It's still exam time, with the Italian exam questions continuing to display increasingly reactionary messages. And how could it be otherwise, especially this year, when the exam introduces, among its "new" features, the requirement to submit a "critical essay on active citizenship" for those admitted with a 6 in conduct, forced to recite a mea culpa before the exam commission. It also introduces a punitive failure for those who, already having a high score in the written exams, decide to sit idly by during the oral exams out of laziness or protest, as happened last year, settling for a passing grade on two out of three tests and causing, right at the culminating moment of the course's conclusion, the entire structure of competitiveness, flattery, and the cult of grades on which the school is based to crumble.
In the year in which another novelty the exam returns to being called the "maturità" exam, abandoning the technical term referring to a legal certification in favor of the "ethical" one that attests to a demographic and behavioral transition, one of the topics developed concerned intergenerational issues and the transition to adulthood.
For some time now, "themes" those with a generic title under which one writes "development" and then proceeds with one's own thoughts have been out of use. The essays present a passage, that is, a reflection by someone else, a very assertive one, which sets the tone for the discussion, allowing only a few daring individuals to venture into refutation. This is welcomed only if the person who deviates from the official line of argument is a brilliant, or even excellent, student, while imposing a more flat convergence on the rest of the vast group.
Reflection on the intergenerational theme could have been sparked by an innumerable and varied number of ideas and passages. An article by one Frank Furedi was chosen, unknown to most, certainly to students, but also to the professors on the committee, who must have secretly searched Wikipedia to find out "who he was." He is a Hungarian sociologist with varied political backgrounds, and has been a fervent supporter of Orban for some time. The article chosen as a final exam topic bears a suggestive title, even irresistible to Valditara: "Borders Matter. Humanity Must Rediscover the Art of Drawing Frontiers." Essentially, Furedi makes the banal point of adulthood, of Peter Pan syndrome, of the blurred lines between generational phases, of adults who are unable to leave adolescence behind and mark the age of responsibility. A line of reasoning that can be heard even on the bus, but which Faredi develops through a clear affirmation of the need to draw boundaries, extolling an ageism that must function as a hierarchical element between generations, a tool for social regulation, a regulator of domination. A disciplined system that works at school, in the family, in society, in the military. Who is above and who is below, the power of the elders, the law of the fathers. The essence of patriarchy.
It's no coincidence, then, that to address the issue from this angle, a staunch Orban supporter was chosen, along with a song whose succinct title uses a vocabulary borders, frontiers that, given these times of war, nationalism, rejections, and remigration, doesn't represent a metaphor, but a very specific cultural and political horizon, one that claims to shape every aspect not only of reality but also of relationships.
Another track, another message. Track C2 features a passage by Mario Calabresi from the book "Rising at Dawn." Students are asked to reflect on the theme of "fatigue," which the author extols as an educational value to be reevaluated, consisting of dedication, perseverance, and tenacity, but also of physical exertion itself, of rising at dawn, as the title suggests, and getting to work. Because in life there should be no shortcuts, etc.
The author is better known than Furedi too much so, one might say, given his illustrious birth but the sermon is unbearable, and above all, even in this case, it conveys a message that is not accidental. In a school system that will begin reforming technical institutes in September, with a disproportionate increase in work-related training hours, with study hours handed over to companies, with the supply chain cutting out a year of school to deliver young people even earlier into the world of work, that is, into precariousness and exploitation, brandishing the whip of toil and work is unbearable. And it's no coincidence that this topic was chosen by 30.9% of technical students and 37.6% of vocational students, that is, by those who feel it firsthand. Not to mention the author's utter insensitivity toward those for whom toil is not an educational goal, but a harsh daily reality. Insensitivity toward a statistic of three workplace deaths per day, people who undoubtedly got up at dawn and never returned home. Insensitivity toward an undergrowth of child labor to stay within the context of youth which is a reality in Italy too. Save the Children has estimated 336,000 children and youths between the ages of 7 and 15 are involved in work, here in Italy, let alone in the rest of the world. What are we talking about when we talk about rediscovering hard work? The thread drawn from Calabresi's austere reflections highlights the classist nature of society and the usual punitive ethic of "you'll earn your bread by the sweat of your brow."
The government has long declared war on young people, from its inception with the anti-rave decree, and has continued to do so by inventing specific "youth crimes" and introducing and increasing the associated penalties. It has waged hate campaigns against young people accused of violence. And even during the final exams, with the choice of these topics, the government sends a clear message to young people, reiterating that they must be disciplined and tamed, subordinated to the authority of their elders, forced to respect the hierarchy, mortified by hard work, by the sacrifice of their vital energy, by renunciation.
And maybe they should even be sent to do military service, which, as we know, is very, very educational.
Patrizia Nesti
https://umanitanova.org/gli-esami-non-si-smentiscono-mai/
_________________________________________
Source: A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
Geen opmerkingen:
Een reactie posten