The number one reason that colleges and schools do not use 1:1 learning programs, is COST.

The current education system is based upon the premise that young people are trained to work in the factories, hence the classroom learning technique and curriculum still in force harps back to the 19th Century when it was first created. Learning for the masses wasn’t designed to encourage children to think and be individually focused, it was simply an economic arrangement of creating docile fodder for the growing factory system, and maintaining the status quo. The problem the same system created in the 19th Century is still the norm today, even when the 21st Century demands a different educational approach and ways of thinking. The educational system is still top down and imposing curricula and associated demands on both teachers and learners. This does not meet the individual needs of each learner, by its nature it is very hit and miss.

1:1 Learning empowers the learner, it gives them both input and control of their own learning. The learning is customized and personalized to their needs, and not simply following a pre-prepared program of learning, which does not consider the learners own needs and how they best learn.

We are all different and our life experiences are different, so then why are we expected by colleges and universities to follow the same learning program as the next person?

The only exception in the past was that the elite English Universities of Cambridge and Oxford would not have classes for their undergraduates, rather they would be individually tutored by the University Dons. This was not for the ordinary person, but for those from families of the aristocracy and powerful. They saw the benefit of 1:1 learning for their sons, and later daughters too, however they didn’t want the same for the masses. They had to make do with the Elementary school system teaching the 3 R’s.

1:1 Learning is costly, but the benefits far outweigh the negativity of cost. Shouldn’t education be expensive if it is to be the best. Mass education is cheap, but totally ineffective.

The way forward is to turn the current system upside down, giving the learner the say as to what they learn and how they learn. Teachers need to be allowed to teach and mentor their learners to develop their own learning paths, and not be pushed in only one direction whether it benefits them or not.

The current education system only survives because no one wants to challenge and change it. But at the same time the system is failing generations of children and young people. A huge personal and collective loss and waste.

The time is for change but who is listening?