Adult Education and Poverty in the United States: Focused on the Odyssey Project in Urbana-Champaign, Illinois

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of adult education for the poor. In this paper, the main focus is on the Odyssey Project in Urbana-Champaign, Illinois and its first three years.

The Odyssey Project is an Illinois version of the Clemente Course in the Humanities which was originally started by Earl Shorris（1936-2012）, a writer and journalist, in New York in 1995. The Clemente Course in the Humanities is a free adult education program which teaches the humanities to the poor. The premise of the Clemente Course is that the humanities provides a gate to reflective thinking and political life, and can be the way out of poverty. The Clemente Course is now operated by Bard College and has expanded not only to other cities in the United States but also to foreign countries such as Canada and Australia.

The first part of this paper reviews the history and structure of the Odyssey Project in Chicago. The Odyssey Project was founded by the Illinois Humanities Council in partnership with Bard College in 2000.

The second part examines the formation process and framework of the Odyssey Project in Urbana-Champaign. John Marsh, the assistant director at the Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities, was the main actor in founding the Odyssey Project in Urbana-Champaign.

The third part scrutinizes the significance and limitations of the Odyssey Project in Urbana- Champaign. This part closely investigates the role of adult education for the poor from the experience Marsh had in managing the project. Through his experience in Urbana-Champaign, Marsh came to a conclusion that education programs, including the Odyssey Project, had little effect on poverty and unless social systems are transformed, social problems such as poverty and economic inequalities will not be solved. In fact, Marsh has never engaged in the Odyssey Project since he left the University of Illinois for Pennsylvania State University in 2009.

The fourth part argues for the possibility of the Odyssey Project in social transformation. Contrary to Marsh, Amy Thomas Elder, who directed the Odyssey Project in Chicago for years, believes the humanities, inspiring a strong hope for a better world and a better self, can play a role in social transformation. This part inquires into the divergence of Marsh’s and Elder’s opinions.

Based on the four sections described above, this paper considers the possibility of adult education for the poor.