By José Dominguez, January 23, 2020 — After having experienced strong traditional teachers in elementary school and humanistic educated Jesuits in the secondary level, for me, it was a surprise to meet my philosophy teacher, Dr. Federico Ferro at High School.
He was an Italian polyglot about 40 years old and a former partisan fighter in Italy against Nazis. [He was] tall, muscular, big-nosed and [did not have] too much hair. He always surprised us with his tremendous knowledge of the classics. Compared with his extraordinary cultural resources, our knowledge about philosophy was ridiculously minimal. He was not so religious. Instead of the regular prayer that the school demanded, he did a movement with his hand in front of his face resembling a cross. I tried to understand what our teacher was explaining but for sure I was lost on many occasions. My disconnection was the preliminary of a kind of “boring mode” that I hated because I knew it was related to my lack of basic philosophical knowledge.
To follow the class, I wrongly thought that I was the only one and also that my boredom was unnoticed by the teacher. But it happened that one hot afternoon, Mr. Ferro was delivering a passionate lecture about Greek philosophy when he suddenly stopped, got up, and with his big and strong hands hit the desk, producing a sweeping noise. All of us looked amazed. His reddish face [was] transformed by anger and he shouted loud with a sententious voice, “I can’t stand your boring, your indifference. I’m expecting something of you, of course, but you only show indifference. I’m paid to teach not to endure your lack of interest. I prefer you insult me, I prefer for you spit in my face, [rather than experience] your indifference.”
For me, it was the beginning of a lifetime appreciation of philosophy and high respect for sensitive teachers who are interested not only in the salary.