Punish or change?

This article is published in issue 41 of Vanity Fair on newsstands until 8 October 2024.

There has been a lot of talk in recent weeks about the reform of school assessments. In detail, there has been much discussion about the return of conduct grades and the severe penalties to be inflicted on those students, sometimes even on those parents, who attack teachers. Everyone, more or less, agrees: the time has come to restore order and re-establish the educational role of the school in the face of out-of-control chats of mothers and fathers and young people who rebel against those who are in the classroom and try to teach something .

But are things really like this? Is necessary punishment really the solution to Italian schools?

According to the latest Active Citizenship report on safety in schools, the Italian state spends half a point less of its GDP on schools than other European countries and six out of ten school buildings have habitability problems. Not only that: since September 2023, there have been 69 cases of collapses, a number never reached before and a figure that seems destined to grow, given that many cuts have been made to the Pnrr funds intended for schools. Then there would be the topic of teachers’ salaries and training to address, but here the situation becomes even more complicated.

It is simpler, however, to talk about punishment: the latest bill by the Minister of Education Giuseppe Valditara, in fact, talks about grades in conduct, the return of synthetic assessments in elementary school, and the penalties to be inflicted on those who make mistakes, completely overlooking those reforms and on those changes that are really needed and that cost more. It is a punitive measure and above all free, given that it does not mention investments and costs nothing.

The propensity to punish instead of change, then, can also be seen in the security bill of the Minister of the Interior Matteo Piantedosi who recently dealt with the crime of road blocking by punishing “anyone who prevents free movement on the road with his body”. Here too: how can we not be close to those who are blocked early in the morning on their way to work, or worse, on their way to hospital? What could be more just than sanctioning those young and agitated activists who, with their bodies and their demonstrations, prevent the daily unfolding of our lives or even deface monuments and works that are part of our artistic heritage?

The answer would seem obvious. But that’s not the case. Because the question is another: what can and should be done about the ongoing climate change? What long-term measures should be taken to stop the floods and other natural phenomena that are affecting our country more and more often and with greater force?

Behind the punitive wave, then, lies not only the lack of change but also another doubt, perhaps even more worrying: silencing those who dissent, those who do not agree with us, those critical voices which are the basis of dialogue , of knowledge and therefore of democracy.

Punish instead of change. We all agree that measuring a pupil’s conduct is important and necessary. And it’s clear how inconvenient and unnecessary a climate activist blocking a road seems. The problem, however, is another: aren’t these punishments just smoke and mirrors in the eyes of those who need to see real change?

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