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LA STAMPA

An Adopted Boy's Immigrant Dream: To Sail Home To Ethiopia

In Italy, an otherwise happy 13-year-old Ethiopian boy set out last week from his adoptive home with perilous plans to journey by land and sea back to Africa. He headed south, adrift for five days in southern Italy, but ultimately didn't get too

Habtamu, 13, was a happy boy, but with a perilous dream.
Habtamu, 13, was a happy boy, but with a perilous dream.
Marcello Giordani

PETTENASCO - For many Africans, Italy has become the dreamed-about destination for a better life in Europe. But for Habtamu, a 13-year-old adopted Ethiopian boy living near Milan, the dream was to return to Africa.

On January 4, the boy ran away from his adoptive family's home, in Paderno Dugnano, 10 miles outside of Milan. With some money he had received as a Christmas gift, Habtamu bought a train ticket to Naples, from where he hoped to embark for Ethiopia. But he got lost. On January 9, police found him and brought him back to his Italian home.

"I wanted to go back to my homeland," Habtamtu told the policeman who found him in Naples train station. The boy, who had a map and was planning to go to Sicily to catch a boat to North Africa, said he wanted to see his older brother, and other relatives in Ethiopia.

Four years ago, Habtamu and his younger brother Asmè, now 10, were adopted by the Italian couple Marco Scacchi and Giulia Clementi. The parents say that the two children are very different. Asmè is sociable, outgoing, and playful. Habtamu is serious and thougtful. According to the adoptive grandfather, Luigi Scacchi, Habtamu behaves as a father to Asmè. "He follows him with great responsibility, he tells him what to do, and he corrects him," Luigi Scacchi said.

The children's biological parents were killed during the war in Ethiopia. Habtamu and Asmè wound up in a shelter until they were adopted by the Scacchi through an international organization.

In Italy, Habtamu quickly learned the language and gets good marks at school. He is a member of the local scout group and excels in sports. In four years, he has become perfectly integrated in the local community, according to his teachers and classmates. But he missed Africa, his older brother, and the other relatives.

He spoke with his adoptive parents about his dream of a trip to Ethiopia. "We have always spoken serenely about this topic. The dialogue with Habtamu was open," said Marco Scacchi.

Habtamu wrote about Africa in his essays at school, and spoke about it with a local priest. He started to plan his trip. With the money he received for Christmas from his grandparents, he bought a ticket. And he took the train. After his parents had spent days making desperate appeals in the local press, Habtamu's African dream ended in Naples. For now.

"It is up to us to build a happy future for him," said Marco Scacchi. "And if Ethiopia is that future, we will go there."

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Future

AI Is Good For Education — And Bad For Teachers Who Teach Like Machines

Despite fears of AI upending the education and the teaching profession, artificial education will be an extremely valuable tool to free up teachers from rote exercises to focus on the uniquely humanistic part of learning.

Journalism teacher and his students in University of Barcelona.

Journalism students at the Blanquerna University of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.

© Sergi Reboredo via ZUMA press
Julián de Zubiría Samper

-Analysis-

BOGOTÁ - Early in 2023, Microsoft tycoon Bill Gates included teaching among the professions most threatened by Artificial Intelligence (AI), arguing that a robot could, in principle, instruct as well as any school-teacher. While Gates is an undoubted expert in his field, one wonders how much he knows about teaching.

As an avowed believer in using technology to improve student results, Gates has argued for teachers to use more tech in classrooms, and to cut class sizes. But schools and countries that have followed his advice, pumping money into technology at school, or students who completed secondary schooling with the backing of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have not attained the superlative results expected of the Gates recipe.

Thankfully, he had enough sense to add some nuance to his views, instead suggesting changes to teacher training that he believes could improve school results.

I agree with his view that AI can be a big and positive contributor to schooling. Certainly, technological changes prompt unease and today, something tremendous must be afoot if a leading AI developer, Geoffrey Hinton, has warned of its threat to people and society.

But this isn't the first innovation to upset people. Over 2,000 years ago, the philosopher Socrates wondered, in the Platonic dialogue Phaedrus, whether reading and writing wouldn't curb people's ability to reflect and remember. Writing might lead them to despise memory, he observed. In the 18th and 19th centuries, English craftsmen feared the machines of the Industrial Revolution would destroy their professions, producing lesser-quality items faster, and cheaper.

Their fears were not entirely unfounded, but it did not happen quite as they predicted. Many jobs disappeared, but others emerged and the majority of jobs evolved. Machines caused a fundamental restructuring of labor at the time, and today, AI will likely do the same with the modern workplace.

Many predicted that television, computers and online teaching would replace teachers, which has yet to happen. In recent decades, teachers have banned students from using calculators to do sums, insisting on teaching arithmetic the old way. It is the same dry and mechanical approach to teaching which now wants to keep AI out of the classroom.

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