by de Gondi
Mon Nov 3rd, 2008 at 04:39:19 AM EST
The Wave hits Italy. The number of students that converge on Rome is beyond expectations. The demonstrations are so vast that they spill over the city. There are no longer two processions as authorized by authorities but three since the official itineraries cannot hold the crowds of people. Numerous rivulets break off into the side streets and flow down towards Piazza del Popolo. Buses are blocked outside the city and the students and teachers began to march along the beltway. One of the most impressive marches flows towards the Minister of "Public Instruction" (si fa per dire).
Mariastella Gelmini as Beatified Ignorance
Front-paged with an edit by afew
The decree is law. A law passed in a kangaroo parliament without discussion, without amendments- except the leghista amendment that creates special classes of "temporary discrimination" for children who have not learned Italian- specifically designed to destroy public education through the back door of financial cuts and draconian budget guidelines. Within two years, figures at hand, many universities will be forced to sell their real estate, choice properties in the historical centers of Italy's prestigious cities. There are plenty of buyers waiting on the sidelines.
The first attack is on elementary schooling, the one system Italy can be proud of, the only school that distinguishes itself in the OCSE analyses for its quality. It's a child's first impact with schooling and socialization, the basis for a child's future attitudes to learning. It was in the hardcore red region Reggio Emilia shortly after WWII that the Reggio Emilia Approach was developed, then copied throughout the world.
Piero Calamandrei, one of the fathers of the Republic, had already described in 1950 the present scenario. His speech has become a byword among students today. And that is emblematic of the desolate political landscape in Italy. The silence of Berlusconi's parliament of appointees is countered by speech in public, speech that recognizes no political affiliation to the right or left, speech that testifies to the vitality, richness and intelligence of the new generations, speech that recognizes the greatness of its teachers and maestros, and asks in synthesis, why are you doing it? Is there anyone out there, listening?
| Facciamo l'ipotesi, così astrattamente, che ci sia un partito al potere, un partito dominante, il quale però formalmente vuole rispettare la costituzione, non la vuole violare in sostanza. Non vuol fare la marcia su Roma e trasformare l'aula in alloggiamento per i manipoli; ma vuol istituire, senza parere, una larvata dittatura. | | Let's advance the hypothesis, very abstract, that there is a party in power, a dominant party, that formally wishes to respect the constitution, but in fact violates it. It doesn't want to march on Rome and transform classrooms into dormitories for its maniples but wishes to install without resistance an embryonic dictatorship. |
| Allora, che cosa fare per impadronirsi delle scuole e per trasformare le scuole di stato in scuole di partito? Si accorge che le scuole di stato hanno il difetto di essere imparziali. C'è una certa resistenza; in quelle scuole c'è sempre, perfino sotto il fascismo c'è stata. Allora, il partito dominante segue un'altra strada (è tutta un'ipotesi teorica, intendiamoci). Comincia a trascurare le scuole pubbliche, a screditarle, ad impoverirle. Lascia che si anemizzino e comincia a favorire le scuole private. Non tutte le scuole private. Le scuole del suo partito, di quel partito. Ed allora tutte le cure cominciano ad andare a queste scuole private. Cure di denaro e di privilegi. Si comincia persino a consigliare i ragazzi ad andare a queste scuole, perché in fondo sono migliori si dice di quelle di stato. [...] | | So what does it do to take over schools and transform public schools into party schools? It realizes that state schools have the defect of being impartial. There's a certain resistance; in those schools, even under fascism, there had always been. So then, the dominant party takes another road (this is all a theoretical hypothesis, you understand) They begin to let the schools fall apart, they discredit them and impoverish them. They let them become anaemic and they begin to favour the private schools. Not all the private schools. The schools of the party, that party. And so attention begins to go to those private schools. Money and privileges. You even begin to recommend to kids to go to those schools because in the end they're better than state schools. [...] |
| Attenzione, questa è la ricetta. Bisogna tener d'occhio i cuochi di questa bassa cucina. L'operazione si fa in tre modi: ve l'ho già detto: rovinare le scuole di stato. Lasciare che vadano in malora. Impoverire i loro bilanci. Ignorare i loro bisogni. Attenuare la sorveglianza e il controllo sulle scuole private. Non controllarne la serietà. Lasciare che vi insegnino insegnanti che non hanno i titoli minimi per insegnare. Lasciare che gli esami siano burlette. Dare alle scuole private denaro pubblico. Questo è il punto. Dare alle scuole private denaro pubblico. | | Watch out, that's the recipe. You've got to keep an eye on low grade kitchenry. The operation is in three phases. I've already said it: Ruin public schools. Let them fall apart. Cut back their budgets. Ignore their needs. Let up vigilance and control over the private schools. Disregard seriousness. Let teachers without minimum credentials teach. Let the exams become a farse. Give public money to private schools. That's the point. Give public money to private schools. |
"But if a tyrant (or a maniple of democratically elected idiots) usurps power and prescribes to the people what they must do, is this too law?" Alcibiade
