Vittoria
Di Fabio from Italy shares some thoughts on whether or not teachers prepare their students for tomorrow’s life.
A few days ago I read ‘What do you think about this Truth?’ It attracted my attention and kept me thinking for a long while. Although I had not actually been directly addressed… yet I couldn’t avoid feeling involved for many a reason which I’ll try to explain as clearly as possible.
As all of us, I have always liked teenagers and most of their peculiarities. Therefore I suggest looking at the topic the other way round i.e. “How far are they trying to learn, to collaborate, to build up something valuable?”
As far as we are concerned, what we adults are doing for them can be easily seen. Teachers and parents keep acting, according to their honest intentions, through valuable actions directing all their efforts to their students/children’ development. Therefore the problem shouldn’t be looked at in terms of preparing them to become equal or superior to the previous generation.
Senior citizens are precious, as they can explain how little they used to live on, during their childhood, adolescence and even further on and how difficult it was for them to build up their life.
It must be taken into consideration, though, that this frequently sounds to them old fashioned as the past reality is different and not close enough to stir their attention.
In particular in this case, answering a boasting young boy with a quick summary of past experiences in a few, slightly arrogant words together with an impolite expression is not the best way to lead him to the right evaluation, producing uneasiness in being considered less determined, less ‘apt’. The old man’s three-dimensional story, with such a vital strength in it, shouldn’t be wasted in such a way with the risk of appearing meaningless and annoying.
Going further, in spite of apparent superficiality, I do consider the new generation a resource not to be under-evaluated as they do contribute to the progress of mankind in several ways. In fact, day by day, they show us they are choosing not to reject our ideals; accepting the way in which society is organized, appreciating and nourishing feelings, dedicating time to studying, they enlarge their experience and acquire competence they will spend in a different way for a surely different world.
Expressions such as ‘equal’ or ‘superior to us’ are understandable, according to the semantic economy of any language, but they might be misunderstood. In fact both mothers and teachers should not conceive the idea of guiding children to be equal or superior.
Educating a child is not only to help him find out his/her inner world, dedicating time to organize what in them is still chaotic while improving their personal ‘wealth’, but also to look outside the wall of the classroom and get to know the world around them. It is a difficult process in which the perspective given by the values we are dealing with during our lessons and the balanced evaluation of choices and decisions should lead them to become ‘apt’ to live their life in ‘their new world’.
