Is transformation a uniquely adult phenomenon? One perspective on this question can be seen in the writings of Mezirow (1991, 2004), where he claims that childhood is the time for formation and adulthood is the time for transformation. Part of Mezirow’s argument is that transformation needs to be driven by self-directed, metacognitive processes. In essence, he argues that adults should critically evaluate the taken-for-granted assumptions assimilated from societal upbringings and decide for themselves whether they will continue to believe them. (This is, of course, an oversimplification of Mezirow’s theory.) Addressing this metacognitive aspect of Mezirow’s theory, Sharan Merriam (2004) points out that his espoused processes presuppose that learners have higher levels of cognitive development, which cannot necessarily be assumed to exist even in adulthood. Acknowledging Merriam’s critique, Mezirow (2004, p. 69) added that the role and duty of adult education is “to help these adults acquire the insight, ability and disposition to realize this potential (for perspective transformation) in their lives.” This dialogue between Merriam and Mezirow points to the possibility that transformative education encompasses more than just promoting immediate, dramatic change, but that it also includes (and is arguably more justifiable in) the teaching and developing of processes that make possible and hold the potential for long-term transformative effects (Hoggan & Kloubert, 2020). And if this is the case, then although perspective transformation as defined by Mezirow may likely be restricted to adulthood, transformative education (in terms of promoting processes

中文翻译：

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编者按：终身变革教育

转变是一种独特的成人现象吗？关于这个问题的一个观点可以在 Mezirow (1991, 2004) 的著作中看到，他声称童年是形成的时间，成年是转变的时间。Mezirow 的部分论点是，转型需要由自我导向的元认知过程驱动。从本质上讲，他认为成年人应该批判性地评估从社会教养中吸收的理所当然的假设，并自己决定是否会继续相信这些假设。（当然，这是对 Mezirow 理论的过度简化。）针对 Mezirow 理论的元认知方面，Sharan Merriam (2004) 指出，他所支持的过程预设了学习者具有更高水平的认知发展，即使在成年期也不一定存在。承认 Merriam 的批评，Mezirow（2004 年，第 69 页）补充说，成人教育的作用和职责是“帮助这些成年人获得洞察力、能力和性格，以在他们的生活中实现这种潜力（用于观点转变）。” Merriam 和 Mezirow 之间的这种对话指出了这样一种可能性，即变革性教育不仅包括促进立即的、戏剧性的变化，而且还包括（并且可以说更合理）教学和发展过程，使之成为可能并保持潜力长期变革效应（Hoggan & Kloubert，2020 年）。如果是这种情况，那么尽管 Mezirow 定义的视角转换可能仅限于成年期，