21st century education: progress or doom?
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The reflection on teaching methods is as old as the hills and it has encouraged the introduction of new strategies and methodological approaches, especially since the 17th century. A brief historical overview of the primary methods in language learning since then enables us to realise the underlying, persistent thought in educators’ minds of all times that there must be a more complete, more perfect approach to provide pupils and students with success. Every new method presents itself as the ultimate answer for the painstaking question: How can we reach students and teach them something worthy of their future? Method after method, approach after approach dethrones the previous, proclaiming to the winds that it is the panacea for all evils and that a new dawn in education is to rise. However, we have yet to see this bright future of education, even if this constant struggle has fuelled our will to continue searching. In the 1970s, it was the communicative approach; a couple of decades later, project- and task-based learning. From the beginning of the new millennium on, technology has again been hailed as the
definitive response, that enlightened manner to get hold of students’ attention and lead them through avenues of budding success. It has been become fashionable to publicise surveys and case studies on the miracle advantages of using Twitter and similar technologies in the classroom, persuading us that we have finally found the answer. Nonetheless, various studies emphasise the harmful effects of the excessive use of screens, social networks and virtual reality. From our standpoint, this may be an attempt to use the same gadgets students do – and convince them that we are on the same side of the fence – though the truth is that we are no more than “another brick in the wall” and we often feel the bricks are tumbling down. Education may no longer be heading for progress but rather for doom. In our attempt to obey to the winds of change, we have perhaps neglected the importance of high standards and quality, content and practice, of the human contact to establish the liaison between knowledge and feelings. Bearing in mind these considerations, our aim is thus to reflect upon the future of education and where it might lead us.
The reflection on teaching methods is as old as the hills and it has ensued the introduction of new
strategies and methodological approaches, especially since the 17th century. A brief historical review of
the primary methods since then enables us to realise the underlying, persistent thought in educators’
minds of all times that there must be a more complete, more perfect approach to provide pupils and
students with success. Every new method presents itself as the ultimate answer for the painstaking
question: how can we reach students and teach them something worthy of their future? Method after
method, approach after approach dethrones the previous, proclaiming to the winds that it is the
panacea for all evils and that a new dawn in education is to rise. However, we have yet to see this
bright future of education. In the 1970s, it was the communicative approach; a couple of decades later,
the project- and task-based approaches. From the beginning of the new millennium on, technology
has again been hailed as the definitive response, that enlightened manner to get hold of students’
focus and lead them through avenues of budding success. It has been become fashionable to present
studies, surveys and case studies on the miracle advantages of using twitter and akin technologies
in the classroom, persuading us that we have finally found the answer. Nonetheless, various studies
emphasise the harmful effects of the excessive use of screens, social networks and virtual reality. From
our standpoint, this is a rather desperate attempt to use the same gadgets students do – and convince
them that we are on the same side of the fence – though the truth is that we are no more than another
brick on the wall and the bricks are tumbling down. Education may no longer be heading for progress
but rather for doom. In our bewildered attempt to obey to the winds of change, we have become
oblivious to the importance of high standards and quality, content and practice, of the human contact
to establish the liaison between knowledge and feeling. Bearing in mind these considerations, our aim
is thus to reflect upon the future of education and where it might lead us.
