Future education and Michel Foucault

On January 12 I received an email from a friend who lives in Barcelona with an article that talks about the future of education. It was a new organization that, as a result of COVID, proposes a personalized education with small groups of students, led by expert teachers (roughly, that’s the idea). After reading the article, I wondered about what is the education of the future.

How could you talk about the future of education without first talking about what education is?

Is it that there is too much attention in predicting / interpreting / solving the future without paying attention to clarifying the concept of education?

What is education? What will be the concept, interpretation and implementation of education in the future? Does talking about the future demonstrate / ensure wisdom?

It seems that those who speak of the future are wise people. Is that so?

I wondered what that education would be. I wondered if in order to talk about the future we should not first clarify what education is. In a constant and timeless way, there are careers / studies / methodologies that are emerging, that prepare people for the future. Then each one consumes it, prepares. Then, as in 2020, the world erupts and, suddenly, all of that no longer prepares people for the future (which is already the present).

When reading about the future education I see that there is focus on how to modernize the implementation of the current concept of education; educate with emotion, innovate, digitize, personalize, listen… it seems that the methodology is put on trial, but not the conception. Will there be room for a new interpretation of education? Could it be that, in the future, education does not mean what it is today, but is something else? What do people really need to live in this world? Do they need to learn math in the most innovative way possible? Or learning in the most innovative / agile / modern way, save time in the learning process? If so, what does time mean? What education is there regarding time?

The education of the future raised today, what interpretation of the world is taking? That world where “time is money”?

Michel Foucault (1926–1984), in his book “The lives of infamous men”, talks about the transgression system by referring to the fact that each culture has dividing lines that mark what is “right / wrong”, what is “It is normal / abnormal” and, when developing such a closed but open system (since when determining what is “normal” it leaves the system open to all that exists and does not fall within the “normal”), it gives place to everything that does not fit within such limits; that is when the transgressions appear which, he says, are sought to exclude when judging, and include when explaining.

I take the words of M. Foucault and make an analogy with education. Everything that is within “normality” would be the traditional educational system (primary, secondary, tertiary, etc.) and everything that is not framed within it, would form the transgressions; Such could be digital media that provide knowledge and useful tools to the population, call it YouTube or similar social networks. Could it be that these media are democratizing education? Why, when talking about the future of education, is there so much attention to modernizing / innovating the learning methodology? Could it be that, as a result of the potency of such educational transgressions, those who study have become accustomed to a greater speed in terms of availability and learning processes? If so, then it is to be expected that those who teach will be in constant concern about how to capture the attention of those receiving the teaching. But if it were, then traditional education becomes a passive rather than a proactive role. That is, it seeks modernization in the methodology because there are other means that are more up-to-date and pressure the traditional educational system to modernize. Shouldn’t education be at the forefront? What is education? Who is education?

What would Foucault say if he saw that the transgressions are putting pressure on the system that gave him life? Perhaps he said that in the same transgressions are the secrets of the new systems. Isn’t that how cryptocurrencies are born?

The Argentine system establishes that undergraduate degrees must have 2,600 hours of study. Would a person who credits 2600 hours of study on YouTube be considered for a job? Despite all modernization, the relationship between what is included and what is excluded, what is accepted and what is rejected continues to be perpetuated.

What about current education? Where is education left, if actions are focused on “winning” over transgressions?

What is the education of the future?

Perhaps the future of education is not in the creation of new disciplines / careers / studies, but in the integration of what already exists. Here is the importance of “educational transversality”. Could it be that the future of education lies in the integration of different disciplines? An example could be a study in integrating human resources with philosophy. Would that be possible? It would be useful?

It seems that there is a bias that modernization in the learning methodology ensures education. Is that so? Or what ensures is technological integration? Is the education of the future technology? What is education?

Will there be room for a new interpretation and / or conception about education? Today it seems to be associated with specific studies (primary, secondary, tertiary, university, postgraduate, etc.) for later labor insertion. In the future, will that be education? Give room for doubt to rethink the concept since, otherwise, future innovations will follow the same path as that which has been determining the path to the “future”: technology. Is technology synonymous with education? Perhaps technology speeds up and facilitates educational processes so that later there is more time to implement what has been learned (call to produce). But, if so, to an excessive and / or unconscious production, it can bring what 2020 brought and, thus, suddenly, all the time savings and / or modern learning are waiting for the world. It becomes a complex, sensitive, dangerous virtuous circle. What will the education of the future be? I am not referring to the methodology of education, but to education.

Sir Ken Robinson (1950–2020) said that education does not need an evolution but a revolution.

Will there be room for a deconstruction of the concept of education?

What is education?

What is the future of education?

What will education mean in the future?