La formazione genitoriale come dimensione dell’Educazione degli adulti: E. C. Lindeman e il movimento della parent education

Abstract

“Parent education represents a need, an idea, a program, and a movement […] Parents want to know; they have misgivings about themselves as parents and as adults”. These words are the very beginning of an article written in 1932 by Eduard C. Lindeman (1885-1953), who is considered in the United States the founding father of Adult Education in the modern sense. Lindeman noted that the increasing industrialization and urbanization and the rise of new cultural models had stimulated spontaneous actions by parents, especially in relation to school and teachers. These events soon took on considerable proportions: neighborhood groups, attendance of reading and discussion laboratories, growth of administrative and organizational leadership. In this article, as in others that will be examined in depth, Lindeman deals with the role and educational needs of the family, considering it in its relations with the outside world and, in particular, with the local community and educational institutions. The resulting framework considers social, affective, relational and educational issues and implications of parent education and support as issues that can no longer be left at the mercy of chance, but that require skills and involvement of experts. In historical and theoretical perspective, this paper aims to reconstruct a tessera of the evolution of parent education in United States and to highlight some essential reasons for active and conscious parenting as a dimension of Adult Education. Last but not least, Lindeman’s thoughts on childhood and children as “members of society” will be considered, taking the opportunity to emphasize the political and civil values of parent education, its meaning and duties.