An interesting figure in the history of education is Don Bosco:
John Bosco (Italian: Giovanni Melchiorre Bosco; 16 August 1815 – 31 January 1888), popularly known as Don Bosco, was an Italian Roman Catholic priest of the Latin Church, educator and writer of the 19th century.
While working in Turin, where the population suffered many of the effects of industrialization and urbanization, he dedicated his life to the betterment and education of street children, juvenile delinquents, and other disadvantaged youth. He developed teaching methods based on love rather than punishment, a method that became known as the Salesian Preventive System. A follower of the spirituality and philosophy of Saint Francis de Sales, Bosco dedicated his works to him when he founded the Salesians of Don Bosco, based in Turin.
John Bosco - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Although it was founded in Italy over a hundred years ago, the 'Salesian Preventive System' is still seen as relevant throughout the world:
Don Bosco Asia
The Preventive System
Reason, Religion and Loving Kindness
One constant in all Salesian work is that of the quality of the relationship between the adult and the young person. Don Bosco never believed in corporal punishment or repressive regimes of rules. Order was valued in all his centres, but it had a human and caring face. Educator/Carer/Youth Worker/Salesian and young person know each other by name. Responsibility for the relationship lay first with the adult, but over time there is to be an appropriate sharing of responsibility with the young person.
Don Bosco Chose to give the name ‘The Preventive System’ to this approach, and for him it is to be built on three principles:
* An educative relationship built on trust and reasonableness. * An encounter with the young that invites meaning and hope. * A relational approach that is seen in terms of kindness and partnership.
In Don Bosco’s own word these have been handed down to us as the three principles of Reason, Religion and Loving Kindness. In the Christian and Salesian tradition, every person is seen as a child of God and is to be treated with respect and dignity. There is a depth to every person that deserves exploration, education and celebration. This can only happen when there is a proper and caring relationship between the young person and the adult accompanying him or her. Don Bosco always tried to live by his Catholic faith, and for him this meant that no one in need should ever be turned away from his centres.
The Preventive System | Don Bosco | Salesians
One could say that the approach by the educator is essentially 'Christian' - but there are profound insights as to what makes an 'educator':
GENERAL SUMMARY
STATEMENT: The Preventive System is the synthesis of the complete thought and pastoral action of St. John Bosco.
More than being some kind of treatise, the Preventive System is something that can be most clearly seen in the life and action of Don Bosco. Nevertheless it can be part of the life and action of one today who would wish to emulate Don Bosco.
LOVING-KINDNESS, REASON AND RELIGION SUM UP THE PREVENTIVE SYSTEM.
THE PREVENTIVE SYSTEM
LOVING-KINDNESS: AN EDUCATION RELATIONSHIP
Don Bosco opted for loving-kindness, i.e. a special quality of friendliness on the part of the educator which inspires cooperation and confidence on the part of the one being educated. He based his education on charity: the pedagogy of the heart.
The basic traits of his approach are to be found in a letter he wrote to Salesians from Rome in November 1884. Here are some of them:
education is a thing of the heart.
confidence and familiarity are basic to the system.
familiar presence is an indispensable element.
the environment/surroundings provide for an education as a kind of contagion that goes on between educator and the one being educated.
Jesus Christ is the model for this relationship.
The real situation that young people find themselves in today spurs us on to put the Preventive System into action. A pedagogy of the heart is more than ever needed given the frequent absence of love.
More than a simple one-to-one relationship is required. The Preventive System implies a group of people acting on behalf of the young, and this group
develops its own interpersonal relationships.
develops relationships between itself and the young.
develops relationships between the young themselves.
For Don Bosco, love translates into assistance: i.e. a lively participation in the world of the young and a personal interest shown in each one.
An educator must:
enter into actual meeting with the young.
relate empathetically with them.
stress the interiorization of values.
educate to responsibility in daily life.
seek ever new ways of being present.
ANIMATION is the way that salesian assistance actually occurs.
The assistant, as animator
operates according to a way of understanding the human person (see notes on animation).
seeks to propose happiness in life as an objective
uses a method which frees the individual (i.e. which is not paternalistic or constricting).
establishes a youthful style.
sets up a strategy which educates in a unified way.
Don Bosco insisted on the importance of the environment as a vehicle for values. He saw this environment as:
a family spirit between educators and ones being educated.
a place where happiness and interior calm reign.
where the young can express themselves freely.
demanding teamwork and an educative community.
THE PREVENTIVE SYSTEM
REASON AND EDUCATIVE "REASONABLENESS"
The basis for this reasonableness for Don Bosco is the belief in the inner strength of the one being educated, and his openness to goodness and truth.
Reasonableness is shown in various ways:
by means of clear ideas and aims accompanied by flexibility towards circumstances and persons.
the help given to the young to act out of conviction.
the calm atmosphere created around them.
the importance given to instruction and cultural and technical formation.
Don Bosco expressed many of his ideas in a letter all about punishments in which he urges that correction be offered in a spirit of reason and lovingkindness:
For correction to be educative it is required that:
it not be harsh
recourse be had to moral sanctions where possible.
look for the right moment.
eventual action to be inspired by reason, love and faith.
Amongst those elements which can be readily translated into today’s terms are:
reason seen as interpersonal dialogue.
reason as education to depth.
reason as initiation into critical evaluation.
reason as personal awareness and respect for individual.
reason as a help to the young person in understanding his inner resources.
reason as functional, flexible and decentralized structures.
reason as a positive offering.
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THE PREVENTIVE SYSTEM
RELIGION AND SPIRITUALITY
So, what is meant by "religion"?
Amongst the manifestations and religious offerings provided by Don Bosco in his system and educational praxis, we can list:
the climate or religious environment.
the religious viewpoint about life.
solid catechetical instruction.
religious practice of prayer and sacramental life freely accepted.
an apostolic outlook, both personal and group.
the proposal of a personal path to holiness.
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