Gentile’s 1923 school reform tried to synthesize Italian high culture under the national ideal.

Evidence

Gramsci would appear here particularly to have in mind the reform of the Italian school system carried out under the aegis of the idealist philosopher and Fascist Minister of Education, Giovanni Gentile, in 1923. A major feature of the riforma Gentile as it affected humanistic education in secondary schools was its attempt to provide a rapid synthesis of the whole of Italian “high culture”, seen in the light of the development of the national ideal. — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 2635

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines what the riforma Gentile was and its purpose in synthesizing Italian high culture around the national ideal.
• XREF: Connects to Gramsci’s discussion of education and the reproduction of hegemony through schooling; useful background for the Islamophobia framework’s treatment of state curricula.