Emerson is trying to say that the education system tries to mass produce educations. Instead of teaching students, they teach classes as a whole. But each student needs an individualized version of what the class gets. Students may still get a quality education but it could be exponentially better if the curriculum was aimed at the student and not the student body as a whole.
I believe that, for the most part, education is similar to what it was when Emerson wrote his essay. In some classes (like the 1st semester of pre-ap chemistry last year) students are encouraged to work on their own. This allows students to work ahead, or behind, of each other so no one is held back and no one is being pushed too hard. But the most positive aspect of this is: teachers get more 1-on-1 time with students. Teachers can work with only the students that need help and leave the other students that are not struggling to continue working like normal without holding them back by tacking away class time to explain something to a single student. But there are not any classes at our high school like that anymore. It is not a popular teaching method anywhere in the nation. Teachers continue to teach very generalized lessons that do not have anything that will help individual students but simply covers the required information. The entire purpose of some classes is to pass another standardized test.
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