I found the word "andragogy" in this sentence, and I hadn't heard it: "Andragogy is the foundational theory of adult learning and was first described by Malcolm Knowles." They define it as "an integration of adult-learning principles from a wide variety of social sciences, including clinical psychology, developmental psychology, sociology, and philosophy," though the online dictionaries (only in 3 in Onelook and none in Dictionary.com) merely say it is "the methods used to teach adults."

I use pedagogy all the time, but not andragogy. I found the word in the nursing literature, and there was a quote using the word in the word a day archives.... again from a nursing source.

Have you heard of it or used it? I think it is interesting that its etymology is from "andra," though it is about adult learning!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Kalleh,

I suspect this word has been coined in imitation of pedagogy. That word come from the Greek paido-, boy + agogos, leader; so it means a teacher of boys. The derivation of andragogy is from the Greek andro-, meaning man (as opposed to a boy).

Whilst it might appear sexist to refer to a 'teacher of men' I believe that andro- can have a similar meaning to 'mankind', meaning the human race in general, in the same way as 'man' did until comparatively recently. I stand to be corrected on this by those who actually know some Greek, though!

This has a familiar ring ...

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an integration of adult-learning principles from a wide variety of social sciences, including clinical psychology, developmental psychology, sociology, and philosophy

... was it written by the author of the Mission Statement about total understanding of all aspects of humanity ???

Thought so.

There's a substantial body of liteature about this.

I know. It's the kind of stuff I have to read.

Try here, here, hereor any of the other gazillion web sites you get if you search for andragogy or Malcolm Knowles.

No, anêr, andr- is specifically male men, and is always used in contrast with gynê, gynaik- 'woman'. Corresponds to Latin vir, not homo. The general Greek for 'person' is anthrôp-; and I can't recall ever seeing something in technical terms corresponding to 'adult'... let's see what the dictionary says... No specific word: teleios is used, meaning 'complete, entire'.

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... was it written by the author of the Mission Statement about total understanding of all aspects of humanity ???

Nope, Jerry. It was in an article that was written in England.

I have been excrutiatingly busy (I am sure that's the wrong use of the adverb, but I love using it that way!) in writing a systematic review of teaching methodologies in nursing. It was while reading that literature that I found the word "andragogy." In continuing my reading, I found it in 3 more education studies...interestingly, all 4 citations of the word "andragogy" were from British studies. And now Bob says that he is quite familiar with the word. I wonder if it is more a British term than a U.S. term. Others in the U.S., including Shu (the smartest person I know!), hadn't heard of the word.

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Originally posted by Kalleh:
And now Bob says that he is quite familiar with the word.

I wasn't familiar with it before I started my Cert.Ed. course though. It more an educationalists word than a British one, I think.

[QUOTEI have been excrutiatingly busy[/QUOTE]

It's "excruCiatingly". Derived from "cruce" - cross. Its literal meaning refers to the pain of crucifixion.

Oh, thanks so much, Di, for correcting me on that. I won't go up and change it now or no one will understand your post. However, in the future, I will spell it: excruciatingly!

I did look it up after Di's post, and it does appear to be used correctly, at least! Here is what AHD had to say, "Intensely painful; agonizing. Very intense or extreme: wrote with excruciating precision."

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Originally posted by Kalleh:
Oh, thanks so much, Di, for correcting me on that. I won't go up and change it now or no one will understand your post. However, in the future, I will spell it: excruciatingly!

I did look it up after Di's post, and it does appear to be used correctly, at least! Here is what AHD had to say, "Intensely painful; agonizing. Very intense or extreme: wrote with excruciating precision."

I hope I didn't come across as too abrupt in that post. I was in a bit of a hurry when I posted it and I didn't have time to do more than give just the bare essentials.

For the record, I would much rather be corrected here, than to have someone think, "She's wrong, but I don't want to hurt her feelings."

So...thanks again!