To teach is to leave a mark

«Positivo, hospitalized at Rizzoli di Lacco Ameno, continued to teach at a distance during his hospitalization days.» This is the story of Ambrogio Iacono, professor of organic science and chemistry at the professional institute hotel "Telese" of Ischia. It could be summarized like this, in a few lines; nothing extraordinary - as he himself states -, yet his decision moved his students and struck many, to the point of deserving the honor of Knight of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic.
«The human relationship that one has at school is something that cannot go on vacation. I couldn't leave the kids right now. The boys felt the need to meet us professors, meet each other and continue studying. This pushed me to continue, also thanks to the fact that my physical form - despite the pneumonia - allowed me to do so». A story of passion for one's work, considered almost a mission that cannot surrender to circumstances, but must reinvent itself at every moment for the love of the kids.

If the growth of young people is put at the center and their accompaniment on the darkest stretches of road, then the answers are found: the students perceive whether the adult in front of them is credible and is there to their; if so, even a problem can become an opportunity. «We have rediscovered mutual affective feelings, but also moral depth; we have rediscovered having non-superficial souls capable of commitment to the good of society». In all this effort, Professor Iacono (like all coronavirus patients) could not even enjoy the proximity of his family members. «At home there were my wife and my mother-in-law who were also positive, so my son was in isolation at home; He hadn't seen me for two months and it was also a way to show him that all difficult situations can be faced».
Teachers like him, now that the schools are restarting, will have acquired even more credibility in the eyes of their students and, as the etymology of the word "teach" reminds us, they are really "leaving a mark".


Roberto Lerda
NP October 2020