Prohibitions are usually the sign of a limit: the inability to stop alone, to understand what to do and what not to do. And that’s what’s happening with the school: the decision of the principals of Lazio to ban chats between teachers and students and between teachers and parents it is the signal of an important malaise.
In a normal world there would be nothing wrong with authorizing WhatsApp and any dialogue tool should indeed be encouraged. But there are too many cases of teachers who have taken the opportunity to woo the boys; and of students who have used chats to disrespect to teachers; and of parents who use them to release their frustrations with their children’s achievements. Forgetting, everyone, that school is an institution, one of the most important in a democracy. That the teachers are public officials. Is that dialogue must exist, God forbid, but which can and must take place through a tool that all schools have adopted: the electronic register. So that it remains a trace, so that it is always clear to everyone in which area we are moving. In many countries, when you take on a particularly sensitive public office, all your messages must pass through secure tools and be archived so that one day it will be possible to verify the good work of those who govern.
With the school, the fact of passing from the electronic register is a guarantee for everyone. Of course, WhatsApp chats are more comfortable (and in any case they remain between students and parents): but, as we read in some shops, the principle of “Because of someone, no credit is given to anyone”.