Michael Knowles believed in an "informal education" this method of education was centered towards adult education specifically.

Knowles believed some of the problems within adult education dealt specifically with human relations; and he believed the solutions can be found only in education. He believed that skills that were acquired in higher education were not truly skills but only descriptions of skills acquired by others. According to Knowles, for an individual to gain skill it is learned in the home, in the school, in the church, on the job, and wherever people gather together in small groups.

Every adult group, of whatever nature, must become a laboratory of democracy, a place where people may have the experience of learning to live co-operatively. Knowles brings up the attitudes and opinions that are formed primarily in the study groups, work groups, and play groups with which adults affiliate voluntarily. These groups he states are "the foundation stones of our democracy". Knowles mentions throughout his theories that the goals and aspirations that adults make now are what will lead us to our eventual future and therefore adult education must result within a these outcomes to assure success beyond education but affiliation with others:

-Adults should acquire a mature understanding of themselves.

-Adults should develop an attitude of acceptance, love, and respect toward others.

-Adults should develop a dynamic attitude toward life.

- Adults should learn to react to the causes, not the symptoms, of behavior.

- Adults should acquire the skills necessary to achieve the potentials of their personalities.

- Adults should understand the essential values in the capital of human experience.

- Adults should understand their society and should be skillful in directing social change.

Knowles was fixed on the idea that adult education differed too much from child learning, and that his studies were based on andragogy.

Andragogy is defined to be the teaching methods exercised for adult learners.

He defined andragogy as four different characteristics, one which is self-concept. Self-concept is defined to being the acceptance to approach certain experiences alone as one entity and having your own independent personality. Another characteristic is, experience: Experience is defined as having had the necessary past altercations that can allow you to interpret information differently. Readiness to learn is another characteristic which is basically accepting your want and need to learn and attain knowledge. His last described characeristic within andragogy is the orientation to learning a person has. Knowles defines the orientation sector of andragogy as the perspective of an individual, the direction which the subject applies their priority and the way time is handled within a learning and problem environment.

Knowles theories within adult education involve having the knowledge acquired from already have had certain experiences within education, work, social events, and in general life. He depicts the way learning can be truly influencial to any one individual even beyond acquiring a particular skill within a certain field. Adult education can expand beyond the expectations of higher education if one implicates the characteristics Knowles described to embody what andragogy is. He defines it almost as an actually physical object that can be held becaude he feels its something people must applicate within their life and use it as a tool to enhane their learning.