During the Christmas holidays, between the gifts and the pandoro (not the Ferragni one, mind you!), we “distracted” ourselves with the new TV series Un Professore, starring Alessandro Gassmann who has recently enjoyed considerable success on Netflix. Back in class, we didn’t hesitate for a moment to tell the teacher of Literature, trying to open a debate, in the evident hope of missing a few hours of class (spoiler: mission accomplished!).
The protagonist of this series, Dante, despite some naivety and various problems in his private life, manages to give his all in the relationship with his students, showing himself available and attentive, even outside of service hours, to the needs of the students and to their emotional reality.
In short, a cool image of a teacher, certainly a little idealized but cool. We then asked ourselves if just one teacher could make a difference. Our answer is: YES!
Based on our experiences there are at least three types of professors.
In third place there is the largest group, that is, those teachers who only teach lessons. Normal, you might say, it’s their job! Yes, okay, but how boring! You recognize them immediately, because they enter the classroom very quickly, ready to perform and with only one purpose: to explain and present the topic, and then leave all satisfied, certain of having done their duty. The interaction with us? Little. Passion? Rarely. Professionalism? Maybe yes, but is it enough?
In second place there is the worst category. Those teachers who can’t wait to question us and give us that insufficiency that ruins the weekend for us while for them it seems to bring a particular form of satisfaction… (understand us if sometimes we ask to insert the grades after Saturday, otherwise we risk not getting out for the rest of the month!). The problem in reality would not be so much the negative vote but that strange phenomenon (absolutely incomprehensible to us) that transforms us into that vote. Imagine us, therefore, no longer as teenagers, but rather as giant red numbers (3, 4, maximum 5+ eh) who are sitting among the desks. And this, as much as it may make us smile, discourages us, since once you get that bad grade, drum roll, you will NEVER get rid of it. Each new vote will have the aura of the last one, so recovering is more or less equivalent to surviving the sinking of the Titanic… We would like to specify that perhaps these are also well-trained teachers, they make themselves understood, they are very precise and punctual but cold, cold as icebergs .
It is therefore impossible to establish a relationship with these teachers and if by chance, with adolescent obstinacy you try to open up to one of them, not only does he not seem to understand you but he often judges you!
The situation is different with a teacher like Dante, which for us is the best category for which it obviously wins the first place (and we… we can say it out loud, luckily we have a teacher like that!.) In fact, with teachers like Dante, a relationship of trust is often established that is even better than that with parents (as we know, parents are sometimes very burdensome, but if we happen to do something “stupid” and we talk about it with our teacher, laughter immediately starts, that is, we manage to remain light-hearted, flying beyond the gravitational force of our fears)
Professors like this see us as people and not as grades, they look inside us and are attentive to our needs; they dedicate their time to us even outside of school…
Because, let’s be clear, you spend many hours in class with a teacher, and you therefore need a relationship in which there is attention, interest, in which you are not afraid of making mistakes, in which you can laugh but also have fun… in which we can compare ourselves while respecting roles, in short where we can love each other…
Beatrice Arca
Sara Clemente
Sofia Schievano
Maria Vittoria Straface
Niccolò Travaglia
Students class 3I of Liceo scientifico G B Grassi Latina
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