Issue51 By WDI小组 xydeng

xydengUID: 2472724

51教育"Education will be truly effective only when it is specifically designed to meet the individual needs and interests of each student."

According to the statement, education should focus on the diverse needs and interests of each student so that education will be truly effective. I concede that education specially designed to meet individual’s needs and interests can be helpful in developing each student’s potential talent, however, the statement is too extreme in the respect that it unfairly generalizes the function and purpose of education.

Admittedly, since interest plays a significant role in the students’ studies, education specially designed to meet individual’s needs and interests can be helpful in developing each student’s potential talent and in turn improving the quality of education. As Confucius, the famous Chinese educator, thinker and philosopher, once posited,” interest is the best teacher”. Thus, an educational system that can take in account the specific and diverse needs and interests of each student will undoubtedly help the students to fully develop their distinct potential and talent. In such an educational system, students will be much more actively engaged in study without the necessity to learn what they are not interested in. The educational ideal of “students-oriented” and “teaching students in accordance with their aptitude” profoundly embodies the importance of interests in education. All in all, educational system specially designed to cover each student’s needs and interests has a great effect on developing students’ potential and talent and in turn may promote the development of education.

Nevertheless, what education really is and what is the purposes and functions of education? Is it the education’s purpose and function to merely meet the needs and interests of individuals? If so, education specially designed to meet every student’s needs and interests is truly effective. However, it is indisputable that truly effective education system does not merely lie on such purpose and function. In my point of view, the fundamental purposes and functions of education especially traditional elementary education consists of three respects: (1) the chief purpose and function is to educate students to become responsible, thoughtful and enterprising citizens; (2) the second purpose and function is to foster the individuals’ capacities which help make progresses in every practical fields and promote society’s and even humanity’s future development and prosperity; (3) the final purpose and function is to cultivate one’s individual potential talent and capacity to fulfill one’s own goals and dreams.

For the final purpose and function of education, the education specially designed to meet individual’s needs and interests is definitely truly effective. However, for the other two purposes and functions, establishing individual-centered education system is by no means the security of an effective education. If education merely places emphasis on meeting each student’s needs and interests, neglecting other respects of education, such as fundamental knowledge, social skills and moral education, the students may have no capacity to survive in modern society. An individual with specialty but lack of sense of responsibility, moral and so forth, may do harm to the development of individual, society and even humanity. And individuals without capacities of cooperation and communication may contribute nothing to the progress in practical fields.

Accordingly, to make sure education fulfill the obligation of satisfying both individual and the society, schools and colleges should not deny the importance of basic knowledge that every students should possess. In a modern society, no longer can a person who is steeped with knowledge in one field but know nothing about other fields, meet the demand of society. For example, a student specialized in history should be required to learn some mathematic knowledge, so that he can be equipped with logical thinking skills, which helps him to relate, analysis and evaluate historical events. Similarly, a students interested in computer science should not abandon the study of liberal art such as history and music. Without basic knowledge of these subjects, he may get into problem of poor communication skills, or even worse, fails to formulate a healthy value system based on the misunderstanding of human being.


To sum up, it is essential to lay emphasis on specifically designed education, since the nature of education is to bring people with their own thoughts and ideas. At the same time, schools and colleges should acknowledge the basic common knowledge is also important to the development of individuals as part of the society.