He posited that the child is a dependent learner, with a subject orientation to learning. By contrast, the adult is independent, self-directed. Later Knowles and his colleagues found that their ideas had application in childhood as well as adulthood, the controversy over androgogy subsided and now is used to refer to systems of learning which is learner-centered. Other systems of learning include transformative learning, popularized by Mezirow. Houle notes some inappropriate but often-cited functions of adult education systems.
Education is a practical art.
Education is a cooperative rather than operative art. The planning or analysis of an educational activity is usually undertaken in terms of some period that the mind abstracts for analytical purposes from complicated reality. A program design should be based on decision points, not prescriptions. This book, written near the close of Houle s career, rejects the notion that there should be a distinction between education for children and that of adults. Education is fundamentally the same wherever and whenever it occurs.