Posted by emily on Wednesday, May 31, 2017 in 2017 Blog post.

Something that interested me about Sicilian culture was how the school system worked and in turn how that affected the type of job a person had. I interviewed a 32 year old man named Davide to learn about his school process and how he acquired and kept a successful job in the suffering job market in Italy.

The first thing that I interviewed Davide about was his process going through school. I knew the school system was different from the typical American school system. Davide was born in Messina and went to school there until he turned 13. At age 13 he took a test that he referred to as his final exam. Depending on how they did on that test, determined their next step in the school process. If they did well and were planning on going to the university, their professors would recommend for them to go to a good high school. He was recommended to go to “Licheo Classico” which he said was the best one for feeding into the university. The Licheo Classico is in Palermo and it is specifically for the humanities where they studied Latin and Greek culture and languages. He went to high school there for 5 years and then went to university in Milan for 4 years. In Milan at first he lived off campus in an apartment with his friend for two years. Then, on campus housing was built and then the next two years he lived on campus.

~audioclip of Davide’s school process

Davide’s experience was very different from the American school system. In America children start school at age 5 and go to an elementary school until age 11. Children then move to a different school for middle school from age 11-14. Many American public middle schools are in a different location than the elementary school. Usually it is in close proximity to the elementary school which is in close proximity to the child’s home. Unlike the Italian system, where it seems like school is broken down into three chunks: normal schooling, specialized high school, and university, the American system is broken down into four parts: elementary school, middle school, high school, and then college. It seems like the Italian primary school is equivalent to American elementary and middle school combined.

Another major difference is that the public school system in America does not make you test to continue into the next level of schooling. As long as children have passed the requirements, they can move to the next school. In Italy, if you do not pass the test, then instead of high school, the student may go to specialized school to become a profession that doesn’t take additional schooling out of high school. Italian students start specializing in high school, whereas American students continue their general education through high school.

Similar to American elementary school and middle school, the high school that a student goes to is based on location of their house. The way my system worked was that I went to the elementary school closest to my house, which filtered into a middle school close to that, which then filtered into a high school close to the middle school. Davide had to go into Palermo for his specialized high school, which was not the closest high school to his house; it was the best one for what he was going to be specializing in.

After high school it seems as though the Italian and American university systems are relatively similar. Based on what Davide was saying, both American students and Italian students go away from their homes for college based on what they want to study. In Italy, the students attending university will try to go to the colleges nearest to their houses, but if that program isn’t at the university closest to them, they will attend a different university. The colleges in Italy seem to be more specialized than American universities which means that some Italian students may have harder times finding a university with their specialty by their homes. It seems like American students have more freedom in their choices of where they go due to the fact that there are so many more universities in America than in Italy and the fact that all universities have so many subjects and majors for everyone. Something I was surprised about was that Davide lived on campus at the university he went to. American students live on campus as well as in apartments off campus which is exactly what he did.

Davide said that at his university there was a very large focus on languages and communication science. He specifically emphasized his studies in tourism. As far as acquiring a job went for him, he said that he had summer jobs while at the university, so those helped him get a job right after graduating from the university. He said he had no issues getting a job. They were much more basic than the job he has now. This process seems very similar to a typical American student trying to get a job right out of college. They go into college and focus on something which is the exact same thing as American students majoring in something. Most American universities are not solely focused on one topic, but many are know for specific programs being better than others so that is a similar aspect. American college students get jobs and internships during the summers like Davide in order to boost resumes and get experience so they are more appealing when they enter the job market after they graduate college. Just like Davide, American students who have graduated from universities generally do not have issues finding at least basic jobs. Most students acquire basic jobs and then gradually find new jobs that may be harder and more specialized.

~audioclip of Davide’s job finding process

Overall, the two school systems differ a few major aspects. In America, students get more general education for a longer period of time. In Italy, students seem to find their niches earlier and start learning how to master their specialties from an earlier age. There’s no way to tell what system is better, but I personally think that having a more educated general population is better in the grand scheme of things. The early specialization of Italian students limits the Italian population because once a student becomes specialized in one topic, the student is forced to try and find a job in his or her specialty. If there are no jobs are available in that specialty it is very hard to start on a new track, which could be a major reason for the Italian job market crisis at the moment. Although it may take American students longer to figure out what they are good at and cost more money to become as specialized in certain topics, I think that the more well rounded and educated the baseline population is, the more the society will be able to find jobs, problem solve, be innovative, and thrive.

Some other topics covered in the interview were his soccer career, a typical day for him, how he ended up in Cefalú, medicine and healthcare, and his family life. Here is the full interview if interested!

FULL INTERVIEW