Professional Leadership Vs. the Educational Service Station Approach: an Historical Appraisal

Adult educators face increasing demands to exercise "pro fessional leadership" in their work, i.e., to stress the meeting of societal needs. Individual needs, however, have traditionally been emphasized in this profession. Practitioners and researchers have sought to discover these individual needs, to package programs to meet them, and to advertise the availability of these voluntary pro grams. This individual-oriented "educational service station" ap proach is now under attack in the profession. The purpose of this historical study is to provide perspective for the struggle over priorities that is rapidly developing in adult education. It shows the importance of the Americanization campaign of 1875-1925 in the rise of the educational service station approach, and it sug gests why demands for professional leadership are increasing.