Week 9 - Should education stretch a person?

Should education stretch a person do you think?

I am a firm believer that a person is either a practical learner, or an academic one. In my secondary school, the level that you were at in maths and science determined your place in all of your classes. This could restrict people who maybe struggle in maths and sciences to being in lower classes for everything else, including languages, art subjects, and design technology. This would dishearten pupils to the world of learning, and many just give up. I think instead we should test children’s ability and their affinity for different subjects and allow them the opportunity to show their skills at different things. We should find the strengths in students and allow them to flourish in a range of subjects, challenging students to get the best out of them.

Having said that, I think that even if we found a way to discover a student’s potential in certain areas, we should continue to teach them subjects that challenge them and teach them in different ways, digital learning, hands on learning, memory exercises etc. To prepare them for challenges that will inevitably occur after school, not only in the world of work but in life. To stretch them is to take them out of their comfort zone.

I think education should allow a person to stretch themselves as much as they choose, after a certain point. In higher learning, I think that the balance is right. Students can push themselves as much as they feel comfortable with. There is opportunity to learn more advanced theories and do the coursework to the best of your ability, and you can also do enough to scrape by, enjoying the social life and outside activities that University life offers. The only real pressure is the pressure that you put on yourself to get the best marks you can, you have a responsibility to stretch yourself and bring yourself out of your comfort zones. When you reach higher education you realise that you only get out of a degree what you put into it.