W10 - Is there a potential problem being stored up for people if 'education' is tailored to fit into their cultural and personal preferences?

I feel that there is a fine line between a "problem" and a "benefit" with regard to education being tailored to people's preferences. I believe that most aspects of education are relevant and key, but the way in which is taught is important. It would be a "benefit" that people enjoy their education without the dull or frustrating bits. However I agree with Kayley's blog that there may not be the resources available to provide tailored education for every pupil.

However a "problem" is a cultural one. An example to use is Religious Education. Most people hate it but arguably, it is the most important subject with regard to culture and accepting of others - people learn a lot without realising it, yet most people drop it at the first opportunity. Even in subjects students would rather not do, they pick things up which are of use to them.

If work culture involves the way people do their work, their attitudes and morals towards it, then education has a major part to play in that as from an early age we are tailored to work, learning skills to which will help us in our working lives. Equally, education has a role to play in the culture of the "wise" as wise people are educated. Wisdom does not come naturally, and tailored education allows the "wise" to achieve their full potential.

You cannot use one set way to educate the world, but you can't tailor education completely. In life, we must do things they don't want to and in the end it's good for us, as they teach us things we may otherwise not know and can use in the future.

W9 - Task A: The oldest digital native I know

I struggled to think of an older digital native as the top-end of the "native" age group is 28/29 years old and most of my friends are around 18-22, however my friend Stephan who is 27 seemed to fit the bill. I've only known him in recent years however he is very technologically savvy and has used computers from his teenage years onwards to build programs and write code for websites, which he now does for a living.

For this task I asked him about his experiences of growing up with computers and he said that academically they were hard to come by in his primary school, but at secondary school they became slightly more accessible as technology improved and costs came down.

However his main experience with computers came from his first home computer that his parents bought him when he was 13, then getting later, higher-spec computers and upgrading them to meet his needs. He is very computer savvy and the first person I go to if I have a computer-related issue. As his job and social-life is so embedded within computers and technology, if he didn't have access to this then he wouldn't be the same Stephan that I know.

W9 - Should education "stretch" a person?

I believe education should stretch a person - but comfortably. By "stretch", my definition is to guide someone along the path of education at a pace which challenges them, but isn't over-challenging. From personal experience, when I am stretched I achieve my full potential, but when I am over-challenged I stress and panic because I feel out of my depth.

If education didn't "stretch" people then there would be little or no learning process. From pushing a child to write their "b"s the right way around to pushing a third year to do the best in their dissertation, it's all part of a strive to achieve more. However this is an academic approach. Some people are not natural born learners, and you can only guide people in the right direction to a point. If they really aren't interested, then there is little hope.

Education must definitely "stretch" a person but this goes beyond academic learning. At an early age a student's strengths and weaknesses should be identified and constantly assessed so they can be "stretched" in a way which suits them, perhaps taking other routes such as vocational and practical learning which is absent or lacking in many schools - but still keeping an academic element, which is important. Education is not a "one size fits all" concept which is sadly an approach which many academic institutions take.