Reason, Religion and Loving-Kindness
by FR. STEPHEN B. WHELAN, SDB
St. John Bosco developed and lived a method of Christian education that he termed the "Preventive System." Two caveats should be noted. Strictly speaking, the preventive system is not a "system" of education as is, for example, the Jesuit system of education. Neither is it "preventive" in modern educational parlance, which is often viewed as a pejorative term. Nowadays we wish that school districts, the schools and their teachers would do a little more "preventing" in the sense of fostering discipline, right behavior and attention to scholastic duties and social amenities. "Prevention" is often seen as stifling and inhibiting the intellectual growth, natural curiosity and development of social and academic skills--opportunities needed by the teacher to form the student and by the student to form him/herself.
Don Bosco was hard pressed to define and describe his "preventive system." He took the best of educational theory of his time (18th and 19th centuries), studied the new developments springing up and adapted them to his own style and concrete situation (the myriad of boys swarming the streets of Turin, Italy, during the early Industrial Revolution). When pressed for a name for his method, he used a term familiar in educational theory at the time--the preventive system. After repeated pleadings asking him to describe this preventive system in writing, he came up with a pitifully meager document of less than 8 small pages and less than 3,000 words. His was a system that was lived rather than lectured and written about. Salesians have spent the last century and a half trying to develop a systematic theory and praxis couched in pedagogical terms. What it boils down to is a total commitment on the part of the educator to becoming friends with the young and treating them as equals, not patronizing them or trivializing their concerns and ideas; opening up options for growth, learning; working for physical, emotional, psychological, intellectual and, more importantly, spiritual development-- a practice for the home as well as the school. In the final analysis one just has to see and be immersed in it to really understand the sense of it.
He entered the field of education through the work of the oratory, the hostel and the school at a time of great awareness of the need for education and when, together with public legislation, there was also quite a bit of theorizing in the educational field. Don Bosco, however, became a force in education, and set up this movement, not as a theorist but as one who was drawn into the field by a crying need. He was a practical educator who devoted himself to this apostolate with all his outstanding human gifts and resources, all his Christian understanding and love, and all his priestly zeal; and who was actually personally engaged in the education of young people--totally engaged for some 25 years, and never quite disengaged from it when the demands of founding a religious society and its growth and expansion took more and more of his time. Through this protracted and far-reaching experience Don Bosco developed a personal method of addressing the young in various educational settings.
However, let no one be deceived by the practicality of his approach. The educational insights that emerge not only from his practice but also from his writings, especially some that are expressly on the subject, are numerous and innovative. To name just a few: The Preventive System in the Education of Youth (1877); Regulations for the Houses (Schools) of the Society of Saint Francis de Sales (1877); Letter from Rome (May 10, 1884); Letter on Punishments (1883); The Life of the Young Boy Dominic Savio, a Pupil of the Oratory of St. Francis de Sales (1859); Biographical Account of the Youth Michael Magone, a Pupil of the Oratory of St. Francis de Sales (1861); The Little Shepherd of the Alps, or the life of the Boy Francis Besucco of Argentera (1864); the Treatise on the Preventive System (1877).
Undoubtedly Don Bosco's educational method is known the world over as the "Preventive System." And certainly preventive care is a specific trait of the method and a recognizable sign of Salesian tradition. But it should be emphasized that Don Bosco's educational method cannot simply be defined in terms of prevention.
Furthermore, Don Bosco does not use the term preventive to qualify his method before 1877. It appears that he adopted the term (borrowing it from the literature) in order to give his method some kind of theoretical position, that is, in order to locate the method within a general classification in educational history. And clearly the term preventive (distinguished from repressive) expresses Don Bosco's preference in educational practice; but it does not express the richness and complexity of the method.
Don Bosco's method acquires its true and complex character (1) from that original synthesis of humanism and Christianity which Don Bosco achieved and expressed with the words: reason, religion and loving-kindness; (2) from a style of educational re-enforcement characterized by familiarity, spontaneity, trust, joy; (3) from the skillful educational use of formative instruments--work and study, religious practice, moral rigor, and play activities such as games, sports, theater, music, celebrations; (4) from a sustained presence of the educator to the youngster, called "assistance"--which includes prevention.
The preventive aspect of the method, at least in its practical application, will differ from one educational setting to another, and in the measure required by each. Prevention in a boarding school (requiring a certain kind of assistance and organization) will differ from that appropriate to the oratory (requiring but little assistance and organization). In any case, prevention is but a partial, though distinctive, aspect of the Salesian system.
Don Bosco gave a motto to describe the "Preventive System" and it is: REASON, RELIGION AND LOVING-KINDNESS. Within these three terms are hidden or compressed a wealth of meaning and nuance that takes volumes and years to discover and unravel. Let's make a small effort to lay some sort of groundwork of vocabulary and line of thinking that might make one word explode into an area of new and fresh discovery.
Many of the following ideas come from the Salesians' 24th General Chapter (GC24) held in Rome from February 19 to April 20, 1996. In the Chapter document the whole Salesian Family is recommitted to education in a changing world. The document quotes Pope John Paul II in his address to UNESCO in 1980: "the first and fundamental cultural fact is the spiritually mature man, e.g., man fully educated, man able to educate himself and others" (GC24, #99). The chapter document goes on to say that the main original contribution we can offer to the cause of education is the "Preventive System" (ibid.). Given innumerable world situations, Don Bosco's method needs continual redefinition. Fr. Egidio Vigaṇ, the late Rector Major of the Salesians, spoke of a new "preventive system" The essential element of such newness is the sharing between SDBs, lay adults and young people in an educational and pastoral practice always in dialog with the discoveries of science and with the various contexts in which we are working (ibid.).
REASON: In Don Bosco's way of thinking, reason is synonymous with fairness and persuasion, seen in opposition to repression and imposition. In other words, "reason" is a prevention from something negative to something positive. Reason helps to discern the authentic value of earthly realities, respecting their autonomy and secular dignity (GC24, #100). This speaks to Don Bosco's eminent humanism that reflects the humanism of Salesian (St. Francis de Sales) spirituality (Cf.: The Salesian Bulletin, Vol. 1:1, p. 14ff) and an appreciation of the reality of created things. This is a humanism that recognizes God in persons, human events and nature. It validates the reality that all human endeavor has purpose and value. It affirms that human knowledge, science and social development enhance the quality of human life and are good and blessed by God.
The "Preventive System" is an open system meaning that it is full of hope and able to identify and adapt to the changing and different cultural situations found around the world. Through reason Don Bosco's system recognizes the context in which Salesians find themselves, and through previous assessments of the youth situation they can effectively develop educative interventions with the collaboration of the Salesian Family in a particular geographical area. This collaboration between SDBs and the whole Salesian Family gives rise to a balanced educational process that avoids "minimalism" (the fear of trying anything new) and of going to the other extreme of going too fast without supporting structures.
Again these ideas just touch the surface. But let them suffice for now. More in other issues about RELIGION and LOVING-KINDNESS.
Grateful acknowledgment is made to Fr. Arthur J. Lenti, SDB, for the assistance given compiling this article. (SBW)