By John Zogby
The U.S. has the most developed network of First Global™ citizens of any country on the planet, but Europe is not far behind. With two generations of easy border crossings, a network of universities, an efficient and inexpensive train and air travel system, the European citizenry has matured. We hear about immigration to London, Paris, Rome, and Amsterdam, and other cities, but the downside is these cities are having a terrible problem with assimilation, or the lack thereof, if not actual two-way hostilities. On the upside, Europe is again a crossroads of East and West, immigration will continue, students from all over the world will spend time, money, and energy in Europe’s great cities and global citizenry will progress unabated.
But in Italy we discussed a different kind of problem. It appears that Italy – once at the epicenter of East and West – is behind the curve in developing its global citizenry. Though there are huge universities like Rome’s 150,000-student La Sapienza and small influential business universities like LUISS Guido Carli (actually formed by Italy’s leading industrialists), not enough Italians are attending college and too many are instead opting to spend more and more time at home with their parents. These “bambicinos” are staying home well into their thirties. And their parents and community leaders are worried for more reasons than one.
Only 8% of Italians have college degrees (compared with over one-third in the U.S.), and Italian leaders and parents should be worried about the future of Italy’s workforce, the health of its great industries, and its citizenry’s knowledge of government and links with the outside world.
