Il luogo delle origini: la fiducia come virtù educativa

The human process of becoming a person is based on the original assumption of the basic trust. This psychological and educational principle is rooted in the ontological structure of the human being as indigent and dependent. Basic trust is the preliminary condition which allows the growing individual to overcome the anxiety inevitably connected to the risks of development and change. To learn to trust in ourselves and the world, we need someone to trust in us. Therefore, among the educational virtues, trust has a special place: the capacity to open up to the future and its possibilities depends on it. Educators must refine their ability to see the other not just for what he is, but for what he can be. This kind of gaze, in fact, is the very first transformative act they can address to the other, because, instead of forcing him to reproduce his way of being, it announces and allows another possibility.