In recent days General Vannacci has made some statements that have raised some controversy. Below is an open letter from Fiore Isabella, primary school support teacher and author of the autobiographical story “The school according to Mattia”
Mr. General Vannacci, as a primary school teacher (formerly elementary) who has been retired for some years, I take the liberty of giving you, given that I could, and not only by age, be your father, some pedagogical advice.
I would like to point out that it is not, in my opinion, the sole responsibility of your book “The World in Reverse” if particularly critical attention is being drawn to your legitimate, albeit rather reckless, pedagogical dissertations.
I fear that the aforementioned critical attentions are, rather, children of logic, skilfully experimented on the topic of migrants through the Salvinian slogan “We first and the others after”; logic that has its roots in a narrative that a large part of the League party, which opened the doors to Europe, has in its DNA.
Proof of this is the joint strong-arm intervention of the deputy prime minister Salvini and the minister of merit Valditara on the autonomy of the Pioltello school whose school board had legitimately decided to close (for one day only) the school for the end of Ramadan.
Excuse me, General, if I omitted part of the integral name (education) of the ministry of Valditara, but I did so deliberately to separate the evaluative fragment of the scholastic experience (merit) from the educational one which, by its nature, involves, and it could not be otherwise, a dynamic component of the educational process. And you have fallen into this prejudicial dichotomy, I think, due to the attitude, largely justified by the high military rank, to also include the school in a hierarchical logic that separates the able and enlisted infantrymen from the disabled and reformed ones.
Having said this, the writer has worked in classes with children with disabilities supported by Italian legislation on scholastic and social integration that is cutting edge in Europe and around the world. Telegraphically, General, I remind you of Law 118 of 1971 issued when you, wearing your apron and holding the classic basket, entered a nursery school section for the first time.
A law which provided that the education of disabled people in the compulsory age group took place in normal classes of public schools. A rule validated over time by laws 517/77 and 104/92 which have made socio-educational values prescriptive which, in the past, with the differential classes that you consciously advocate, were totally ignored.
“Bringing together people with similar performance” You state, completely neglecting the educational objectives of our school centered on the concept of diversity of talents as an interactive resource and not as a limit or problem. The creation of monotonous and authoritarian environments, in fact, leads in a completely different direction.
Nor is his extemporaneous and rhetorical concession “You can make him do a lesson together, out of a spirit of belonging, but then he needs specific help” convincing.
You should study more carefully before speaking out on issues that are not particularly familiar to you, especially now that you have put yourself forward for a seat in the European Parliament. You should know that the figures of specialist teachers and curricular teachers are integrated into the process of school inclusion of pupils in difficulty with equal responsibilities; which is why the student with a disability belongs to the entire teaching team and is not the exclusive responsibility of the support teacher.
All of this is not at all negligible, as the presence of each student, regardless of their learning style and pace, requires an inclusive educational environment and no spaces of separation between those who succeed and those who struggle more.
As Don Lorenzo Milani said, there is no greater injustice than giving equal shares to unequals. This means that in everyone’s school, through different cognitive paths and in multiple educational contexts, it is essential, and not only useful, to wait for the slower pupil to finish the task and, for the slower pupil, it is more stimulating to have faster companions, available to wait for him and take charge of him.
Education in sharing is a fundamental pedagogical prerequisite for training in civil and democratic coexistence.
As Raffaele Iosa states in the book “la scuola mite”: “lat school of educational opportunities and the right to study as ours would like to be, it needs to break the ideology of normality as an “average” within which the best are above and the incapable below”.
Asking you, General Vannacci, immersed in rigidly hierarchical and authoritarian logic, to break the ideology of normality, I think is complicated. I think, however, given the institutional commitment to which they have nominated you, that, before talking about school, at least a superficial approach to a Bignami of general pedagogy would certainly bring you benefit.
Cordial greetings.
Isabella flower
(Former primary school support teacher and author of the autobiographical story “The school according to Mattia”)
