, diversity, equal compensation
for women, financial freedom, public welfare, state government autonomy, and
federal government control. Sanger’s ability to persevere against all odds with
very little resources or support is an example for all adult educators to
follow in these turbulent times.
Margaret Sanger did not invent
birth control or even improve upon it. What she did was educate adults by
teaching them the knowledge of others. She openly taught people about birth control
in a time when the distribution of information regarding birth control was
against the law (Coigney, 1969). The United States was divided in the areas of
public morality and birth control was deemed too radical. Ignoring the
detractors, Margaret Sanger educated adults, both men and women, about birth
control at a time when the general belief was that only God had the power to
control conception. She was a woman who spoke outright about sex and birth in a
time when not even men spoke of these things. In many people’s opinions, this
makes her as revolutionary as Darwin and as brave as Martin Luther King, Jr.
(Sulloway, 1959).
Sharan
Merriam
Sharan B. Ballard was born May
24, 1943 in New York to Harold and Janet Ballard. She has two adult children
from her ex-husband Allen Merriam. Dr. Merriam has spent most of her life
studying, researching, and sharing her findings in the field of adult
education. She has been the author, co-author, editor, co-editor and reference
for many articles, books, and research on emerging trends in adult development,
adult learning theory, and qualitative research methods thus making her a
leading adult educator of this century (Merriam, n.d.). Her books, articles,
and research are used in classrooms and courses all over the world including
Ball State University’s own course Adult and Community Education EDAC 631. Dr.
Merriam is currently a tenured professor at the University of Georgia in the
university’s College of Education. She has been facilitating learning of adults
since the 1970s.
Sharan Ballard married Allen
Merriam September 5, 1964. A year later she obtained her Bachelors of Arts in
English Literature from Drew University. This was just two years after congress
passed the Equal Pay Act of 1963 which was a breakthrough for women’s rights
(Brunner 2007). A short time later, in
1971, she completed her Masters of Education in English Education from Ohio
University. Nearly a decade later in 1978, Sharan B. Merriam successfully
completed her Doctorate of Education in Adult and Continuing Education from
Rutgers University. After completing her doctoral degree, she accepted an
assistant professor position in the College of Education at Virginia
Polytechnic Institute and State University teaching and advising the college’s
graduate students. During this time she had also accepted a “quarter-time”
position working at the Gerontology Center as an associate. As an associate at
the Gerontology Center she planned and developed courses, wrote grant
proposals, and staffed conferences in the field of gerontology (Merriam, n.d.).
In 1981, Dr. Merriam accepted
another associate professor position at Northern Illinois University. This was
just one year after her divorce from Allen Merriam. Dr. Sharan Merriam kept her
husband’s last name after the divorce. At Northern Illinois University as
associate professor of Adult and Continuing Education, Dr. Merriam was an
advisor to graduate students in her department. There she also taught graduate
level courses in adult learning and research practices. She worked at Northern
Illinois University for four years until she accepted a professor appointment
at the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia.
Dr. Sharan B. Merriam has worked at the
University of Georgia since 1985. Since her appointment as professor at the
University of Georgia, Dr. Merriam has been busy impacting the field of adult
education. In 1991, she became a research fellow for a year for the Project for
Study of Adult Learning (PSAL). The same year she co-wrote the notable book Lifelines: Patterns of Work, Love and
Learning in Adulthood. She became the recipient of the Georgia Adult
Education Association’s Literacy Award for the book Lifelines: Patterns of Work, Love and Learning in Adulthood in
1993. Since then she has received countless awards and recognition for her
contributions to the field of adult education and research practices. Dr.
Merriam has conducted and presented numerous workshops and presentation around
the world to include places like Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa (Merriam,
n.d.).
Dr. Merriam believes that self-directed
learning has a great influence on adult learning theory. Self-directed learning
is a theory that has been very intriguing and is evolving with time. The more
researchers explore the ideas, concepts, and benefits of self-directed learning
the more the field of education will evolve and expand, in particular adult
education.
Dr. Sharan Merriam is co-author of a text used by graduate schools
around the world, Learning in Adulthood
(Million, n.d.). She has been a professor for a number of years, is the author
of 20 books and several published articles, was a Fulbright scholar in
Malaysia, and has served in editorial capacities for numerous journals and
books. In her article ‘Adult Learning Theory for the 21st Century’,
Dr. Merriam reminds us what a ‘dynamic’ field adult education truly is and
highlights the importance of continued research into the evolving methodologies
(Merriam, 2008, p. 94). Dr. Merriam continued that she believes it is important
to recognize the spirituality component of learning, and feels that learning is
a mind and body experience (Merriam, 2008).
Dr. Merriam’s work has impacted the field of adult education by
providing thoughtful examination of the current state of affairs and reflections
about the past, as well as ideas and probing questions for future research
(Merriam, 2008). In her article about the ‘pillars of adult learning theory’,
she analyzes what she terms their ‘staying power’, and what adaptations need to
be in order for them to remain relevant. This article shows how crucial she is
to the field because she is continually evaluating where it stands and seeking
opportunities for improvement.
Merriam’s theories
and work could be used to inform our own work by incorporating her ideas about
the importance of self-directed learning and the power of reflection. Her thoughts about self-directed learning are
particularly interesting and relevant to online learning due to the intrinsic
motivation needed by distance education students. Being a distance education
student can be more challenging if only because there is less structure and
thus easier to veer off course. Research into this area of adult education will
be more relevant as online programs become progressively more prevalent in our
society due to the availability of electronic resources and the changing needs
of adult learners. The general goals of self-directed learning varies based on
the theorist, but those Merriam writes about are the ‘learner’s capacity to be
self-directed’ and the learner ‘accepting responsibility for their own
learning’ (Merriam, 2001). To acknowledge
the validity of the self-directed learning theory and incorporate it into our
practice as learners and educators would allow us to take more responsibility
upon ourselves and encourage others to do the same. As members of the cohort
responsible for future research in this arena, we should recognize the
importance of the research of Merriam and others on this topic.
Another topic Merriam
wrote about that is relevant to our class and our futures as educators was the
idea that self-reflection is critical to adult learning (Merriam, 2008). This is
not a novel idea for any of the members of our class, but it is something worth
discussing again. The act of reflection is a learning experience, as is the
process of developing the ability to reflect about past learning. According to
Merriam, when processing new information, the brain looks to previously held
information to facilitate connections, a system that allows us to absorb
meanings and ensures retention. Knowing this about reflection underscores the
validity of this line of research and the importance of its incorporation into
our practice.
Margaret Sanger
Sharan Merriam
|
Time
Period
|
1912-1966
|
Late
1970s to present
|
|
Background
|
Born
in 1879 in New York, Sanger was from a time when sex and birth control were not
spoken of and women were seen as the fairer sex. The death of her mother
later led her to an epiphany during her time as a nurse.
|
Born
in 1942 in New York. She is an author, co-author, editor, co-editor and
reference for many articles, books, and research on emerging trends in adult
development, adult learning theory, and qualitative research methods
|
|
Profile
|
One
of eleven children. In 1896 attended Claverack College and Hudson River Institute
and received a nursing degree in 1902 from White Plains Hospital. Through her
work as a nurse, she realized that women and men needed to be educated about
birth control and venereal disease.
|
Holds
a Bachelors of Arts in English Literature, Masters of Education English, and
a Doctorate of Education in Adult and
Continuing Education. Dr. Merriam has been working at the University of
Georgia since 1985 and since then has received countless awards for her
research and contributions to the field of adult education.
|
|
Contributions
|
Advocating
birth control and women’s health, coining the term birth control, women’s
sexual freedom, marriage manual, start of birth control clinics and education
(Planned Parenthood), Birth Control League. She also wrote many articles and
book on the subjects of sex, birth control, venereal disease, and abortion.
|
Numerous publications of books and articles about adult
education, serves as editor for journals and others’ research efforts, and
extensive research into andragogy, self-directed learning theory and other
aspects of adult education, member of
a number of professional societies and received multiple grants to continue
her research.
|
|
Impact
|
Fueled
the feminist movement and made women’s health an important topic. Years after
he death she is still an important figure in feminism and in woman’s
healthcare.
|
Ongoing evaluations of the current standing of the adult
education field, discusses possible directions for the future, advises and
oversees graduate student and their work
|
|
Implications
|
Perseverance,
innovative, and creative social reform.
|
Incorporating theories she examined to improve the quality of
work regarding their usefulness in our current society and ways to implement
them in the future.
|
Table 1. Summary of group two’s Leading
Adult Educators.
References
Beder,
H. (1989). Purposes and philosophies of adult education. In S. N. Merriam and
P. N. Cunningham (Eds.), Handbook of
adult and continuing education (pp. 37-50). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Brittanica
Online (n.d.). Margaret Sanger. Retrieved
from http://www.britannica.com /EBchecked/topic/522350/Margaret-Sanger
Brunner, B. (n.d.). The Wage Gap: A
History of Pay Inequity and the Equal Pay Act — Infoplease.com. Infoplease: Encyclopedia, Almanac, Atlas,
Biographies, Dictionary, Thesaurus.
Free online reference, research & homework help. — Infoplease.com. Retrieved from http://www.infoplease.com/spot/equalpayact1.html
Buerkle,
C. (2008). From women’s liberation to
their obligation: The tensions between sexuality and maternity in early birth
control rhetoric. Women & Language,
31, 27-34.
Coigney, V.
(1969). Margaret Sanger: Rebel with a
cause. New York, NY: Doubleday & Company, Inc.
Cornelius, M. L. (n.d.). Sharan B.
Merriam Personal Vita. Roger Hiemstra's Web Page. Retrieved February 14, 2013, from
http://www-distance.syr.edu/pvitasbm.html
Haub,
C. (2004). Global and U. S. national population trends. The Nature and Implications of Environmental Change, 1(2), 5.
Lader,
L. (1953). The Margaret Sanger story and
the fight for birth control. Garden City, NJ: Doubleday & Company, Inc.
Merriam,
S. B. (2001). Andragogy and self-directed learning: Pillars of adult learning
theory. New Directions for Adult
& Continuing Education, 89, 3.
Merriam,
S. B. (2008). Adult learning theory for the twenty-first century. New Directions for Adult & Continuing
Education, 119, 93-98.
Merriam,
S. B., & Brockett, R. G. (2007). The
profession and practice of adult education: An introduction. San Francisco,
CA: Jossey-Bass.
Million, B. (n.d.). Class of 2003: Sharan
Merriam. International Adult and Continuing
Education Hall of Fame. Retrieved February 15, 2013 from http://www.halloffame.outreach.ou.edu/2003/Merriam.html
Sulloway,
A. (1959). Birth Control and Catholic Doctrine. Boston. MA: Beacon
Press.
Wardell,
D. (1980). Margaret Sanger: Birth control’s successful revolutionary. American Journal of Public Health, 70, 736-742.
