Italy Parent Child

Executive Summary Italy’s history began around 8,000 BC by the discovery of rock art. Much of the famous history in Italy came from the rise and fall of the Roman Empire, the Renaissance Era, and the dictatorship of Mussolini. The current president is Sergio Mattarella and the current Prime Minister is Matteo Renzi. Italy’s current political state is a constitutional republic with a multi-party system. Italy has been a democratic republic since 1946, including their current president Mattarella’s party. Italy’s government is formed similar to the United States with a division of power between a Legislative, Executive, and Judicial branch’s.

The core social institution that predominates Italians’ lives is the family. Family in Italy is the

Children typically live with their parents until they are married. One study found parent and child agreement increased between Italian parents and their children as they neared adulthood in contrast to late adolescence. In other words, Italian parent-child relations become better as the children age. Children remain in close relationship with their parents even after leaving home to establish their own family, and most live near to one of the two parental families, and call their parents, primarily their mother, weekly. This reciprocal relationship allows Italians to “overcome difficulties, find jobs, look after children, and ask for loans in situations in which the family network provides what, in other Western countries, is granted by public or private institutions.” Further, this reinforces what Italians consider the most important guarantee against any trouble in life, or more so than being a member of any other

Here students learn for five years basic skills such as reading and writing and they study a wide range of subjects, including science, geography, “maths”, literature, Italian, and English. Because of the mandatory nature of primary schooling and other factors, Italy’s literacy rate is well known as high-- at 99% of the population. Upon completion, students move on to Scuola Media, or Middle Schools. Here students between the ages of 11 and 14 study 30 hours of formal lessons in a range of subjects with additional activities such as sports and music in the afternoon. The Ministero della Pubblica Istruzione or MPI (Ministry of Public Education) sets the curriculum for the formal lessons, and students are tested at the end of their third year in both a written and oral exam, and if successful, they earn Licenza di Scuola Media. This graduation signifies the end of Italian children’s mandatory