Alberto Manzi: A teacher of militant pedagogy
Maria-Chiara Michelini
This essay aims to remember and rediscover the lesson of Alberto Manzi, whose birth centenary falls in 2024. The purpose of the contribution is to reflect on an exemplary figure who is interpreted as the depository of a message that is still topical and significant. Alberto Manzi’s writings, in unity with his numerous experiences, from that as a volunteer teacher in the Andean regions to that of the well-known television programs, testify to a coherent and clear pedagogical conception, founded on the inseparable intertwining of theory and praxis. His idea of school suggests the militant character of his pedagogy, expressed both theoretically and in his operational choices. A revolutionary and authentically political pedagogical vision that considers education’s task to be that of forming citizens capable of thought and, therefore, free from the dominant and homologizing logic. In this sense, he believes that the real transformation necessary for the school is to become a school of thought. Manzi’s project is, therefore, current and revolutionary, in that it is configured as a project for the liberation of human beings, as the promotion of a culture and a school capable of a profound and democratic formation, to be achieved, first and foremost, through educating to think.
Keywords
Alberto Manzi, Teacher, Pedagogy, School, Educating to think.
