Issue 51 求评价。谢谢诸位

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TOPIC: ISSUE51 - "Education will betruly effective only when it is specifically designed to meet the individualneeds and interests of each student."



The assertion which ascribes theeffectiveness of education to its consistency with the needs and interests istoo arbitrary and unreasonable. It is unpractical to ask teachers to meet the individualneeds of each student, since the education system where a teacher in generalwill teach dozens of students in a class on his own cannot afford it. But theoriginal intention of the suggestion should be seriously considered.

As is a common sense, everybody is uniqueon the earth. We can identify our intimates from others not only by their appearancesand clothing but also their behaviors, countenance, preference…… In addition,we considerably differ from others in aspects of values, regional belief,academic capacities and so forth. If education is uniformly designed, itsomewhat prevents the development of ones characters and personality. Thevictims constrained on the Procrustean bed were made fit the length of the bedby being shortened or elongated. But students are not victims of education.Instead, they should be inspired to express their unique thoughts, abilitiesand characters. We need specific education.

While I partly concede the originalintention of the speaker, for the totally uniform education goes to theextremity, the assertion put forward by the speaker goes to another end of theproblem.

First, somebody alleges that education like makingclothes should be designed differently from person to person. Under thelimitation of the resources of our society, it can be hardly achieved unless alarge cost is taken. As feasibility problem cannot be ignored, this suggestionis of no value.

Moreover, even if the hardware of theeducational system can afford such a suggestion, will it necessarily work? Andhow can we judge the effectiveness of education. One of the biggest targets ofeducation is to tap the greatest potential of an individual as possible as itcan. And another target is to build the inner qualities of a person, namelysound personality, reasonable values and good control of the emotion. If thetargets are well achieved, education itself can be regarded effective and successful.

From this point of view, special andspecific education may fail to accomplish these missions. In order to cultivatea well-rounded person, he must be taught both sciences and liberal arts nomatter what the interests he has. And the specific education in a field may ruinthe education in other field, because some subjects which is against onesinterests but important to the development of his  personality will probably  be abandoned. And specific educationindicates the disappearance of teaching in a large class, which will makestudents dull in address the relationship between their peers, still less thecooperation with them.

Further, the action of education on ones interestsis sometimes positive that education can arouse ones interests in some field. Since ones interests are not timeless, it varies with the growth, precisely speaking with his early experience, education, academic atmosphere surrounding and something like that. For example, Most of people regard Mathematics as a insipid discipline, which in my opinion is a lack of insight into the essence of Mathematics. Appropriate education in Mathematics may show the unique charm of the reasoning. And perhaps a great interest will be aroused. For this reason we alsocannot conclude that education should be tailored by ones needs and interests.

In sum, the spirit of the assertion can beacknowledged, but the content itself is just utopian. The effectiveness ofeducation is unable to be determined by the education system itself, whereindividuals' motivation and passion of studying, their qualities are also amongthe determinants. There are many alternatives for the goal. Education and studying can be neverseparated, as a Chinese saying goes that education and studying promotes eachother. Students ought to be inspired to interact with their teachers andsometimes make some rational suggestion and demands . And teachers can adjusttheir teaching method appropriately and even tutor some students inneed. Any extreme policy is doomed to fail ultimately.