Through this column I say goodbye to the readers, although I have no idea whether they have attracted assiduous reading. For more than two years I wrote, mainly, about education, striving to ensure that my opinions had scientific support. I belong to the group of those who believe that there is too much doctrine in relation to education and that there is nothing more practical than a good theory based on empirical data, preferably on a large scale. I am one of those who believes in the power of education as a form of social elevator. And the role of culture as a way of mediating the most basic biological impulses such as fear or aggression.
I am, or was, because reality currently insists on discrediting me. I recently read a book, The hour of predators by Giuliano Empoli, which portrays current times in a frightening way. We are living in a time of predators where the primitive laws of force seem to gain importance in the face of the fragile international laws that the human species created after the horrors of the Second World War. Just think about the war in Ukraine and the massacres in Palestine, and the recent events in the United States of America. Although social psychology has demonstrated for decades how the processes of deforming categorization are behind the dehumanization of the other group, the path of dehumanization has been imposed since the enemy of a war is always “a nobody”.
Predators gain a lot of strength by manipulating information, inventing stories of conspiracy and enemies. If manipulation is not new in the history of the rise and exercise of power, its reach has become truly multiplicative with social media algorithms. The reach can become even greater when an entire generation is conditioned to social media, short videos and where visual processing slowly begins to override verbal processing, with strong consequences on the ability to think and make critical judgments.
Also in our small “backyard”, we can see the same phenomena evolving. This evolution could even be accentuated if we do not seriously invest in reading and critical reflection. If we look, however, at the PIRLS and PISA data, a significant percentage of children in the 5th year and young people in the 9th year have reading difficulties. Some never understood the written code and are not fluent in reading. As such, they focus their attention on decoding without having the mental space to understand. Others, despite mastering the code, do not know vocabulary, are not taught to make inferences and are not able to go beyond literal aspects, so they have difficulty integrating the various elements of the text or making analyzes and critical judgments about its content.
Poor performance in reading is necessarily reflected in learning and will undoubtedly have an impact on school failure. Often these young people and children with difficulties in learning to read, and in using reading for new learning, come from disadvantaged families where reading is not part of their habits. And in fact this year’s report from the Education Council highlights how failure is linked to socioeconomic level. When comparing retention percentages, they are significantly higher for children with social support when compared to those who are not supported. On the other hand, only 48% of young people from disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds who complete secondary education go on to higher education.
These data allow us to draw several conclusions. Firstly, they make it clear that the school is no longer able to fulfill its role as a social elevator. They also confirm that it is necessary to change pedagogies and practices in the way of teaching so that we do not leave so many children behind in terms of learning and reading comprehension. Taking care of reading is, in this age of predators, a national urgency if we want to train adults with full capacity to exercise their citizenship. In this sense, reading has become a national urgency to defend democracy. Just as during the pandemic it was urgent to find a vaccine and a cure, today more than ever we need reading as a vaccine against the authoritarian tendencies that are emerging in society.
Writer and Professor at Ispa – University Institute
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