Wek 10: Education being 'tailored' to fit into cultural and personal preferences

When looking at our own culture, we have such a diverse group of people living in the UK it would be wrong to concentrate on our own British culture without taking into account others. There are various religions and cultures in our society which we must be educated on, as well as other cultures worldwide. If we didn’t have a knowledge of various cultures and groups our own culture would be damaged and create problems in various parts of our society. As the U.Ks population continues to develop so do are cultural and religious backgrounds.

This question could link to the previous question of education ‘stretching’ a person. Education should not only challenge a person to get the best out of their abilities but it should also broaden as persons learning in specific areas of our cultural knowledge. If we were taught our British culture then what would other people such as ethnic minorities with different cultures that live in the UK study?

Prensky could also be mentioned here. He suggests that education should be tailored around the indiviual and to young digital minds. The notion of tailoring education here is an example of trying to keep digital natives intrested through new means of education such as the internet etc. If this interest isn't here then some students won't be as encouraged to learn and understand various concepts which are being taught. The introduction of new digital technology does mean however that we can access information about various cultures and talk to people from other cultures on the internet. By easily accessing this information we can learn things about culture quickly and accordingly.

We are exposed to various cultures and religions in both education and in the workplace. If we were educated in issues soley tailored to our culture various problems would arise. If we are not educated in schools about the variety of culture in our society then students could result in feeling victimised for being part of a particular religion/culture or they might get bullied for being ‘different’ to other people. There is enough victimisation going on as it is and it would get much worse if we own knew about our own culture.

Also when we finish education we move on to getting a job in the developing business world. Knowledge of different cultures will be seen as an advantage as you will be able to communicate with a larger amount of people and have knowledge of particular topics based around cultures as it is something that you have learnt and developed.

Personally I feel the need to know about different cultures is a must! Cultures differ and vary depending whereabout you live, you have to adapt or at least know about these different cultures. Our society is multi-cultural and is continuing to develop it is essential we have an idea of some of these different cultures as they play a great part in our society.