Liceo scientifico (; ) is a type of secondary school in Italy. It is designed to give students the skills to progress to any university or higher educational institution.Decreto del Presidente della Repubblica 89/2010 - Regolamento di revisione dei licei. Available here. Retrieved 14 December 2011. Students can attend the liceo scientifico after successfully completing middle school (scuola media).
The curriculum is devised by the Ministry of Education, and emphasises the link between the humanistic tradition and scientific culture. It covers a complete and widespread range of disciplines, including Italian language and literature, mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, anatomy, Earth science, astronomy, history, geography, philosophy, Latin language and Latin literature, English language and English literature, physical education, art history and technical drawing.Decreto del Presidente della Repubblica 89/2010, Appendix F - Regolamento di revisione dei licei, Allegato F. Available here. Retrieved 14 December 2011. Students typically study for five years, and attend the school from the age of 14 to 19. At the end of the fifth year all students sit for the esame di Stato, a final examination which leads to the maturità scientifica.
A student attending a liceo is called "liceale", although the more generic terms studente (male) and studentessa (female) are also in common use. Teachers are known as professore (male) or professoressa (female).
History The Liceo Cavour was established in 1871 as the Physics and Mathematics branch of the Regio Istituto Tecnico di Roma (which later became the Istituto Tecnico-Commerciale Leonardo Da Vinci). After the Gentile Reform in 1923, this school became the Regio Liceo Scientifico di Roma, under the royal legislative decree of 9 September 1923, n. 1915. It was founded in 1923-24, as the scientific branch of liceo classico Ennio Quirino Visconti, the first liceo classico in Rome. In 1926 the Regio Liceo Scientifico di Roma was established as an independent body, starting teaching in 1926-27. In 1946, with the inauguration of the Liceo Scientifico Statale Augusto Righi (a branch of the Regio Liceo), the school was renamed "Liceo Scientifico Camillo Cavour".
Among the more famous people to have worked here were the poet Margherita Guidacci, English language and literature teacher from 1965 to 1975, Gioacchino Gesmundo, History and Philosophy teacher from 1934 to 1944, and the physicist Bruno Pontecorvo (who was part of the group of physicists and scientists named 'I Ragazzi di Via Panisperna', translated as Via Panisperna Boys) with his younger brother Umberto. Notable former students include Franca Falcucci, the future Minister of public education, and Marta Russo, whose murder garnered huge media attention. Maria Montessori also graduated here with a degree in physics and mathematics in 1889 while the school was still referred to as Istituto Tecnico-Commerciale Leonardo Da Vinci.
The law Daneo-Credaro
A Royal Commission established in 1906 presented a reform plan that included, among other things, three five-year high schools:
the liceo classico ("classical lyceum"), which was based on the then existing liceo – established by the Casati law – and was characterized by the teaching of classical languages (Ancient Greek and Latin, from which is based the Italian language); allowed access to any university faculty; the liceo moderno ("modern lyceum"), without Greek, with the strengthening of the foreign language (French), with the teaching of a second foreign language (German or English), of the law and the economy; it did not allow access to the Faculty of Letters; the liceo scientifico ("scientific lyceum"), without classical languages, with the teaching of a second foreign language and a strengthening of scientific subjects; it did not allow access to the Faculties of Letters and Jurisprudence.
The proposal was accepted by the minister Luigi Credaro in 1911 (Daneo-Credaro law). See the entry history of education in Italy for further details.
DisciplinesClassicoModernoScientificoIIIIIIIVVTOTIIIIIIIVVTOTIIIIIIIVVTOTItalian 5 4 4 4 421 5 4 4 4 421 5 4 4 4 421Latin 8 6 6 6 632 6 5 4 4 322 - - - - -0(Ancient) Greek - 5 5 5 520 - - - - -0 - - - - -0French 3 2 - - -5 4 2 2 2 212 3 2 - - -5English or German - - - - -0 - 5 4 3 315 3 3 3 3 315History 3 3 3 3 315 3 3 3 3 315 3 3 3 3 315Geography 2 2 2 - -6 2 2 2 2 -8 2 2 2 2 210Philosophy - - 3 2 38 - - 3 2 38 - - 3 2 38Mathematics 2 2 2 2 210 2 2 2 2 210 5 5 5 5 525Physics - - - 3 25 - - - 3 36 - - 3 3 39Chemistry - - 2 - -2 - - 2 - -2 3 3 - - -6Natural history 2 2 - - 26 2 2 - - 26 2 2 2 2 210Law and political economy - - - - -0 - - - 3 36 - - - - -0Drawing - - - - -0 2 2 - - -4 2 2 2 2 210Physical education (Sports) 2 2 2 2 210 2 2 2 2 210 2 2 2 2 210Total hours per week272829272913028292830301353028292829134
Gentile reform The liceo scientifico was confirmed, but radically modified, in 1923 with the Gentile reform, which at the same time suppressed the liceo moderno and the physical-mathematical section of the Regio Istituto Tecnico (Royal Technical Institute). The course was of four years and ended with the Diploma, an extremely demanding state exam with five written tests (Italian, Latin, mathematics, foreign language and drawing) and an oral interview-test (which covered all the subjects studied in the last three years of the course), lasting one hour, in two sessions: one for the literary subjects and one for the scientific subjects.
After the first four years of one of the three lower secondary schools which, at the time, allowed the continuation of the studies (ginnasio, lower technical institute and the istituto magistrale inferiore) and after passing an entrance examination.
The original liceo scientifico was evidently derived from the ginnasio-liceo (gymnasium-lyceum) (the current liceo classico), but compared to this it had the disadvantage of not allowing access to studies of letters and philosophy and above all of jurisprudence whose degree course, in addition to presenting some specific professions (judiciary, advocacy, notary) was attended by most of those who held positions of command. The proposal of the Gentile liceo scientifico was examined by a Commission of the Accademia dei Lincei which deprecated the unification of disparate subjects and the fact that, despite the name, of "scientific" it had very little, especially when compared to the physical-mathematical section of the Regio Istituto Tecnico, just deleted. And indeed, calculating the total weekly hours over the four years, the main subjects were Latin (16 hours), then Italian, foreign language and mathematics (14 hours).
Also, should be considered that, at the time, the three lower-secondary-schools that allowed the continuation of the studies (the ginnasio, the istituto tecnico inferiore and the istituto magistrale inferiore), were preparatory to as many secondary schools (liceo, istituto tecnico superiore and istituto magistrale superiore). In this outline, without an "own" lower-secondary-school counterpart, was inserted the liceo scientifico which was accessible both from the ginnasio and, after the admission examination, from the istituto tecnico or the istituto magistrale. This meant that to attend the liceo scientifico it was necessary to "change" school, even physically because the lower-secondary-schools were housed in the same buildings of the respective higher-secondary-schools, with which they constituted a single course of study. And this change was unnatural both for those who attended the gymnasium, which folded on a de fact "inferior"-school because already at the beginning precluded some prestigious professional outlets, both for those who attended the other two institutes, and after four years of study had to give up at a title immediately expendable in the way of work to go to attend a high school, which evidently required quite another application, moreover with a demanding entrance examination.
For all these reasons, the liceo scientifico had a little success so much that, in a city like Rome, the second liceo scientifico (the Liceo scientifico "Augusto Righi") arrived only in 1946.
timetable outline
Liceo scientifico (1923 - 1940) I II III IVItalian language 4 4 3 3Latin language 3 4 4 4Foreign language 4 4 3 3History 3 3 2 2Philosophy - - 4 4Mathematics 5 3 3 3Physics - 2 3 3Natural sciences 3 3 2 2Drawing and art history 3 2 2 2Total hours per week25252626
Bottai reform
The structure of the liceo scientifico changed in 1940, when the Bottai reformLaw 889/1940 established the single three-years scuola media and the access to the high schools was rationalized; those who wanted to attend the liceo scientifico did not have to change schools, or rather, at the end of lower-secondary-school, everyone had to change schools to attend the chosen secondary school. The liceo scientifico began to establish itself and the number of students grew steadily until reaching the number of students of the liceo classico. Persisted the prohibition on signing in letters and jurisprudence faculties.
Because of the war events, the timetable has been altered several times and the final one will only be in 1952.
Apart from a few tweaks to the timetable, a consequence of the extension of the liceo to a five-year type, the new course reproduced the previous course. The most important subject for number of hours remained Latin (20), then Italian (19), mathematics (18) and foreign language (17).
In 1962 it was established that the scientific examination was valid for the signing into any faculty excluded letters; was, in fact, allowed the signation also into the jurisprudence faculty.
From 1969 onwards, when access to university was liberalized, there was a real boom at the liceo scientifico, so much that at the approval of the Gelmini reform (2010), among the students signed in the last year of the course, the liceo scientifico had 103,000 students compared to 51,000 of the liceo classico Nowadays the liceo scientifico, among the Italian high schools, is the one that welcomes the relative majority of students (22 percent, of which more than a half are females).Legge 910/1969 - Provvedimenti urgenti per l'Università. Available here. Retrieved 16 December 2011.
The substantial prevalence of Latin with respect to the same scientific-mathematical subjects and the greater number of students enrolled in the liceo scientifico have meant that Italy is still, among Western countries, the one in which Latin is more studied (40 percent of signed in high schools, of which more than half at the liceo scientifico) thing that has caused quite a few controversies.
Timetable outline
Liceo scientifico (1952 - 2010)BienniumTriennium I II III IV VItalian language and literature 4 4 4 3 4Latin language and literature 4 5 4 4 3Foreign language and literature 3 4 3 3 4History 3 2 2 2 3Geography 2 - - - -Philosophy - - 2 3 3Mathematics 5 4 3 3 3Physics - - 2 3 3Natural sciences (Natural science, chemistry and astronomy) - 2 3 3 2Drawing and History of art13 2 2 2Physical education 2 2 2 2 2Catholic religion or alternative activities 1 1 1 1 1Total hours per week2527282930
Sperimentazioni (1970–2010) Sperimentazioni were alternative experimental curriculum bands offered in Liceo scientifico.These specialisms were based on the official curriculum, but enriched by increasing the number of hours dedicated to one or more subjects, or including new subjects. They started in the 1970s, when more local autonomy was granted. Schools could offer one or more specialism. When the Gelmini reform (2010) came into force, practically all the high schools were offering these experimental streams.
The most widespread alternative streams were: