Neverschool–or About an (In)formal Dichotomy
Neverschool–or About an (In)formal Dichotomy

Author(s): Constantin Petrea
Subject(s): Social Sciences, Education, School education, Pedagogy
Published by: Editura Eikon
Keywords: education; "the street generation"; "generation Z"; formal/informal; influencers; festival;
Summary/Abstract: The new cultural paradigm in which we find ourselves forces us to carefully analyze the situation in which the school, in particular the Romanian education system, finds itself today. Beyond stereotypes and, more or less informed opinions, we are concerned with the way in which the school, a formal environment par excellence, responds to the challenges of today's world, which are increasingly profound and contested. By force of circumstances, the majority of teachers, from the pre-university and university system, come from the generation that we will call generically "the street generation", without consistent access to the digital universe, present in teaching activities. To the same extent, the students we educate today are representatives of a generation officially called "generation Z", digital natives, with new perspectives on existence and little willing to accept the formal constraints of the school. In this context, a tension/conflict is created, that needs to be resolved as quickly as possible. A solution to solve this dichotomy could be the adaptation of the first generation to the demands of the second. More specifically, this paper will analyze how the education system relates to the avalanche of challenges of the informal social environment. How can school values still respond to the publicized questions, pertinent or not, of adolescents? To what extent do they still seek what the school offers them through education and what are the arguments that "generation Z" can accept it to convince themselves of the validity of current education, given that the beneficiaries of the system claim an increasingly accentuated inadequacy of the school in their education? From the messages received by young people in online environments through so-called influencers to those validated by festival stars, a series of "fractures" could be identified that school representatives should not hide or, worse, treat with contempt, but on the contrary, improve them.

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