The education of the adult in Plymouth (1808-1941)
The aim of this thesis is to consider the provision made for the education of adults in the Three towns of Plymouth, Devonport and Stonehouse from 1808 - the year of the establishment of the first adult educational institution to be traced - until 1941 - when air raids virtually ended the existing system, and to consider whether the conventional wisdom that the response to this provision was poor, is true. Because bombing destroyed almost all the usual records, it has been necessary to reconstruct the history of virtually all the institutions concerned; largely from newspapers. Thus the bulk of the thesis consists of this reconstruction, but in the process it has been possible to establish, with varying degrees of success, the scale and nature of the response to the educational provision and to compare it with national patterns. Finally, an attempt has been made to relate this, at best average, performance to the nature of the Three towns. The fact that two of the three are heavily influenced by their Services' connection and that the health and housing of all three has been seriously below national standards for most of the period, leads to the conclusion that it is wrong to assess the response of the Three
Lewis, C. A.
History
The education of the adult in Plymouth (1808-1941). The aim of this thesis is to consider the provision made for the education of adults in the Three towns of Plymouth, Devonport and Stonehouse from 1808 - the year of the establishment of the first adult educational institution to be traced - until 1941 - when air raids virtually ended the existing system, and to consider whether the conventional wisdom that the response to this provision was poor, is true. Because bombing destroyed almost all the usual records, it has been necessary to reconstruct the history of virtually all the institutions concerned; largely from newspapers. Thus the bulk of the thesis consists of this reconstruction, but in the process it has been possible to establish, with varying degrees of success, the scale and nature of the response to the educational provision and to compare it with national patterns. Finally, an attempt has been made to relate this, at best average, performance to the nature of the Three towns. The fact that two of the three are heavily influenced by their Services' connection and that the health and housing of all three has been seriously below national standards for most of the period, leads to the conclusion that it is wrong to assess the response of the Three
education adult aim_consider provision make education adult town establishment first adult educational_institution trace air raid virtually end exist system consider_whether conventional wisdom response provision poor true bomb destroy almost usual record necessary reconstruct history virtually institution concern largely newspaper thus bulk consist reconstruction process possible establish vary_degree success scale nature response educational provision compare national pattern finally attempt_make relate best average performance nature town fact heavily_influence services connection health housing seriously national standard period lead_conclusion wrong assess response