Foreign Pupils, Bad Citizens - Global Rome: Changing Faces of the Eternal City - page 92

are dangerous types prowling around pisacane who could endanger collective
well-being and who, it is feared, will displace the present inhabitants. foreigners
are perceived as an alternative to us, a close-knit group that confronts us with an
“either-or” situation.
and yet, seen from the perspective of the teachers and the small number of
italian parents who still send their children to pisacane, that school could offer an
opportunity of enrichment for all. These people instead regard the italian-foreign
couple as a “both-and” situation. That is to say, they see in the multiethnic group-
ings in pisacane a wealth of opportunity, the chance to expand the horizon of our
concept of humanity, the other as an alternative for us. 5 in this binary opposition,
the school may be seen as either a ghetto or an oasis (benadusi 2009). The teach-
ers in particular seem to be aware that teaching at pisacane is an opportunity for
growth also for them. The original text voted for in the “network agreement” of
5 february 2009 went in that direction of addressing italians so that they would
recognize the value of multiculturalism—only then to be symbolically defeated
by ministerial Circular No. 2.
Thus the teachers' vision of pisacane school as a space for dialogue, mutual
enrichment, and collective civic growth for italians and foreigners, a vision that
is put into practice daily, remains suppressed and invisible. This vision finds no
space of its own to evolve; it remains confined to the local context of those who
share it because there are still no official channels to encourage it and give it pub-
licity. and yet, it is a concept that could have its own appeal not only for Rome
but for the whole of italy, a country that has not yet found a way to come to terms
at the symbolic level with its recent role as a country of immigration, after having
been a country of emigrants for over a century.
in the light of these final considerations, i would like to end this chapter with
an amusing episode. i will tell it without further comment, as it seems to me to
summarize perfectly the cultural space that could be opened up in a school of
this kind, a space that the italian children of the neighborhood unfortunately do
not yet have the opportunity to experience to the full.
in the fourth year class of a primary school, the teacher proposes an exercise
of reciprocal description. one at a time, the children come to the teacher's desk
and their classmates try to recite their main features. The purpose of the exercise,
as intended by the teacher, is for them to discuss openly the difference between
one classmate and another, inviting them to think about it and to express their
doubts.
it is the turn of s., a very Roman son of filipino parents.
“what is s. like?” asks the teacher.
“he has very sleek black hair.”
“he has olive skin.”
“he is thin and has very white teeth.”
G. (an italian girl) adds: “he has almond eyes!”