"The Italian school has teachers and managers of absolute value and who do an excellent job with modest salaries. We do not generalize extemporaneous judgments. We work together to improve our school system even more, starting with enhancing the role of teachers".
So
Giuseppe Valditara
, Minister of Education and Merit, commenting on the letter written by a Finnish family on the Italian school relaunched by some press and social media.
THE STORY
He leaves Syracuse and goes to Spain because he believes that the schools attended in Sicily by two of his four children are not up to their educational task.
Eline Mattsson
, a 42-year-old Finnish woman who moved to the island with her family last August, made the story known by sending a letter to the "Siracusa news" website.
Among other things, the letter states that her six-year-old boy said to her: "Mom, they are yelling and banging on the table";
while her 14-year-old complains that she knows English "better than the English teacher".
The woman left Sicily last October, less than two months after starting school.
And with her the boys aged 3, 6, 14 and 15 and her husband of 46.
In the letter translated by Roberta De Stefani, she explains that she is a painter and that she had chosen Syracuse to work in smart working.
The family, attracted by the mild climate and cultural heritage of Sicily, regrets the problems experienced by the boys at school.
Elin Mattsson writes of the school day that "one spends in the same chair from morning until one returns home".
She asked the teachers if there were any breaks.
'Just little breaks in the same class', was the answer I got.
Finland realizes the benefits of children moving, playing, screaming and running around freely outdoors to get rid of excess energy and get fresh air, thus achieving better results in school.
How else would they concentrate?" Finally an indictment to "teachers' pedagogy: the methods I experimented with were nothing like that (yelling at the top of my lungs probably doesn't work that well, does it?) but I can understand the energy level of children when they don't have time to physically get rid of it (like during breaks)." Finally, some questions for the school board: "Why shouldn't all children have the best prerequisites for learning?
Why don't you realize the benefits of fresh air?
Play and learn!".