Learning in Nowhere: Individualism in Correspondence Education in 1938 and 1950 (Report‪)‬

[In correspondence education] there is no class work in the ordinary sense. Each pupil's course is his own. The subjects that comprise it can be chosen to suit the individual pupil alone. The emphasis can be laid where it is most needed. The pupil proceeds at his own pace, independently of other pupils of the same grade. Pupils of higher than average ability can and do make faster than average progress; those of less than average talent may make slower than average progress ... The use of individual assignments develops a sense of responsibility, initiative and self reliance. (1) A.G. Butchers, quoted above, was the headmaster of the New Zealand Correspondence School in Wellington in the mid twentieth century. He was a most vocal proponent of individualistic learning in correspondence education. His words illustrate several fundamental facets of the pedagogic individualism that was prevalent in correspondence education at the time. Correspondence education was argued to be tailor-made for the individual who studied at an individualised pace. The student was to become an independent learner who developed 'a sense of responsibility, initiative and self reliance' through the use of individual assignments.