The strength to recognize fragility. The voice of the youngest is raised – Corriere.it

“Let’s not blame the pandemic or the internet for the malaise of the kids, we adults are the first to be fragile”. The confrontation with high school students opened on Saturday 21 May on the Saturday of the Corriere della Sera at the Turin Book Fair with the deputy director Barbara Stefanelli. Already on Friday 19 Beppe Severgnini had met some classes of the project Beyond the newsthen speaking at the Solferino stand.

The right to be fragile

On Saturday 20, in the morning, Stefanelli spoke with school children together with the psychologist Matteo Lancini, president of the Minotauro Foundation in Milan, and Annalena Benini, the next director of the Salone. A sort of public assembly, in the BookStock Arena, the space for young readers, entitled The right to be fragile. This is what the students are asking for in an open letter sent to the newspapers last month, shared by the representatives of the Milan and Turin councils present in the room and signed by many superiors throughout Italy.

«Recognizing that you are fragile is a sign of strength», the boys said, but «many adults minimize the problem, as if it were a whim. The teachers say that we exaggerate complaining about the workload». So far, the students argue, «there hasn’t been a real listening nor the political will to change». Some adults listen, but how? The problem is attributed to bullying, the pandemic, the smartphone. «We invent stories – observed Lancini – so we don’t have to do anything. We listen to them, but then we send them back to study and we maintain that a 2 has never hurt anyone».

In recent months “the voice of the students has risen, first with the letter from the high school and then with the movement of the university tents”, Stefanelli pointed out, who acknowledges their “courage of fragility”. They are asking for a different school, which does not fuel the competition. A school to feel good about. “To refer back in my day it doesn’t make sense, because these are the your times», acknowledged Benini. “The problem is we adults, unable to listen because deep down we don’t accept the discomfort of our children”. This generation, Stefanelli added, “has had the merit of lifting the veil on the stigma of psychological malaise, asking for more support desks in schools is not just a request for change, but the beginning of change”.

A diabolical decalogue

Beppe Severgnini also addressed the boys, with his semi-serious lesson The diabolical decalogue. How to write badly and not be understood in the meeting held on Friday morning in Sala Oro.

After the three online meetings, he met with some classes that participated in the project Beyond the news of the Salon with the «Corriere della Sera». Then he also intervened at the Solferino stand, to talk about frailty of the youngest. “Know how to dare, know how to listen, don’t be presumptuous”, were his advice. «One above all, always continue to study, never stop. You can start aging even at 16.

The voices of the authors

The writers of the «Corriere» are also in full swing. Marco Missiroli, in conversation with Alessandro Baricco on the opening day, presented his novel on Saturday 20th Have it all (Einaudi) with Domenico Starnone. Dacia Maraini was among the protagonists of the morning of Saturday 20, led by Mauro Covacich The land adventure (The ship of Theseus) while Sandro Veronesi spoke with Antonio Spadaro at the meeting Who do you say I am? Jesus is a good story for everyonewith José Tolentino Mendonça, the Vatican «Minister of Culture» (moderated by Annachiara Sacchi).

The philosopher Telmo Pievani was al Writers’ forest set up by Aboca to talk about the anthropocene; Sunday 21st he will speak at a meeting with Fridays For Future. Eleven appointments for Vanni Santoni, including a tribute to Proust. Friday was the turn of Ciaj Rocchi and Matteo Demonte, authors of Dora’s Stars. The challenges of the General from the Church (Solferino). Today at noon Veronesi returns for Commanderthe book written with the director Edoardo De Angelis.