Consider what doors are open and closed here in Italy for immigrants and for youth in general in terms of education? How do you compare these to the doors in the United States? What are you basing your opinions and perspectives on?
I had a difficult time responding to this question. Partly due to my short stay in Rome, limited knowledge of the Italian education system and my reluctance to make assumptions of such a complex situation. My opinion is a product of personal experiences and observations of students and teachers from Iqbal Masih, conversations with current Italian university students, class guest speakers, and course readings. As a daughter of immigrant parents, my ultimate opinion lies on the foundation that with hard work and perseverance anything is attainable. I learned that in the United States doors are readily accessible to those who choose to work hard to open them. There are many countries in the world where the case is the opposite, doors are sealed shut and hidden behind plasters in the attempt to control the youth and the direction in which the country progresses. Italy being one of them.
I believe there are more educational opportunities in the US than in Italy, where it seems that many doors are closed to immigrants and to the youth. The educational path for Italian youth is structured in the beginning, as it unwinds it becomes narrow with many intersections. Preschool, or kindergarten, is non-compulsory, students are required to attend primary schools for five years. At this stage, the curriculum is uniform. Middle school is the critical transition point for every child, in which depending on how well they score on their final exam at the end of their 3rd year, they are ‘highly encouraged’ to pursue their high school education in a specialized institution.
Up to this point, there are some differences and similarities that exist among the doors that are open to youth in Italy and the United States. Both countries have a compulsory age of which students must abide to. In Italy, the ‘legge gentile' established the compulsory age of education to 14 years, which has been raised recently to 16 years. In the United States, the compulsory age is 18 years.
I mention the idea of ‘age’ because I believe it to play a critical role in the professional development and ultimately the direction of the lives of the students. After middle school, pre-teenagers are guided into a certain field of profession. Although I see the benefits of specializing in one certain area at a young age. I see many more disadvantages that it indirectly makes such as, limiting students from learning about different issues about the world, contributing to the Italian ‘narrow-mindness’ perspective and decreasing their chance of becoming global citizens. Most importantly, having to decide what you want to be when you grow up during your teenage years, is a call for instability, not only in the present but also in the future.
An important aspect of the Italian education system that I believe to be an influential factor in the disarray of the nation, is the attempt to segregate ‘Italian’ children from foreigners. You can see this within any stage of the educational system. In early childhood education, extra attention is often time paid on the ‘foreign’ students. For example, I volunteer in a preschool classroom where there are two Roma students. The preschool teachers do an exceptional job of making sure that each student is engaged in the classroom. Although their actions demonstrate their approval for an inclusion approach and for equal educational opportunity, when they converse, they unintentionally speak of the Roma students with a sense of ‘otherness’.
Focusing on the other side of the education spectrum, there is a small proportion of Italian youth who choose to attend the university. I had the opportunity to speak to a substitute teacher who helped to shed more light on the subject. She mentioned that higher education, “is a waste of time and money. Many people often time find a job in a different field of profession than from what they obtained their bachelor’s degree in” (Iqbal Masih, February 1st, 2011). In her case, she studied psychology and happened to come across the job. An alarming trend is the amount of time that it takes to finish a Bachelor’s degree. University students often spend seven years in obtaining a Laurea (BA) degree. There are many factors that contribute to this, a few including the familial structure, the economy, and the rigid structure of the government that fails to assist university students with lodging, health benefits, and so on (25/01/2011, guest speakers Anna Onorati and Fedelica Bianchi). In short, for the Italian youth there are a few doors that are accessible, especially for foreigners. According to Social, Cultural, and Material Conditions of Students from developing countries in Italy, the percentage of foreign students who attend an institute of higher education in Italy has decreased. A study conducted to discover the priorities of foreign university students revealed that family relations are ranked higher than sexuality and living as couples (which was the opposite in the United States)as well as politics. This is a startling finding. Italy has created a generation in which there is a “distrust in politics as an effective tool in restoring balance relations between North and South in the world” (pg. 366). In short, there is no hope on behalf of the brightest minds in the nation for change. As Amara Lakhous mentioned in his lecture “the brightest youth is leaving Italy!” What is the country to do without educated youth? Is it ultimately setting itself up for failure?
In sum, It is impossible to discuss the opportunities or ‘doors’ that are available to immigrants and youth in Italy without discussing the context in which the ‘doors’ are in. I like to envision Italy as a traditional Italian home in which many corridors and flight of stairs exist. The youth is not allowed to climb the stairs for fear of immaturity and inexperience. Immigrants either enter the Italian home through the front or back door. Their form of entry varies, but their destination is one. They are all gathered and forced to stay in the living room under close surveillance. The chances of an immigrant obtaining access to a flight of stairs is slim. The very few that manage to advance, find themselves alone and aware of their status as ‘the other’. There is no circulation within the home, so an old-musty smell lingers. With the demands of a ‘fresh’ breeze from a portion of the youth population, many doors are sealed shut. In my analogy, the Italian community is a traditional house where strict access to advancement exists (limited access to the flight of stairs). The marginalized (immigrants) are restricted to one area (the living room) and the musty smell that exists within the walls is a symbolism of the elite who reign the country, the elderly. The Italian house can be restored. In order to do so, it must pay close attention to the people dwelling within it. Only by appreciating diversity can Italy progress as a nation of multiculturalism. This idea has caught on in the United States but seems to be dismissed and ignored fairly quickly in Italy.
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