A review is presented of the history of ‘impact factor’ since its introduction in 1955 by Eugene Garfield for assessing scientific periodicals to its present degeneration in the hands of science administrators who enforce its use to classify scientists. Arguments are presented against that procedure. Recently there has been an increase of resistance among scientists and the editors of periodicals who call for replacing bibliometric parameters by peer review assessment of publications.
Hundred years ago education aimed mainly at memorizing as much information as possible. Such an approach lost its sense in the digital age of today since we are overwhelmed by an easily accessible ocean of true information mixed with “fake news”. Hence, the role of the teachers nowadays must be to guide and organize the learning process rather than provide knowledge. The students must no longer be passive recipients but active participants in the process of acquiring knowledge. A new approach of “phenomenon-based learning” introduced in schools in Finland, Norway and other countries agrees also with the holistic process of human cognition rather than absorbing information in a way sliced into traditional disciplines. In the future, say, fifty years from now, the role of teachers may be partly modified by the use of robots, which however could not replace creative thinking of human beings.