For the ancient Greeks the beautiful did not exist without the good, Plato argued that “The beautiful is the splendor of the true“, while in Dostoevsky’s Idiot Prince Mishkin states: “Beauty will save the world“. For centuries now, the concept of beauty has generated and kept hopes.
The conference organized by the Il Nuovo Bianchi School of Naples revolved around the concept of beauty applied to “Culture and education”, to which Giovanni Vicari, General Manager of CEFA Schools was invited to intervene to explain the idea, already shared on the occasion of CEFA Schools Convention, that “We need beauty that educates!”. The meeting was an opportunity to think together with other school administrators on the importance of the effects that the beauty of culture generates.
We share some passages on which the Director General focused to reflect on the importance of the way We Do School.
“I have two daughters who are currently working abroad, one works in Paris, the other one works in Dublin, and what they tell me is that as soon as they show up at the workplace, among friends, they immediately say “Ah, but you are Italian!” with great satisfaction and appreciation. There is recognition of the Italian spirit in the world not only, as often happens, for pasta and pizza, but primarily for its beauty and culture.
There is a recognition of the Italian spirit primarily for the beauty and for the culture.
“For me, this is a very important signal that confirms what another speaker said: we Italians have the Made in Italy of beauty and culture in our DNA. We have this trinomial, in particular, of culture. of education and culture everywhere and, obviously, in schools and museums. But not only. A few days ago I was leaving from Rome Fiumicino and going around the airport I realized that the space was dotted with reproductions of classical statues of classical Greco-Roman culture. Even in an airport we know how to transmit beauty, we know how to transmit culture; but the true cradle of beauty, the cradle of culture is the school.”
The cradle of culture is the school
Furthermore, an English term used to indicate education made me think, which is not only “education”, it is not only “training” but the term “UpBringing”, i.e. bringing upwards. This is the meaning of culture. This is the meaning of the school. In the school context this process does not exclude anyone. Everyone is involved, everything is involved. Parents come first. The teachers. The furnishings, the places, everything educates, everything educates and is invigorating for a development process whose ultimate goal is the good of the child, through which we ourselves grow as educators and parents too.
Everything educates and is invigorating for a development process whose ultimate goal is the good of the child, through which we ourselves grow as educators and parents also grow.
Sometimes there is a little fear when we are in the school context: Us teachers see with a little fear what parents could tell us. Or as parents risk seeing the teacher, the school, the headmaster, the manager on duty with a little fear. Then the explication of beauty, of the culture of education translates into the school context: through a real and healthy relationship between the subjects present in the school environment. If there is a real relationship, I can channel everything into beauty. An upward passage of elevation cannot flow except through the riverbed of beauty.
The English use the term “UpBringing” to indicate the educational process, that is to bring upwards […] An upward passage of elevation cannot flow except through the riverbed of beauty.
And when I say beauty I mean not only beautiful places but they must be really well-kept. Sometimes in our school community we risk settling for places that are up to standard. But this is the minimum: we must have beautiful places! Sometimes us teachers are content to speak: we have to take care of the language. It’s not enough to cover up, we have to take care of the clothing. We must take care of the lesson, it is not enough to express something. The attempt that today’s school must and can make is to acquire its formative, educational and elevation peculiarity in the context of beauty. Because beauty has an incredible catalytic force, who isn’t attracted by beauty? This is the engine that can trigger real, true and stable educational processes.
The attempt that today’s school must and can acquire is its formative, educational and elevation peculiarity in the context of beauty.
I may conclude by focusing on another aspect, which is that of the Kalokagathia of the ancient Greeks: “kalòs kai agathòs”, We have the beautiful and the good in our blood, it is an integral part of Made in Italy. We cannot dissociate all that is good from all that is beautiful. I think this can really constitute a rebirth of our society, of our culture, of our cities.
