HISTORICAL AND PEDAGOGICAL PECULIARITIES OF ADULT EDUCATION DEVELOPMENT IN THE USA IN EARLY 20TH CENTURY

The aim of the article is to analyse historical and pedagogical peculiarities of adult education development in the USA in the early 20th century in the context of reforming educational system of Ukraine. For fulfilment of the mentioned aim the following methods have been applied: a system of general theoretical methods (analysis, synthesis, comparison, abstraction etc.), and concrete scientific methods, namely term analysis and historical genetic analysis. Functioning of moonlight schools has been depicted. Determinants of the development of adult education in this period, in particular, such historical events as World Wars, the period of prosperity, the Great Depression and socio-economic factors have been singled out. The influence of industrialization and the introduction of new agricultural technologies on adult education has been presented. Legislative basics of adult education have been singled out, namely: Smith-Hughes Act (1917), which was aimed at  vocational training at schools and colleges; George-Reed Act (1929), which emphasized the training of specialists in the field of home economics and agriculture; George-Deen Act of Vocational Education (1935), which provided additional funding for programs in agriculture, home economics, and industry; George-Barden Act (1946), which was flexible in the distribution of funding for education, provided money for teacher training; Bill of Rights (1944), called the Soldiers’ Bill of Rights because it dealt with loans for education and housing for demobilized soldiers; Employment Act (1946). Results of the conducted research work give opportunity to state that American experience in the field of adult education can help to create harmony between national traditions and world achievements on the basis of humanism and democracy; to give high quality educational service to adults, synchronize national system of adult education with world tendencies, provide conditions for adult education development and its influence on economic development of state.