On social media, these days, thehashtag «maturity» is always in the rankings in trend topic. Not only to comment on the essay topics or how difficult and full of pitfalls the math versions or homework were, but also for questions of, let’s say, “style”. The latest trend, which has sparked a real scandal generational contrast, is to go to the exam accompanied by the parents who, excited or competitive, watch their children’s questioning armed with cell phones to immortalize and share this important milestone.
Former Principal’s Analysis: “Widespread Infantilism”
“There’s a generalized infantilism which affects parents and children” – explains Professor Carlo Braga, for years the headmaster of Salvemini in Casalecchio and now involved in the exams at Minghetti as president of the commission. «Never, in my timewe would have dreamed of taking the final exams in the company of mum and dad – he continues – indeed we would have seen it as a decrease in our autonomy. It is the educational model in use now which brings the parents to be very present, participate in real-time evaluations school that in case they are negative they trigger the call snapshot to the teacher. Let’s say that in part the kids want this presence of their parents because they are used to it, and in part the boys suffer this presence. It is certainly not a mechanism that leads to a serene maturation of students. And it is a phenomenon that has a also a “classist” connotation if we want: I haven’t seen many parents attending exams in technical or vocational institutes to tell the truth.”
Flowers after oral
There are those who argue that this constant reporting of one’s educational path to parents creates aperformance anxiety in students, which was not there before. «It is not even very clear whether this parental participation is an exercise in check or a desire sincere sharing of the moment” – continues the reflection of the school principal.
A process that is difficult to intervene in, but from which there is someone who benefits. If fragility and the need for gratification of one’s offspring go hand in hand in this analysis, the tools to express one’s feelings about the outcome obtained from the children are the classic ones: the bouquets of flowers. «We are really making a lot of them – say the owners of Flò, a well-known florist in via Saragozza 23 – They are simpler compositions than those that we package for the degreesoften made with wild, spontaneous, locally sourced flowers. They have a more natural allure. Sometimes they even ask us for just a symbolic flower».
The post with 430 thousand interactions
Melissa writes on X «Anyway when I graduated I didn’t even have a bunch of flowersnor sparkling wine, nor the family outside, I don’t even have a photo, as soon as I finished I ate something like soufflé and watched the Simpsons” getting 430 thousand interactions and an infinite number of comments in agreement, but also some in disagreement: «Now you can go back to watching The Simpsons while I go to smell the flowers that my family gave me to tell me that they are proud of me, nobody dies for a little love”.
