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Here we are: most Italian schools will reopen on Monday and the whole country is watching you with growing apprehension. The fear of contagions that could cause many new deaths and a new economic paralysis from which the country may never recover is palpable. Not to mention the meetings in public transport, the pollution in the streets, the “safe” conditions in which many school buildings are located, regardless of Covid …
And then the question, subtle, impertinent, almost indecent, creeps into his head: “But do we really have to reopen these blessed schools?” Couldn’t we just give up, postpone, avoid? Someone is already thinking about it, at least until postponement. On the other hand, we have been without quarantine for several months. We would avoid a fatal risk to the health and economy of the entire country.
“Well, some will instinctively think: if schools don’t reopen, how will people get back to work?” That, instinctively, some people think of this answer first, speaks volumes: we now regard school as a parking lot for minors. And for the love of God, this is also a function, but then why, instead of forcing them to enter a class that is suffocated and at risk of contagion, we do not leave them in some park or gym, simply supervised so that are not made or damaged? At least they have a little fun.
“Have fun ?! – more than anyone will say – Are we kidding ?! You are not going to school for fun! You are going to study hard, work hard, learn to sacrifice yourself!” it can be a parking lot, but also a place of suffering (of course: necessary and beneficial, for the love of God). And about this, nothing to say, at least this time we got it right: the students, especially the older ones, on average they hate school, and on the other hand, how could it be otherwise, given that the approach is punitive, to the point that even the teaching activity itself is interpreted by some as the most severe punishment to be inflicted.
But then, I will be forgiven if I persist with the impertinent questions, why do students have to suffer when they go to school? Is it because they have to get used to the idea that work is pain and suffering? In fact, adults seem to hate their work about the same percentages that young people hate school: at least in this sense, a successful generational change.
“Well come on, enough of the games – I imagine some readers would say – The school must reopen because the children have to learn the fundamental skills to be able to work in the future.” Well, what are these skills? Economy? Certainly! Science of civic law? Never without! Computer programming? Of course! Digital education? Necessarily! Mathematics and statistics? Obvious. Chemistry, physics, biology, computer science? Of course. Financial education? Ecological responsibility? Gender equality? … But will 24 hours a day be enough?
Okay, maybe you decide first what you can do without. In the first place through philosophy and letters, that today it is useless to learn to question the deep reasons using logic or understanding and exercising the art and technique of disseminating thought and emotions. But then? History? Imagine! Enough people have already forgotten what fascism was! Art? Our oil? Never! Physical education? With childhood obesity increasing every year?
Damn, what an effort! But can’t we get Google and your new “university” to do it all, which in six months gives you everything you need to find a great job in the digital economy right away without ever leaving your home? On the other hand, Spotify also said that the title is no longer good for anything. And then if they really don’t succeed, there is the income of citizenship …
“No! – I seem to hear – Because school is not only a place to transmit skills, but where the citizens of the future are trained; where the social values of tolerance, knowledge and culture are transmitted. That is why we cannot do without he “.
Very true. Really. But do a little experiment: go to one of the Huffington Post social pages and look at the comments in the post announcing this article (or others); How many constructive, tolerant, and inquisitive comments will you find? How many have expressed lapidary or even offensive judgments despite having read only the title? If the school wants to form good citizens, tolerant and thirsty for knowledge, it is not working.
“But it’s obvious! – someone exclaimed – With the faculty that is a bum of bums, young people who are now digital zombies and parents who only think about spoiling or neglecting them, these are the obvious results!” But here comes another strange idea. , almost embarrassing: what if, admitted and not admitted that this is mainly the case, these were more the effects than the causes?
What if the children were lost and did not want precisely because we forced them to study the subjects we chose for them (and also to hate them a little)? What if teachers are frustrated and unmotivated because we ask them to teach all human knowledge and not what they are most competent and passionate about (in addition to filling out a thousand paperwork)? What if the parents resent all this (in addition to having to endure a job every day that they often endure badly)?
What if we stop thinking of school as an exclusive place for education and start thinking of it more as a place for training? Not a place to forcibly instill information, convinced that you know what is good for others and what the world will be like in thirty years – almost never well – but a community where interests and true basic skills can flourish: logic, creativity, empathy, listening, argumentation, planning, research …?
How beautiful on paper! – I suppose someone will say – But how do you do it? ». Simplifying a lot, with a school with the least amount of compulsory subjects possible, which transforms classes into laboratories, which invites students (and teachers) to explore and enhance their interests, to advance thesis, to research, to stimulate shared work . ; a place where each question is answered first of all with another: “What do you think?”
The world has changed: if once the image of work was the specialized technician who works alone and maintains that job until retirement in a complicated but knowable world, today it is the more or less digital nomad who has to work collaboratively and He does not specialize in tools and notions, but in methods and ideas for exploring an infinitely complex and unpredictable world.
Information, notions, vertical specialties are and will increasingly be the domain of automation, and the real work of the future will probably be to search and change jobs (coincidentally, the only subject that nobody has proposed is taught in schools) . And if the job market and the world change over and over again in the future, people’s interests, inclinations, attitudes and values will change much less and much more slowly. That is why we should bet on the latter.
«But it is not possible – I suppose someone will answer – You cannot allow everyone to do what they want! We are going to ruin! ». But where does this belief come from? In the United States, perhaps the country considered the most advanced in terms of excellence and meritocracy training (at least in the “high” segments of the market), only 27% of graduates undertake a career linked to their studies.
“But an adult can and knows how to decide, a child cannot!” For decades, all over the world and with excellent results, institutes and approaches “led by children” have multiplied, that is, based on the freedom of the child to choose her educational path. And, amazing to say, the mother of this approach was a brilliant Italian, Maria Montessori. However, their teachings and insights are mostly abandoned and neglected right here in their homeland while they thrive abroad.
In short, school is not only important: it is essential. In fact, it is perhaps the most important thing for a company. Because it is the mirror of who we are, the breeding ground for the citizens of tomorrow and the model of what we want for the future as a society. So let’s reopen it, but please stop thinking about it like 100 years ago, that is, a place where new employees and workers are produced, making children work hard on studying topics that adults consider important based on to yesterday’s world.
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