Assessment of the Army Officer Education System From an Adult Learning Perspective

摘要

This monograph examines the Officer Education System as a sub-set of Army education to determine how well OES is responding to the call for critical thinkers and life long learners and to examine some underlying assumptions upon which OES rests. This study focuses on the Officer Basic Course, the Captains Career Course, and Intermediate Level Education for analysis as representatives for the entire OES. In addition to these programs, the study also addresses the Army's concept of self-development training as a pillar of the education system. Each of these programs and concepts then serve as models for analysis from adult learning strategies. Drawing from the work of Dr. Stephen Brookfield, Ralph Brockett, and Roger Hiemstra, the study identifies five key principles that institutions should incorporate when designing curriculum that produces critical thinkers and life long learners. The study then uses these principles to assess each of the OES programs in terms of their adherence to adult learning practices for critical thinking and self-directed learning. The study reveals an education system that is slowly adopting methods for incorporating critical thinking instruction into its programs. The most significant findings in this study are in the areas of life long learning and self-directed learning, revealing that the programs in OES are doing little to nothing in fostering self-direction in its officers that allows them to continue learning outside of formal settings. These findings indicate a need for further research about levels of self-directed learning among Army officers but also demand an end to the myth that officers are inherently self-directed.