Adult education in the U.S. today and its future are summarized. As it presently exists, adult education is said to be local in nature. A national adult education research project is currently being conducted to determine the performance requirements for adults in a postindustrial society. Adult education has been a strong factor in raising the expectations of the disadvantaged, and it has also been a tool in meeting some of these new expectations. Two educational concepts that grew in importance during the decade were career education and lifetime learning. Adult education is organized in many communities in connection with the elementary and secondary school system; however, in most communities employers, churches, unions, military service schools, colleges, public libraries, correspondence schools, community agencies, and a wide variety of professional, proprietary, and voluntary institutions also provide adult education. It assumes such varied forms as courses taken for credit, informal instruction, on-the-job training, correspondence study, and discussion groups or demonstrations at home, in the shop, in the field, or in the office. The college or university has provided most of the training for adult educators. Among the estimated total population of 130,314,000 persons age 17 and over, 10.1% participated in adult education, and 8.1% were full-time students. Excluding full-time students, of the 119,719,000 eligible, 11% participated in adult education. Women outnumbered men in the population, but more men participated in adult education. A common concern for effective methods aids in a predicted massive growth in adult education. (DB)