The philosophers Éric Martin and Sébastien Mussi aspire to a world where slowness reasserts itself, particularly in education. They quote the writer and professor Yvon Rivard: “I dream of a school where one could waste one’s time. For them, the ideal is “simply to go to school on foot, with a notebook, a pencil and an eraser, a few books and above all, leisure time”.
In a hard-hitting essay, authors Martin and Mussi smash the technology race that is gripping education and higher education. This technological obsession, stemming from “globalized capitalism”, leads to “the ruin of education, of democracy, of society and to ecological destruction and therefore to the suicide of societies and the world”, they write.
The very profession of teacher is threatened by artificial intelligence, according to them. They demand a moratorium on the computerization of education.
At a table in a café in the Centre-Sud district, the two college philosophy professors admit that they are not going there with the back of the spoon. But beyond the rant, their essay Welcome to the machine. Teaching in the digital age is solidly documented, with supporting sources.
Éric Martin and Sébastien Mussi are aware of rowing against the tide. They touch on a sensitive subject. They expose themselves to criticism. “I would have done without writing this book,” says Éric Martin. “It hurts to come to such harsh conclusions. There is an emotional cost to that, ”adds Sébastien Mussi.
They started writing their essay after a year of distance learning due to the pandemic. The result of the online courses was catastrophic. The teachers were talking to a screen filled with black squares — because of the students’ closed cameras. The majority of young people were demotivated. Isolation caused distress. The stronger students generally did well, but the weaker ones suffered.
“Studies on distance education have shown beyond any doubt that it doesn’t work. The work of researchers Christian Boyer and Steve Bissonnette has again reminded us of this. However, distance training is everywhere in employers’ requests. Are we short of premises? Distance learning. We have too many students? Distance learning. All this in the name of profitability,” laments Éric Martin.
Benefits to be demonstrated
The authors note that governments and school administrators at all levels, from preschool to university, are giving in unquestioningly to industry pressures to bring ever more technology into the classroom. The famous interactive whiteboards were thus introduced in schools by the Charest government more than a decade ago, without the school community even asking for them.
Tablets, screens, robots, and now the ChatGPT application are considered essential “innovations” in education. “People who advocate these technologies are not even able to prove that it is useful. On the contrary, the computerization of school leads to a lack of empathy among students, a loss of interest in others, a feeling of loneliness and anxiety,” says Sébastien Mussi.
Recent work by Professor Mélissa Généreux, from the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at the University of Sherbrooke, confirms the significant effects of distance education on the morale of young people, underline the authors.
They consider that the obsession with technologies confirms once again the “commodification of education and higher education, subject to the imperatives of the market. The school is at the service of capitalism. »
No need for teachers
The authors point out that the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development considers the disappearance of schools and teachers plausible: “Globalization – economic, political and cultural – makes obsolete the institution established locally and anchored in a determined culture that is called “the school” and, together with it, the “teacher”. »
“Students would learn on their own. Teachers would become mere companions”, indignant Sébastien Mussi.
“If this continues, exams and schoolwork will be designed by ChatGPT, made by ChatGPT and marked by ChatGPT. Learning, where is it in there? The human factor is however the great fundamental thing in education”, adds the philosopher.
He and his colleague are concerned about the growing popularity of MOOCs (massive open online shopping), which bring together thousands of students from all over the world. Virtual master classes are also offered by well-known personalities, “in the dream setting of a splendid library room”, and filmed from several angles in a professional staging. Difficult for a simple teacher to compete with one of these online courses given by superstars like Salman Rushdie, Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt or Bernard Werber.
The findings are overwhelming, but the two authors are not giving up. “We are pessimistic in the analysis, but optimistic in the will. If there are still human beings in 200 years, they will say to themselves: “What did our ancestors do? They destroyed the environment, they plugged young people into machines.” If human societies survive, they will be rebuilt on a much more human scale. They will be more local, more decentralized, more slow. »