Émile’s Children: Thoroughgoing Change in the Knowledge Process in the Digital Era

In the so-called developed societies, information and communication technologies are now to be found everywhere. They are changing ways of life and social relations at a deep level. Through the extent of the supply of information and the ease of access enjoyed by any individual connected to the Internet, the digital media are thoroughly transforming our ways of thinking and being in the world. This inevitably has major consequences for the processes of access to knowledge and, hence, for education systems. In this Futuribles special feature on “Schooling in the Digital Era”, Paul Mathias presents his philosophical reflections on the question, showing the thoroughgoing transformation, in this context, of the very nature of the knowledge-acquisition process – and how it breaks with the traditional norms and methods of the learning of specific disciplines within the educational universe – and analysing the impact of that transformation. Massive technological change within the school produces a radical transformation of the norms and methods required for it to achieve its pedagogical goals. As a site of knowledge, the school is now saturated with highly varied forms of intelligence. Its ICT tools are not new instruments for performing old tasks, but represent profound mutations in the very knowledge process, its nature and, hence, its horizons. What should the school now teach? What intellectual challenges is it called on to meet? How is it to escape from the engulfing ocean of digital flows?