Posted on 03/07/2017 11:03:42 AM PST by nickcarraway
YOUNG students were left furious when they were told their foreign friends would be separated and taught in isolation - before being informed it was all an experiment.
Teachers told five classes in a school in the Italian town of Vercelli they would be segregating students based on nationality.
They said students who had at least one foreign parent would be taught separately from others and then given special extra exams at the end of the school year.
The teachers said these exams would test pupils on their knowledge of the Italian language and culture.
The experiment, which parents were told about in advance, was an attempt to teach pupils about the impact of fascism in the country during the 1930s and 1940s.
Italian Racial Laws were introduced in the country during the reign of dictator Benito Mussolini, reducing the civil rights of Jewish people and foreigners.
Pupils, unaware they were the subject of an experiment, responded furiously.
Some physically prevented their classmates from leaving the room, while others asked to go with them into the new class.
And some pupils attempted to contact other schools to find out if the policy was being introduced across the country.
They were eventually told it was simply an experiment and asked to explain how they felt.
One said: I felt really bad because I do not feel superior to my friends.
A foreign student said: I know that if it really happened, my friends would rebel and help me.
The experiment was deemed a success by organisers - despite the trauma suffered by the children.
Principal Ferdinanda Chiarello said: The experiment went fine. Obviously we expected a reaction, but not to this the extent.
Our school wants to promote acceptance and tolerance since early stages, so the result of this experiment is comforting.
Perhaps if there had been such a strong reaction [during Mussolinis reign], things would have turned out differently.
The article does not point to much outrage except for kids who when faced segregation, stood up for their friends.
Oh no, I don’t do any of those things. I must have been raised wrong ;)
Meanwhile, in the USA, black and homosexual students are segregating themselves and not a peep from the leftists.
“We’re already learning all about fascism from liberals.”
And freepers who tell us bikers got what they deserved at Waco.
Experiments of this nature should not be done in public schools; kids need technical skills, not political training that undermines society.
Ping.
Oh, no, Mo has to go to Italian as a Second Language class. Why is it every semester all my friends have different class schedules? Hey, Gerta got into AP this year and Joseph is taking shop. We won’t see each other all day, whaaaaa!
Sorry, but this “experiment” isn’t so much different than a normal new schedule every semester.
Mussolini was indeed a dictator, but he did not reign. The Italian King eventually woke up and fired Mussolini in 1943, when he failed to prevent the invasion of the Italian homeland, by the Americans & British.
I make the point, because it leads to another. While the 20th Century European Monarchs--at least after World War I--basically accepted "figurehead status," there are certainly situations where the Monarch ought to reassert the power (and duty) to protect his people from the folly of political figures. When the politicians act in ways the compromise the continuity of the people as an ongoing proposition, someone has to act to preserve heritage.
I realize that my suggestion here is anathema to those betraying their national heritages in several contemporary European monarchies; but frankly do not know how any rational person can argue otherwise. The function of being "head of state," has to imply a duty to the people who constitute that state.
Ignoring traffic laws, lights and other drivers...............
The experiment has nothing to do with “fascism”. It’s actually designed to infuse the students with political correctness. There is no logical reason why foreign students - or students with foreign parents - should not be expected to complete more culturally based classes or tests in a country that is historically as homogeneous as modern Italy is.
This is no more about combating fascism than similar tactics in the U.S. were about combating racism. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Elliott
Maybe the experiment had to be abandoned when it proved the immigrant kids were holding back the rest of the class. Teach them separately in full immersion until they can keep up with the others.
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