Public schools have become unintentionally a bouncing board of trial and error. This can be attributed to the social and political change that produces innovative reforms designed to save the required education. With the reforms, what is essential is whether they meet the students’ needs for universal knowledge and skills.
Our young learners today face a world that is constantly evolving. Lifelong careers cannot be assured anymore and skills can quickly become obsolete. One way to be successful in this ever-changing economy is to help students think like entrepreneurs. But traditional schools offer otherwise. Students are taught how to be reliant, ingenuous, and uniform basing on common standards.
Standards have become publicly-accepted course to educational perfection. The common belief is that by controlling the curricular content of schools, learning will be heightened, hierarchies will be dismantled, and equity will prevail. However, it seems that standards-based education has exposed less than desired results. The question now lies whether a standardized curriculum valuable to all students or is it an obsolete approach that fakes educational quality and equality in today’s globalized world.
Education is intended to sit in a state of unrest, yet our educational practices are outdated. A one-size-fits-all education is not practical. As new generations of students come, there should also be new knowledge, perspectives, and ideas. The constant changes in population, economics, and occupations demand periodic curricular reforms.
As for individualization, the argument dates back to Ancient Greece. In The Republic, Plato (1908) asserts: “No two persons are born exactly alike; but each differs from the other in natural endowments, one being suited for one occupation and the other for another” (p. 55). Plato posits that when workers opt for an occupation that suits their talents “things will be produced in superior quantity and quality, and with greater ease” (p. 55).
Today, more countries are adapting individualization in their educational system. The goal is individualistic learning. Japan, for one, aims to provide every student equal educational opportunity according to his/her abilities. They are now formulating curricular reforms focused on creativity and individuality instead of the usual uniformity and conformity. The aim is to give students skills required to survive in the 21st century like the ability to identify problems, act independently, and adapt to new situations.
Additionally, diversity and individuality rather is now South Korea’s educational focus. It is now promoting vocational training and lifelong learning instead of what it was known to be stringent in academics. Their curriculum and College Scholastic Ability Test were now redesigned to allow 11th and 12th grade students to choose their own classes (Shin & Koh, 2005).
With all these individualizing student learning, it can be said that the key to equitable learning is not standardization but individualization. It can further be deduced that when futures are placed in the hands of the beholder, the right equity in education will unfold.
By: BERNARDITO B. CADATAL | Teacher II | Sta. Rosa Elementary School | Sta. Rosa, Pilar, Bataan
