The suspension of suspensions: the “school form” and the “ skholé ” in times of pandemic

Abstract

Due to the moment’s urgency, the Covid-19 pandemic promoted the transposition of school activities originally planned for the face-to-face context to digital platforms. However, replacing the arena in which classes take place is not irrelevant, and this article intends to show how the technological characteristics of the applications used strain what, in recent centuries, has been understood as the school. To this end, we propose, firstly, a visit to the moment of the resurgence of the school during the Renaissance and the relationship of this event with a specific technology, Gutenberg’s movable type press — bookish knowledge, then establishes the school as a space different from family and social environments, giving rise to what is conventionally called “School Form.” From there, the article advances in the argument articulating this concept to that of skholé , which conceives the school as a space of suspension of the logic that binds children and young people to a fixed and unavoidable identity. This suspension allows them to disidentify from predetermined destinations and experience equality and self-experimentation. Finally, these concepts of “School Form” and skholé are contrasted with the conditions for performing remote teaching during the pandemic. Some questions are raised about what is expected of the school as a collective project.