THE PEDAGOGY OF EVIL: WHEN THE ADULT EXAMPLE TEACHES VIOLENCE – Paola La Salvia

Introduction

There is a form of evil that permeates our time in a silent yet profound way, infiltrating language, everyday gestures, institutions, and even the most ordinary human relationships. It is a form of reversed education, a pedagogy of evil that does not teach how to build, but how to destroy; it does not orient towards coexistence, but towards domination; it does not open to responsibility, but to indifference. Wars, with their burden of death and dehumanization, represent its most dramatic expression, though not the only one. Around armed conflicts, a culture of hatred develops that normalizes violence, gradually making it acceptable. In this sense, the words of Maria Montessori resonate powerfully: “Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.”

Violence and Contemporary Culture

Our times are marked by increasing intolerance, aggressive language, and a growing inability to listen. The Other is increasingly perceived as an enemy, an obstacle, or a rival to be eliminated symbolically or, in the worst cases, physically. This leads to a weakening of the social fabric, where differences are no longer seen as a resource, but as a threat. In this scenario, violence ceases to appear as a failure and begins to present itself as a solution.

The Role of Adult Role Models

The most troubling issue is that young people bear the greatest cost of this climate. They grow up in a society that often preaches peace, respect, and dialogue, yet practices the opposite. They are exposed daily to contradictory adult role models: institutional leaders who use force as ordinary language, media that spectacularize conflict, and social and family environments where aggression becomes a legitimate tool for gaining attention, power, or control. The example, as always, comes from above. If adults fail to embody balance, limits, and responsibility, young people will hardly learn them.

Young People and Socialization Processes

Here lies the pedagogical core of the problem. Violence does not arise solely from individual impulses but grows within a context that legitimizes, tolerates, or glorifies it. Every act of aggression is nourished by a culture that produces models of domination, exclusion, and contempt. In this sense, the pedagogy of evil is not an abstract theory but a widespread social practice, which educates towards insensitivity and abuse through repeated examples, constant images, toxic language, and complicit silences.

Young people, in particular, are highly vulnerable to this reversed education. Their identity is under construction, their need for recognition is strong, and their search for identity is continuous. If they are surrounded only by competition, anger, and cynicism, they may internalize the idea that to exist one must hurt, prevail, and humiliate. Thus violence, from an exception, becomes a habit; from a reaction, a style; from a problem, a language. It is therefore not surprising that aggressive behaviours among adolescents are increasing, as they often reproduce, in new forms, the culture they have absorbed.

Educational Responsibility and the Crisis of Example

It would be too simplistic to blame young people alone, because the issue concerns adults and their educational responsibility. A society that truly wants to protect its children cannot limit itself to condemning violent acts once the damage is done; it must instead examine deep causes, transmitted models, and the ethical climate in which young people grow. Education means witnessing: the adult’s word becomes credible only when it aligns with behaviour. Where there is no coherence, education loses strength; where there is no example, moral discourse becomes empty.

Towards a Pedagogy of the Good

This trend must therefore be reversed. Reversing it does not simply mean repressing violence, but building cultural, affective, and civil antibodies. It means restoring the value of listening, care, limits, and responsibility, placing the dignity of the person at the centre against any logic of exclusion or domination. It also means recognizing that peace is not a spontaneous feeling but a daily practice; not the absence of conflict, but the ability to go through it without destroying the other.

Educational Agencies and Social Responsibility

In this task, the school, the family, institutions, and the media play a decisive role. The school must be not only a place of instruction, but also a space where mutual respect and coexistence are learned. The family must provide a coherent example. Institutions should use a language that rebuilds trust rather than resentment. The media, finally, must avoid trivializing evil, and refrain from turning violence into spectacle or commodification.

Conclusions

The pedagogy of evil must be countered by a pedagogy of the good, of justice, and of healthy relationships. This is a difficult challenge because it requires a transformation of vision before behaviour. Yet it is a necessary challenge if we do not want to leave young people a world marked only by moral and social ruins. They do not need perfect adults; they need credible adults, capable of fulfilling their educational role with courage and humility. As Paulo Freire said: “Education is an act of love, and therefore an act of courage.”

If we truly want to curb the growing violence, we must begin here: with the example. Because every society educates, even when it is not aware of it. And if it does not educate towards the good, it inevitably educates towards the evil.