A captivating video, with the persuasive voice of Roberto Vecchioni, will be enough to redo the make-up of the school and make it attractive in the eyes of the world of students, different not only in terms of age and learning styles, but also in terms of social status, motivation, behavior at risk, for expectations and ambitions? But above all, will it be enough to solicit a civic sense on their part, a sense of belonging to public affairs, of respect for the common good that will contribute to the rebirth of the school's credibility? Even the always brilliant Isabella Bossi Fedrigotti does not seem to believe it too much, even from the columns of the "Corriere della sera" invites all school operators not to ignore the beautiful image of Vecchioni teacher-friend and to treasure it for their educational activities.
But really what the school needs is a friendly teacher?
It is undeniable that Vecchioni's video, commissioned by the Ministry of Education, is able to convey messages of trust and optimism and perhaps the Ministry was not wrong in taking care of this aspect of communication too, but the school needs much more. Wishing that teachers and principals wear a friend's jacket to win the sympathy of students who are sometimes borderline, sometimes arrogant and presumptuous, often fragile and insecure, is certainly not the way to seriously address school problems.
Merit, rules, prestige of teachers, professional skills they have little to do with friendship. Guys find friends aplenty among their peers. But who do they go to when they need to be educated? The teacher cannot simply be a friend, one of those they confide in on the low wall. The teacher must be an authoritative educator, a severe judge when needed but humane, capable of listening and understanding the signs of discomfort. If he is a friend, it generates confusion and disorientation in relationships, proposes a misleading model of relationships, does not prepare young people for the demanding realities that await them in the world of work. In short, he fails in his duties. Which are burdensome and require great professionalism and skills rather than easy do-gooders.
Tasks all the more onerous when you are in border schools, those where dispersion is high, where the State tries to wrest laborers from the mafia, to make them honest citizens, where it already seems a result to hear understandable concepts enunciated and not indistinct sounds. In the famous Finland - the one that is at the top of the results of the OECD surveys - the best teachers, the best paid ones, the most prestigious ones go right to the most difficult schools and they don't go to make friends with the students, they go to educate them.
The evils of the Italian school are many and it would take an encyclopedia to catalog them all, but one cannot share the apocalyptic vision of Giorgio Israel who on The subsidiary.it he thunders against everyone, against Minister Profumo, against Vecchioni and against the decay of the present times. However, Israel is right when he states that "it is simply painful to compare the social barriers that schools pose today - all the more the more they tickle ludicrous ideas and prostrate themselves in front of the student subject - in front of the social elevator that was possible in the post-unification Italian school ; when the future 'Mr. would he have it today?) to get him into the Normale di Pisa”.
It's not sterile laudatio temporis acti, but a serious consideration that should lead us to reflect. Everyone - the users most sensitive to the flattery of the alleged friendly face, the supporters of defeatist do-gooders, the proud opponents of any form of evaluation of the school service and the work of teachers - should begin to wish a school that contributes to development by training citizens, skilled and competitive workers, and that it does so through innovations that introduce meritocracy, eliminate heavy bureaucratic burdens, streamline formal procedures to the advantage of substantial values, and allow for the assessment of quality. The friendly face has nothing to do with it.
