Maturity 2021, the advice of the psychotherapist for students and teachers

A large banner on all the schools with the words that were the protagonists, almost a mantra throughout the pandemic such as ‘Everything will be fine!’. This is one of the ten points that the psychotherapist Maria Rita Parsi considers fundamental so that the boys who will soon have to face the final exams can do it with serenity and tranquility. A decalogue, actually more addressed to adults, parents and teachers than exclusively to children, to high school students, because, as Professor Parsi explains to the Adnkronos “it is the adults who accompany the children to the exam, and they must be the adults, teachers and parents to encourage and support graduates in this particular moment ”. “Yes, encourage and support, in this the adults can help the children who have to face this exam – continues Parsi – so that they are not agitated, worried, tense and concentrated only in obtaining the maximum result, the highest grade. The teachers, the members of the commission must take into account the dramatic period they have gone through. Teenagers and children were the protagonists of the lockdown and of the whole pandemic, they were and still are the protagonists of this unrepeatable moment in universal human history. And they are the future and it is up to us adults to encourage, support and reassure them ”. “Together with the support of parents, that of teachers is very important – continues Parsi – teachers who should know their students well and who must therefore put at ease, reassure children and make them talk about themselves, about the pandemic, how they experienced this terrible , but at the same time an important period. Getting them to talk about their emotions, what it means to be away from their friends and the use of Dad, this completely different way of approaching knowledge. Get them to talk about the lack of a fundamental relationship with their teammates ”. “Another point to highlight, very important for high school students, is to make them understand how to best use this great lesson, this great experience – explains Parsi – exams are also a way to give teachers a return of what has been faced during the year, of the experience that is now part of the boys and not only ”. Meet again. Another important aspect for children who have to take the state exam. “Yes, the exam is also an important opportunity to meet again and, given that they will face the exam as vaccinated, to re-establish that relationship interrupted a long time ago and which could reconstitute itself on the occasion of the exam with a view to friendship. and support with each other, with the help of teachers as well. Also understanding how unique what has happened and is happening to them is ”. “The Maturity exam should also highlight the moment of restart, of rebirth that the country is beginning to experience – concludes Parsi – and passing this exam is significant, it is important for children to go beyond such a traumatic experience, which involved everyone, families, schools, health workers, and many others, to finally get out of this shipwreck. It must not be an exam to select, an exam for the grade, but it must be an exam in which the boy remains at the center and can talk about his experience, his pain, his anger and then let off steam and get out of this different shipwreck, reborn”.