Week 9- Should education stretch a person?

This is a difficult question to answer? What do we mean by 'stretching' a person?

There are many factors which are needed to take into consideration here. Age, sex, capability, background.

A younger person is there to learn how to learn. If a teacher is pushing a student from a young age, it will make the resent education and work in the long run. I think if you see potential in a child from a young age, encouragement is the way to deal with him/her.

Girls and boys both learn and grow up differently. Different teaching methods are used to each individual child to suit them. For example it is known that girls prefer to do essays and present their work sufficently. Whereas boys, would rather get it out the way with less hassle. This is why girls outperform boys when it comes to coursework, however, boys seem to do better in exams (national statistics online).

As a child gets older, it is important to stretch them a little further, simply because you do not want them to get into the idea that they are better than anyone else. I went to school with a girl who was always praised from a young age. By the time she was doing her GCSE's, she thought she was better than everyone, so didnt do any revision. Because of this she failed her exams. The teachers were focussing all their attention on rewarding her, they forgot to stretch her mind more. It is important to praise students, but too much of this could lead on to other negative outcomes.

What do others think? Do all the factors ive stated affect if a child should be stretched? Or can you think of more?