The news comes from Pordenone and concerns an eighth grade student.
The school decided to let him finish the school year in Dad. In essence, for him the doors of the classroom where his classmates are every morning will remain closed and he will connect remotely. He will not miss the lessons, therefore, but he will follow them from home.
If you think about it, it is actually a very tough decision on the part of the school which however specifies – according to the news – that it has considered the situation carefully. The boy had already been reprimanded and “suspended” several times for inappropriate behavior and in the end the School Council decided to remove him from the class.
The local media report alleged acts of bullying and vandalism, aggression and damage as well as a triggering episode for the latest measure: the student was apparently caught looking for solutions to the Invalsi tests on the internet while they were taking them.
The school’s decision is followed by the reaction of the boy’s mother, who announces that she has already turned to a lawyer, “because what the school has done to us is damage in all respects”, claims the woman. “A damage for my son – she explained to the press – but also for me, since I have a job and I had to hire a person able to stay with my son during the hours of distance learning”.
For the mother the punishment would be disproportionate and unfair. These are the woman’s statements released by the media: “My son is certainly a lively teenager. He is attracted by what kids older than him do and by the ‘forbidden’ world of adults. But he didn’t deserve something like that.” It is always the mother who summarizes the situation: the son would have started “with some mischief in class”, thus ending up “suspended twice, each for ten days. I tried to explain to the school management that the boy needed compulsory attendance, that this way he would not be helped. But anyway, this was the decision. In the second case he was suspended during the eighth grade school trip, a key moment for every teenager. He was hurt and he never recovered.”
In the case raised by the news, a general issue is highlighted which concerns the school-family relationship and the educational task. In particular, the lack of agreement between the school and the mother of the “punished” student. School and parents don’t seem to understand or listen to each other.
This is not the place – nor is there any intention – to give reasons or wrongs, but it is worth addressing the problem, which also presents itself several times, even in dramatic and violent forms, as unfortunately the news reports. It is a question of relaunching once again the need for a “friendly” relationship between those who are responsible at different levels for the education of minors. Having their promotion at heart first and foremost.
Trust in educational institutions and their skills, which are sometimes unfairly discredited, must be strengthened. And at the same time they must be reminded of the need to make all possible efforts to involve families.
The theme of the “educating community” – which is not just an old slogan – goes in this direction.
