#51. Thanks for your comments!

[Hauser]

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

The author states that education will be only effective when it meets the needs and interests of each student. Although it might be tempting to agree with the statement that it can cultivate a student to develop his specialty at an early age, in my view, the selective education can make a student to be narrow minded and can deprive an opportunity to be mentally and physically healthy human being.

First, unless students are exposed to education that addresses diverse subjects such as science, language, art or physical activity, they would not have an opportunity to find out what their needs are and what they are interested in. For instance, in 1980s, one of the popular sports in Korea was a baseball. Thus, most of the schools had baseball team and very few had Korean traditional Si Rum team (This is equivalent to Japanese Sumo). One of the well known Korean professional Sirum player says that he wanted to be in a baseball team because it was the “cool” thing amongst boys. But he gradually realized how he enjoyed playing Sirum and how he was gifted in it. He eventually became one of the top professional Sirum player in Korea. Without such exposure, he would not have discovered his interest.

Secondly, if school limits the teaching to only what students are interested in, students may be deprived of a chance to grow healthy mentally and physically. Students may become narrow minded. Consider an obese student who does not enjoy PE class because he hates exercising. If the school exempts him from the PE class as he wishes, he will continue to have health issues. As many obese students have low self esteem, it will not help him to improve his self image, either. Effective education is to help students grow mentally and physically. Therefore, school has to assist students, if they cannot do iton their own, to grow healthy mentally and physically.

Admittedly, if school focuses on teaching and cultivating students with certain interests and gifts, the student can start specializing in some area at an early age. However, they can enrich their gifts and talents further by learning different subjects and issues that , at first glance, may not seem to be closely relevant to their interest. For example, a student that is interested in becoming a film director, not only will learn from technical class that teaches how to use camera but also will learn from writing or literature class to make the story of the film go smoothly. Another example can include a conductor of an orchestra. In order to be a good conductor, he has to be knowledgeable of the scores of all other musical instruments.

In sum, limited exposure to educating subjects that only students are interested in and are in need of, can be an act of limiting learning opportunity for students to discover their needs and interest on their own. Student’s interests and talents can be more enriched through their exposure to diverse subjects that can be inspiring to what they are already interested in.

[ruchia]

Hey nice analysis.. good examples.. I just wanted to add - in your 4th para, when you say that students can start specializing in some area at an early age... you can say that during K-12 education, students do not know what their interest and need is... it is mainly the parental influence/ media influence at that age.. hence schools should focus on multiple subjects/interests so that when time comes the student can make a wise choice..

Overall you have done a good analysis ..