Week 10- 'Tailored Education'

Is there a potential problem being stored up for people if 'education' is tailored to fit into their cultural and personal preferences?

In terms of culture....
I think that only educating a person about their own cultural preferences can be a very dangerous thing. Without teaching others about different cultures and ways of life, we would become a very narrow-minded culture, and in theory, we would be reversing the past 50 years or so of 'multi-cultural' work that we are trying to bring into our society- teaching foreign languages, discouraging racism etc. Without teaching people about these different cultures, we would be regressing to a racist, narrow-minded time that we should (and have!) left behind us!
Especially with today's digital advances, we are more and more able to talk to people from other countries, and learn things from them. I can't see that this is anything but a positive thing! He are broadening our horizons and have the opportunity to learn about all the different cultures of the world. As professor Puncky Heppner suggests “We are all living in cultures with different norms. Culture affects human behavior. The more we learn about other cultures, the better teachers, mentors, scholars and therapists we can be. Ultimately, understanding different cultures makes us better people.” (Jackson n/a)

In terms of person preference....
I can understand slightly more why there could be advantages. For example, those children who are in need of extra help (dyslexia etc). Surely that counts as a personal preference? In which case by all means, they should be receiving a different education to that of other children...not in terms of what they learn, but in terms of how they learn it. I think that is the most important point here. All children should learn the same, the only thing that should be altered to help them, is the way in which different children learn it!
This has been recognised at some schools: 'The Comenian Programme has been developed to support our academically most able and creatively-talented pupils. We help individuals realise their full potential by nurturing their aspirations and guiding motivation.' (fulneckschool.co.uk), and with help like this being offered, these sorts of 'tailored needs' I think can be beneficial!


Sources:

Jackson, K (na), ‘Understanding other cultures has broad benefits’, University of Missouri, http://education.missouri.edu/news/articles/2008-FA/pr_nb_2008_08_28_heppner_apa_award.php [accessed 25/3/09]

(na) (2009) 'Tailored education', Fulneck School, http://www.fulneckschool.co.uk/tailored-education/ [accessed 25/3/09]

Week 9- Should Education 'Stretch' A Person?

When I think of education as 'stretching' a person, I think of education as being a challenge, and pushing a persons intelligence to as much as they are capable of, in which case, I conclude that yes, education should push a person. Without being stretched, no-one would know what they are capable of achieving. If you're not being challenged you're not learning everything you can....
I also think that new media should also challenge you in the same way that traditional education does. There is no reason why it shouldn't...I find that this unit has challenged me, although there have been disadvantages that have made me struggle, such as the lack of f2f communication, but other than that, the topics we have been learning have made me have to think hard and research things to be able to understand.
However E-learning would not have been worth introducing if it wasn't supposed to challenge people- if it was so easy enough to learn, it would be easy enough to learn in in the traditional way. E-learning should be just as difficult as traditional education, but the benefits are worth the stretch- of course it would be much more difficult for Digital Immigrants, as they would be struggling to even access the E-learning material, however I believe it's a good way of 'killing two birds with one stone' so to speak...
I think it is bound to happen at one point either way, due to the socio-determinism that is seen so much in our society. Technologies will keep evolving, and people will have to keep learning new things to keep up with this.