School for parents, round #2

School for parents, round #2

Teacher: Prof. M.Magatti. "Educate in an uncertain environment".

Ok, let's go with the summary:
1) The world is not what used to be 30 years ago: crisis of ideologies and institutional crisis (we are living in the tide of '68) leads to an individual culture, where you live your life one project a time, driven by authenticity, opportunity: we are "experience hunters", where no one thinks as a whole no more, and there's no more shared behaviors (in family, school or government whatsoever).

2) There's a lack of trust, caused by a lack of direction. What turns out is
- Chaos: you barely could tell the story of your life as a novel; instead is made by pieces (nowadays when you have children you talk about "experience", my dear hunter); in your patchwork consistency is optional.
- Uncertainty: now it's all right (more or less), probably tomorrow will be worst. We go from one fear to another, real or supposed (does avian flu rings a bell?).
- Unstableness: all is unstable, thought and sensibility. The weight of too much choices is becoming unbearable. Anxiety, and obsessive relationships are natural consequences (which may lead to the growing phenomenon of domestic violence).

1950 Neurosis (trying to keep a cliché imposed by your social environment) becomes 2000 Depression (due to poor levels of satisfaction).

3) Freedom: we're living in great times. Economical, cultural, sexual freedom is something past generations couldn't even dream of. But we are missing two important kinds of freedom:
- Social conditioning freedom: our social environment hits us with millions of invisible micromessages we can't ignore. From a more generic point of view, the Western society lost its transcendence capability, to "cut the crap".
- Freedom from oneself: as stated by Miguel Benasayag, the sad passions are a plague, they lack not only a reason, but a direction too. Educate (e- ducare, lead out of oneself) means also find ourselves to get rid of bad aptitudes.

4) Happiness, as "contrary" of Good. Doing Good is a thing for Yogi Bear, while happiness, my happiness is very individual, and if I don't feel every moment of my life I will regret them (says my inner social consultant).

5) Sacrifice: (sacri-facere, to make sacred). I sacrifice for my children, so for me they are sacred. I never sacrifice myself, nothing is sacred, so is mundane, and I can negotiate a price. Matches perfectly with the 5 minutes scope of the actions of an experience hunter, dear Sisyphus.

6) Education means:
- Patience (patire). Let's have no haste, times are long and failures frequent when you search your way in such an environment.
- Constance. To represent an (almost) fixed point in this ocean.
- Consistency. All is so confused: saying less but if you talk supported by facts and examples could really help your children to grow. You cannot ask your children to do what you aren't got to do it.

7) What counts is the communication style: messages should have a less heterogeneous content; and, for god's sake, one at a time. Is less confusing.

Whew, 75 minutes thick and meaningful. I liked this lesson very much.
BRB in 3 weeks.