Without a cultural connection at the outset, the study generally seems disconnected from personal subjective reality. Even though the content offered is part of everything that professionals will use later, students generally have very little reality of it and will declare that what is being taught is of no use...thus of little interest. This is often demonstrated by the general attitude of many, summed up by a "Is it on the exam?".
What connects young people to the world is first what they experience, what makes up their culture. This rich cultural connection of video games, music, nature, travel, movies, series, novels, comics, music videos, memes and many other resources, represents a wealth of pretexts. There is something to cover almost every topic! When a ringtone begins with a classic piece of art, many people don't even know what it is, yet they recognize it. As for knowing who Tesla or Marconi is, why the vocabulary of music is Italian and that of cooking is French, it is of no practical use but allows one to connect new data to familiar cultural elements.
Science goes beyond appearances and tackles the how and why; starting from culture, one comes to enrich it and above all one passes from spectators to actors, to generators of culture. The philosophical questions raised in many series are worth discussing, the history revisited, the facts documented, and everything integrated into the fabric of individual and collective knowledge. Now that A.I. is making its mark and appropriating the world's cultural heritage, it is penetrating our culture. When Chat GPT begins to read about Chat GPT, it will enter into reflection. Our culture will define its perception of itself. Culture tells us, permeates us and defines us as well. Education at its best benefits.
Denys Lamontagne - [email protected]
Illustration: DepositPhotos - VisualGeneration
