This post is coming a long time after my time spent in Italy. Since spending time in Italy, I have gone through my Student Teaching experience as a senior at Clemson University. This extensive time spent in the classroom here in the states has given me a better vantage point from which to critically compare the culture of education in Italy and America. In comparing the culture of the classroom and education system between the two countries, one will be able to draw conclusions about the cultures of the countries themselves, as an education system is a direct reflection of the ideologies and priorities of a society.
Within the school which I observed, the content provided was at the same approximate level as that provided here in the United States, although assessment was very different. In the Italian schools, the main format of student evaluation, formal and informal, is through oral assessment; this includes one on one questioning, students reading aloud, and solving problems on the spot. Once the teacher has heard the student, they make a decision about the grade (if there was ever a grading rubric used, I never saw one) and would mark the students grade right there and then before forgetting the student's performance. In the United States, while oral presentation is a skill which students are expected to gain by the end of elementary/middle school, they are rarely graded based on their oral performance. There are many reasons why oral assessment is looked down upon in the American culture, one of which is teacher bias. Even with a fair grading rubric,the score for an oral presentation is far too easy to be swayed based upon the biases, natural or otherwise, of the teacher. Oral assessment is often not a practice used the the American classroom because many parents will seek proof of reasoning behind the student's grade; this means that the teacher would have to implement a routine for recording each assessment and making it available to the parents. This simple difference in assessment routines shows that the Italian educational culture puts a lot more trust in the personal judgement of the teachers, and does not command proof of all grades.
The classroom management and behavior modification systems are very different between the two cultures as well. Within the American classroom, there are creative and efficient techniques used which are taught to the students and used within every minute of each day in the class. There are many different techniques, positive and negative; from students recieving tallies or marks against them for behaving appropriately/inappropriately and so many tallies/marks equals a certain reward/punishment, respectively.There are also management systems which focus on reinforcing positive behaviors rather than punishing negative behavior. Pre-service educators are taught a myriad of different classroom management techniques and professors emphasize how imperitive it is for teachers to establish classroom routines and management. From what I observed and understand of the observations of others, the Italian standpoint on classroom management and handling student behavior, positive or otherwise, is very different. When students where doing as they were supposed to be doing, nothing was said or done by the teacher to show approval, appreciation, or reinforcement from the teacher. When students acted inappropriately (and from what I witnessed, this included getting an answer wrong when called on in class), the teachers resorted to yelling at the students. Some teachers simply yelled, others beraded the students and branded them as dumb failures. I heard one teacher specifically tell a student "You are the dumbest person, you will never understand this!" The students have become acustomed to this treatments, so while it still embarrases them, it does not affect their behavior. Among the management systems, I can compare how classrooms within these two cultures are structured. In an American classroom, you will see a teacher who is mobile, moving from student to student, students working individually, in groups and in pairs, and all students working quietly raising their hand when called on. The American classroom is expected to be quiet and the students are to speak only when given permission to do so. The Italian classroom is one where conversations are constant between students, and the teacher is standing/sitting erect in the front of the class dispensing information. These different management systems and classroom settings provide a glimps at how the two different cultures view children and the importance of structure for students.
Through comparing these two vital pieces of the educational culture from my experiences in the classrooms in America and Italy, one can infer specific cultural differences and similarities. Much more is expected of the students in America as far as mature behavior, where as students in Italy are able to act more as children. The teachers in Italy seem to recieve much more support and trust in Italy compared to teachers in the United States; this fact in itself tells of the two different cultures opinions of the importance of education.
