un fifty pages of Italian, 40 of mathematics plus equations, 15 topics, 4-5 books to read. Bea’s mother, fourth grader, doesn’t get upset: «Every morning my daughter works 1-2 hours, and in the afternoon she has fun. I am of the opinion that the more the mind remains trained, the better it develops. She’s curious and she doesn’t give me any problems ».
The school holidays started a month ago. Many students have closed their books to reopen them in September (perhaps), others have already resumed with exercises and versions. Parents of children and pre-adolescents rely on their grandparents, their children’s goodwill and screaming (with limited success). Those of the older kids just read the delivery, reach into their wallet to buy books and cross their fingers. Will they study, won’t they study? Maybe.
Italy is united by the tasks for the holidays. Impossible to distinguish between North and South, public and private schools. It is a typically Italian tradition. When today’s parents went to school, they spent the summer hunched over the Rocci (Greek dictionary) or the Castiglioni-Mariotti (Latin).
In the three summer months you forget what you learned in school, some say. But not everyone agrees (photo Getty Images).
Maurice Parodia former head teacher, wrote in 2016 No more homework! (Probe) and recently So you learn. For a school without homework (Castelvecchi). “Nothing has ever changed, because the initiative belongs to the individual teacher,” he explains. «The school council can give indications, but the teachers don’t bother to coordinate with each other, and the risk of accumulation is high».
Sometimes it seems that teachers do not communicate. In a Milan average, the math teacher gave a workbook and science research; that of geography, a research on European cities; then there is an English book, another of grammar exercises and a diary to write. The music education teacher has assigned homework on notes and there is a drawing for art. For history, the program must be finished (too bad the programs no longer exist).
Maurizio Parodi wrote the books “Enough homework!” and “So you learn. For a school without homework”
The parents? Silent. Maybe they’re preparing to do it themselves, instead of their children (raise your hand if you’ve never done it!). Or I agree. «In the classical high school where I teach, in the center of Milan, homework is expected» says Giorgia, art teacher and mother of 4 children.
Between too much and nothing there is room to experiment
However, the issues raised are many and the first is on teaching. «The teachers say that if they don’t give homework, the kids forget everything during the three months of vacation» says Parodi. «It means that they have learned little and badly. The absurd principle in which many teachers believe is that we teach at school and learn at home. But in this way they abdicate their function. If a book is enough, what is the use of a teacher?».
Adds Simone Delivered by All school: «Teachers think of learning as physical training. If you limit yourself to transferring notions, you cannot accept that they are lost». In the vast majority of cases, homework is not corrected and the kids know it. “They don’t do anything during the summer, in September they divide them up and copy each other” says Alessia, a son in scientific high school who should read 8 books this summer, 2 of which are in English and, optionally, one of The Jugurthine War And Catiline’s conspiracy of Sallustio «which I prepared for my Latin 1 exam at the university» he continues. “All for a crazy expense.”
Holiday homework: yes or no? (photo Pascal Shirley / Gallery Stock).
Giorgia is right when she says «that the classics are either read in high school, or they are no longer read». But propose White nights as an alternative to Crime and Punishment And War and peace it’s an own goal, given the obvious difference in thickness (in pages). Meanwhile, there are those who do not give homework at all (a scientific high school in Catania)so as to leave parents perplexed: not even a refresher?
In Naples in an average «only a short, optional text» says a father. Between too much and nothing, there is room for experimentation. «An Italian teacher has created a platform where the students offer their classmates the sentences to analyse. It worked,” Giorgia says. For her part (she teaches art), she limited herself to «prompting them to visit places of art, to then talk about it together when they return. The invitation is to be creative, otherwise you’ll lose the kids».
Creative tasks are the only novelty of recent years. However, he urges Simone Delivered not to exaggerate: «The school cannot advise running among the ears of corn or watching the sunset, it is not its task. Rather than asking pupils to be happy, he should be thinking about meaningful learning. And instead of feeding the summer book market, propose something feasible, through a pact with the students».
It’s not about asking for less, but about focus on transversal skills (as well as updating the reading proposals, adding a Hadrian’s memoirs the recent Everything asks for salvation, as some suggest). And maybe, for the little ones, do without the exercise books.
“150 challenges and games for the environment in the third millennium”, Ape junior
Annalisa Stradamiddle school literature teacher and writer for children (she has just published with Francesca Giovannini 150 challenges and games for the environment in the third millenniumApe junior), gave three books to read, two of which to be chosen from a list, the third free.
«I expect a triumph of Tearmaker by Erin Doom, but that’s totally fine. Reading is the basic transversal competence. During the holidays, you have to close the gap between what you do in school and life experiences. I make them work a lot during the winter, while in the summer they have to live their experiences, go to the cinema, explore the neighborhood, do new things with friends. You can know the history, but if you can’t get to a city other than your own, you’ve studied for nothing.’
Coldplay is better
The Istituto Comprensivo Riccardo Massa in Milan follows the same line, where some sections are Montessori-oriented. “The teachers agreed and in primary school they decided not to assign tasks but ideas to activate the pupils» says the manager, Milena Piscozzo.
“For example a travel diary, where the child puts photos, collects materials, describes experiences. In middle school, the idea is the same but something is added: the indications are personalized in order to respond to the training needs of the students, to compensate for any weaknesses. We care that during the summer they keep their passion for learning and come back motivated. There are families who are unable to support their children, and the school must have a thought especially for them. Otherwise they risk social isolation precisely when they don’t have the school to aggregate them ».
Meanwhile, the parents have developed the program. “Excluding two weeks in August and a trip with friends in July, there are 30 days left until 1 September to do homework,” says Giulia, mother of two teenagers. She then she shared it. The female rocketed to the books. The male commented, “Amazing,” and went to the Coldplay concert.
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