Issue 51 试水深

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初来GT，六月考G，先试水深，特此发习作一篇。习作没有限时，且写罢后修改数遍。望版友拍之以求共同进步。

51. “Education will be truly effective onlywhen it is specifically designed to meet the individual needs and interests ofeach student.”

The present society commences callingattention to the individual development, which guides suggestions of education reformationas we normally know as the individual education, which is to exclusively cater for every distinctive student. This revolutionary education method indeed hasits redeeming features, yet I have my reservations. What I think through overand over again is its efficiency of achieving a balanced basic knowledge andcultivating a qualified sociable people.


Clearly, this “individual education”viewpoint is based on correcting the inadequacies of current education mode – tostrangle a student’s personality, to sacrifice a student’s interests and to limita student’s capability and potential due to “collective education” - Studentsattend same courses, have same homework, and take same exams. Especially inthose developing countries that have a tremendous population like China and India, the contemporary suite ofeducation form hardly differs for each student from elementary school tocollege or university. On the other hand, individual education offers students chancesto communicate with teachers individually, to choose what to learn and how tolearn freely. The dispensable significance of this education form is that it perhapslargely reduces the apathy of learning and dropping out of school, and it easesstudent’s pressure.


But, is individual education the bestsubstitute? As is known, a proper form of education closely connects family andsociety, thus it should take on the responsibility not only to help the familyshape a student’s unique personality, but to assist cultivating students’sociability. In a conventional form of education, learning to develop anappropriate relationship between peers and teachers should be important part ofschool education that could never be ignored. Such education acquaints studentswith the excitement of competition and the happiness of discussing and sharingviews or opinions, while all these cannot be achieved when a much specificallydesigned form is put into operation. Suppose there is a talented person full ofknowledge, but he doesn’t even know how to effectively communicate with others,how to express and convey his ideas clearly and candidly and to carry out theconcepts in his mind, could we conclude that the education he receives benefitsthe society, or in another word, an effective one?


Another aspect that should be concerned iswhether an individual education can offer a general foundation of knowledge andlearning skills. The education process, I consider, is a series of progressesstarting from broad to narrow, from rudimentary to intricate, from universal tospecific. Thus, an undue haste to cater to the students’ needs and interestsmight lead to a student’s lack of solid foundation of learning, and could be aloss when a student drifts his/her attention to another branch of learning.


So far, I’ve been discussing the positive aspectsan individual education presents – its freedom to exploit students’ potentialand capability, and somewhat the rather negative sides as the absence ofsociality and insufficiency of fundamental knowledge. This education form mightnot properly replace the present one we have; nevertheless, putting forward it denotesa sharp alteration of current education system, not an upheaval one, butcomparatively more gradual and step-by-step one, to achieve a stage thatindividual advancement and general development can be both pursued.