Repubblica, 14 February 2009, front page
“Too Many Foreign Children” - Abandoning the Schools (in Italian)
ROME – An increasing number of families refuse to enroll their children in the schools of multi-ethnic neighbourhoods. It happens in Rome, Turin, Milan, Prato, Bolzano, Vicenza and other areas with a large immigrant population, an army of baby-students of 166 different nationalities. By 2011, they will number one million. - Maria Novella De Luca
The title on the central part of the front cover is, as usual, alarming and does not bode well for the coexistence of different peoples. It pushes the objective of a democratic knowledge society further and further away.
However, the full article inside the newspaper, also gives voice to the many reasons to “promote” multi-ethnic schooling. As Pedagogue Benedetto Vertecchi points out “this fear is irrational. Studies clearly demonstrate that the presence or absence of immigrants has no repercussions on the level a class can reach.” Prof. Vertecchi is a member of the Fondazione Mondo Digitale’s Scientific Committee.
Vertecchi explains that “confrontation with children speaking other languages is a formidable opportunity for growth … the truth is that the parents are afraid of diversity and the teachers themselves are not capable of managing a multi-linguistic infantile universe.”
Prof. Tullio De Mauro was also recently interviewed by the Corriere della Sera on this same issue and his reply indicated that “The more heterogeneous the classes, the better ...”.
Two interviews well worth reading…
For further information:
- Didactic innovation in "mixed classes"
