Heidegger, the Metacrisis and the Enchantment of Schooling

Modern society is under the illusion that calculation and measurement amounts to control. Heidegger’s critique of the enchantment of modernity shows how the machinations of power are inhibiting the course of evolving change. People cannot reflect on the real failures of the many iterations of the polycrisis and learn from them. This failure to notice failure is at the core of the metacrisis. Modern society is under the illusion that progress as continuous exponential growth can proceed with its onward trajectory without having a profound impact on resources, pollution, socio-cultural and ecological well-being. Education remains entrapped within the enchantment of modernity, and continues to prioritise the calculation and control easily imposed on STEM subjects, and the development of rationality as “progress” over and above a more wholistic approach to education. But the pace of planetary cycles and laws of thermodynamics bind humanity as much as they do other species. Understanding how finance supercharges the economic growth cycle will help us to re-evaluate and learn from the failures of the metacrisis, and transition to a calmer, slow economic system and more egalitarian future.