Let's talk about authority

RelatedAlfonso Carrasco: "It is important to be aware of the educational task carried out by the Church."

"Teacher, do we have to do what we want again?" is the somewhat provocative subtitle that has the II Congress on Education organized by the Diocese of Getafe to be held on Saturday, February 10. The central theme to be addressed is the crisis of authority and its repercussions on education. The venue for these interesting reflections will be the San Pablo CEU University of Montepríncipe.

All sociologists state that one of the characteristics of the so-called Z generation, i.e. today's adolescents and young people, is precisely the lack of authority referents and an education that has been extended to unconventional channels. Perhaps our young people are trained more by YouTube tutorials or other social networks than by other more regulated methods. Institutions in general -something that also affects the school institution- have entered into crisis and their relevance is less relevant for today's youth than it has been for the youth of any other generation.

The figure of the teacher as a reference of authority does not escape this crisis either. The new pedagogy (which, by the way, is already more than a hundred years old) has undermined the reference of knowledge and morality that the figure of the teacher used to be. His authority has been relegated to the position of a mere mediator in the learning process that the child must carry out by himself. Something that has been reinforced today by the access to any information by students through the Internet, which seems to have unsettled many teachers.

If they can find all the information on the web, what is the role of the teacher? Does his role in transmitting knowledge make any sense? But if the school has been disrupted by this crisis, no institution is left out of this 'irreverence' with respect to authority that sociologists point out when describing our young people. The family, the church, the various governments... are all affected by this crisis of authority.

Different specialists will be taking part in this congress to address this complicated issue. The morning will be marked by a dialogue between the Swedish pedagogue Inger Enkvist and the judge Natalia Velilla, author of the book "The crisis of authority". A dialogue that will undoubtedly shed light on the subject from the dual perspective offered by these two personalities.

In the afternoon, several speakers will examine different facets in smaller groups, which attendees will be able to choose from. Juan Antonio Gómez Trinidad will examine "The crisis of authority in the educational system"; Tasio Pérez will present the topic "Love and sexuality, the authority of the body"; Diego Blanco will introduce us to the use of cell phones and screens in young people in the workshop "Freedom against the power of screens", José Luis Almarza, a specialist in the seventh art, will introduce us to this topic in "Authority in cinema" and the director Clara Fontana will help us land in the classroom and in the life of schools in "Authority in the educational center".

An intuition makes us all understand that without authority there is no true education. Although it is obvious that in order to correctly address what authority should be and how to achieve it, precisely in a context in which everything seems to go against this vision, it is necessary to first be clear about what it is to educate and the role of the educator and the role of the student in the educational process. These are important questions that attendees will have the opportunity to ask themselves in this interesting initiative. It is worth stopping for a while to think about where we want to go in the education of our children.

RelatedAlfonso Carrasco: "It is important to be aware of the educational task carried out by the Church."