Saturday, November 16, at the Manzoni High School in Latina, start the project “Educating to Europe” promoted by the European Federalist Movement (MFE) and the Institute of federalist studies “Altiero Spinelli”.
This year the proposal was enriched thanks to the participation of the National Association of Italian Partisans (ANPI), Section of Latina “Severino Spaccatrosi”.
The schools involved are five high schools in the municipality of Latina. In addition to the Manzoni High School have joined: the Grassi Scientific High School, the Technical-Professional institutes: Vittorio Veneto-Salvemini, Einaudi, Galileo Galilei.
This cultural proposal finds so much adhesion because, more and more often, students demonstrate difficulties in understanding the phenomena and processes of current events; they lose the sense of belonging to a community and the need to exercise an active citizenship role.
On the other hand, from perspective of teachers and, in particular, from teachers of history, it emerges that the time to devote to the development of competences of active citizenship is always too little. Furthermore, the breadth of the history program does not allow us to deal in depth with the processes that, starting with the Resistance, led to the liberation of Europe from Nazi-fascism, up to the choice of starting the process of European integration.
The meetings, five in total in each school, will be an opportunity to dialogue with students and initiate a process of institutional and constitutional awareness that will allow them to orient themselves more confidently in assessing the current socio-political dynamics at national and European level.
Each meeting in the framework of the project “Educating to Europe” will be articulated, through different moments: from linguistic reflections to history of Europe, passing through practical activities such as the simulation of a European Council.
The goal, at the end of the project, is for the students involved to be able to move more easily between the steps of recent Italian and European history and, therefore, to counter the half-truths and fake news, to develop antibodies in society and for fight against desistance, approximation and indifference.
The hope, furthermore, is that the students will develop a deep curiosity to continue a training course on European issues, applying to the selection procedure for the Ventotene 2020 training seminar (call available on this website for students of the Lazio region), a procedure that will be illustrated in every appointment.
Finally, for all the classes involved, there will then be the opportunity to participate in “Constitutionally: the courage to think by yourself”, a whole day, on January 16, 2020, which will be held in Rome at the Faculty of Economics of the La Sapienza University. “Constitutionally” is a school to stimulate critical thinking and inhabit the complexity of the phenomena we are witnessing. A day on the human being, on the fundamental principles of the Constitution and on the idea of Europe, on the edge between philosophy, history, literature, art, architecture and science, law and economics.
“Altiero Spinelli” Institute of Federal Studies
European Federalist Movement, section of Latina “Altiero Spinelli”
ANPI of Latina “Severino Spaccatrosi”