In Italy, two students cause a stir: they quickly refused the oral Matura exam and were still successful. Gianmaria Favaretto from Padua and Maddalena Bianchi from Belluno stood against the ailing school system. Now the care that the protest wave is growing.
Gianmaria Favaretto, a 19-year-old student of the Liceo Scientifico “Enrico Fermi” in Padua, had no longing for the usual oral high school exam. Instead of answering, he stood for his committee of inquiry and explained with a solid voice: “Hello, professors, I don’t want to take the oral exam, my exam ends here.”
He got up, greeted and left the room, writes the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. Despite his refusal, he already had enough points of the written exams and therefore his end in his pocket.
“I made this choice because I think the evaluation system does not reflect the true adulthood of the students. It’s not just about knowledge, but also about how we are considered people,” he said later.
It did not stay in a case
Only a few days after Favaretto, Maddalena Bianchi, 19 years old and student of the Liceo Scientifico “Galilei” in Belluno, also came for her investigation committee – and did the same. She refused the oral exam and made it clear: “I have enough. The system is not interested in people, but only for numbers.” She explained that on her school days there was never interest in who it really was and that the teachers only looked at the result of the exams and not at their development.
“I passed my written exams and can still do the Matura,” said Bianchi. “Why would I bend the system that never experienced me as an individual? It’s only about the numbers. We are nothing more than numbers.”
Parents knew nothing about their decision
“My parents knew nothing about my decision to refuse the oral exam,” explains Maddalena. “Only after the exam did I call my mother. She was very proud of me and said I was doing the right thing. She said it was a brave decision.”
Regarding the response of the investigation committee, Bianchi describes it as fairly open. “The teachers listened to me and told me that they know that a lot is going wrong, but it was hard to really change something. I think I felt their human side for the first time.”
Worry about imitators
The decision of Favaretto and Bianchi could find imitators. In their protest, more and more students see the opportunity to escape the pressure of the exams. “It is feared that this attitude will expand,” says a teacher from Rome.
Educational experts suggest that the system will be adjusted, for example by informing the written results after the oral investigation. A refusal of the oral exam may be stopped.
Source: Krone
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