The Preventive System in the Education of the Young
From Il sistema preventivo nella educazione della gioventù, the foundational text
Translator’s note
This translation is rendered from the verbatim 1877 Italian text as published by the Salesian Congregation (Salesiani di Don Bosco) at sdb.org, in their official “Don Bosco, Scritti” archive (https://www.sdb.org/it/Don_Bosco/Scritti/Scritti/Il_sistema_preventivo_nella_educazione_dei_giovani). The Italian source on that page is the critical text established by Pietro Braido in Don Bosco educatore: scritti e testimonianze (3rd ed., Istituto Storico Salesiano, Fonti, Serie prima, n. 9, Rome: LAS, 1997). Don Bosco originally published this short treatise in August 1877 as an appendix to a pamphlet on the inauguration of the Patronage of St. Peter in Nice, France, and that same year inserted it into the Regolamento per le case della società di S. Francesco di Sales, making it the foundational normative text for Salesian educators.
The translation aims for theological precision, pastoral warmth, and the voice of a paternal Italian priest writing to his fellow Salesians. The three pillar terms, ragione, religione, amorevolezza, are preserved bilingually on first appearance and rendered as Reason, Religion, and Loving-kindness thereafter. Direttore is rendered as “Rector,” the historically Salesian term for the head of a house. Assistenti and the verb assistere are rendered as “assistants” or “presence” / “being present,” not “help”, Bosco’s assistenza is the educator standing physically among the young, not an abstract aid. Sacramenti are translated with their standard Catholic English names (Confession, Holy Communion). Latin quotations from Scripture and the Council of Trent are preserved in italics and translated immediately after, as Bosco himself does in the original. Sentences and paragraphs are broken up in places where 19th-century Italian periods would read as run-ons in modern American English; nothing has been condensed, summarized, or paraphrased. Every sentence in the Italian original has been rendered.
More than once I have been asked to express, either verbally or in writing, some thoughts on the so-called Preventive System, which we are accustomed to use in our houses. For lack of time I have not yet been able to satisfy this desire, and now, since I am about to print the Rule that until now has almost always been followed by tradition, I think it fitting to give here a brief account of it. Let this serve as the outline of a small work I am preparing, if God grants me enough life to finish it, and let it serve solely for the benefit of the difficult art of educating the young. I shall therefore explain: what the Preventive System consists of and why it should be preferred; its practical application; and its advantages.
I. What the Preventive System Consists Of, and Why It Should Be Preferred (In che cosa consista il Sistema Preventivo perché debbasi preferire)
Two systems have been used in every age in the education of the young: the Preventive and the Repressive. The Repressive system consists in making the law known to one’s charges and then watching them in order to identify the transgressors and inflict, where necessary, the deserved punishment. Under this system the words and appearance of the Superior must always be severe, even threatening, and he himself must avoid every familiarity with those under his care.
The Rector, in order to lend weight to his authority, must rarely be found among his subjects, and for the most part only when there is occasion to punish or threaten. This system is easy and less demanding, and is particularly useful in the military and, in general, among adults and persons of sound judgment, who ought to be capable on their own of knowing and remembering what conforms to the laws and to other prescriptions.
Different from this, indeed, I would say, opposite, is the Preventive System. It consists in making the prescriptions and regulations of an Institute known, and then watching over the students in such a way that they always feel upon them the vigilant eye of the Rector or of the assistants. These men, like loving fathers, speak with them, serve as their guides in every event, give counsel, and correct them with affection. That is to say: the Preventive System puts the students in a position where it is practically impossible for them to commit faults.
This system rests entirely upon Reason (ragione), Religion (religione), and Loving-kindness (amorevolezza). For this reason it excludes every violent punishment and even seeks to keep light punishments at a distance. It seems to me preferable for the following reasons:
I. The student who has been warned ahead of time is not humiliated by the faults he commits, as he would be if those faults were reported up to the Superior. Nor does he become angry over the correction he receives, or over the punishment threatened or inflicted, because there is always a friendly and preventive warning that gives him a reason for it, and most of the time succeeds in winning his heart. The result is that the student recognizes the necessity of the correction and almost desires it.
II. The most essential reason is the volatility of youth. In a single moment a young man forgets the rules of discipline and the punishments those rules threaten. So a boy often makes himself guilty and deserving of a penalty he had never paid any attention to, that he was not thinking about at all in the moment of his fault, and that he would certainly have avoided if a friendly voice had warned him.
III. The Repressive system can prevent disorder, but it will rarely make the offenders themselves any better. It has also been observed that young men do not forget the punishments they have suffered. For the most part they hold on to a bitterness and a desire to shake off the yoke, and even to take revenge. Sometimes it seems they pay no attention to it, but anyone who follows their later course of life knows that the memories of youth are terrible, and that while they easily forget the punishments their parents gave them, they very rarely forget those given by their teachers. There are stories of men who in old age have ugly avenged themselves for certain punishments that were justly inflicted on them during their education. The Preventive System, on the contrary, makes the student your friend. In his assistant he sees a benefactor who warns him, who wants to make him good, to free him from heartache, from punishments, and from disgrace.
IV. The Preventive System forms the student in such a way that the educator will always be able to speak to him in the language of the heart, both during his education and afterwards. Once the educator has won the heart of the boy in his charge, he will be able to exercise great influence over him: he will be able to advise him, counsel him, and even correct him later, when he is grown and out in his employment, in his civil office, or in commerce. For these and many other reasons, it seems that the Preventive System should prevail over the Repressive.
II. Application of the Preventive System (Applicazione del sistema Preventivo)
The practice of this system rests entirely on the words of St. Paul, who says: Charitas benigna est, patiens est; omnia suffert, omnia sperat, omnia sustinet. “Charity is kind and patient; she suffers all things, she hopes all things, and she endures every burden.”1 For this reason, only a Christian can successfully apply the Preventive System. Reason and Religion are the instruments the educator must constantly make use of; he must teach them, and he must himself practice them, if he wishes to be obeyed and to attain his end.
I. The Rector, therefore, must be consecrated to the boys in his care. He must never take on commitments that pull him away from his duty. On the contrary, he must always be with his students whenever they are not necessarily occupied with some task, except when they are duly being looked after by others.
II. The teachers, the masters of trade, and the assistants must be of known moral character. Let them study to avoid, as they would the plague, every sort of particular affection or friendship2 with the students, and let them remember that the moral ruin of even one boy can compromise an entire educational institute. See to it that the students are never alone. As far as possible, the assistants should precede them to the place where they are to gather; they should stay with them until others have taken over; they should never leave them with nothing to do.
III. Give them full liberty to jump, to run, to make noise to their hearts’ content. Gymnastics, music, recitation, the little theater, walks outside, these are the most effective means for obtaining discipline and for benefiting both morality and health. The only thing to watch is that the subject of the entertainment, the people taking part in it, and the conversations that come up in it are not objectionable. “Do whatever you like,” that great friend of the young, St. Philip Neri, used to say, “so long as you don’t sin.”
IV. Frequent Confession, frequent Holy Communion, and daily Mass are the pillars that must hold up an educational structure from which you wish to keep threats and the lash at a distance. Never force young people to receive the Sacraments. Only encourage them, and give them the opportunity to take advantage of them easily. Then, on the occasion of spiritual exercises, novenas, sermons, and catechism classes, let the beauty, the grandeur, the holiness of that Religion be brought out, which proposes means so easy and so useful to civil society, to peace of heart, and to the salvation of the soul, as the holy Sacraments in fact are. In this way the boys are spontaneously drawn to these practices of piety; they will come to them willingly, with delight and with fruit.
V. Use the greatest vigilance to prevent the Institute from being infiltrated by companions, books, or persons who carry on bad conversations. The choice of a good doorkeeper is a treasure for an educational house.
VI. Every evening, after the customary prayers and before the students go to rest, the Rector, or someone in his place, should address a few affectionate words to them in public, offering some piece of advice or counsel about things to do or to avoid. Let him try to draw his lessons from events that have happened that day, in the Institute or outside it. But this little sermon should never go beyond two or three minutes. This is the key to morality, to good order, and to the success of the whole education.3
VII. Keep at arm’s length, as you would the plague, the opinion of some who would put off First Communion to an age that is already too advanced, by which time, for the most part, the devil has taken possession of a boy’s heart, to the incalculable damage of his innocence. According to the discipline of the early Church, the consecrated hosts that remained after the Paschal Communion were given to children. This is enough to show us how much the Church desires children to be admitted early to Holy Communion. When a boy can tell the difference between bread and Bread, and shows enough instruction, no further attention should be paid to age: let the Sovereign of Heaven come and reign in that blessed soul.
VIII. The catechisms recommend frequent Communion. St. Philip Neri counseled it every eight days, and even more often. The Council of Trent says clearly that it earnestly desires every faithful Christian, when he goes to hear Holy Mass, to receive Communion as well, and that this Communion be not only spiritual, but sacramental, so that greater fruit may be drawn from this august and divine sacrifice. (Concilio Trid., sess. XXII, cap. VI.)
III. The Usefulness of the Preventive System (Utilità del sistema Preventivo)
Someone will say that this system is hard to put into practice. I would observe that, from the students’ side, it turns out to be much easier, more satisfying, and more advantageous. From the educators’ side, it does involve some difficulties, but these are reduced if the educator goes about his work with zeal. The educator is a man consecrated to the good of his students; he must therefore be ready to face every inconvenience and every fatigue in order to attain his end, which is the civic, moral, and intellectual education of the boys in his charge.
Beyond the advantages already laid out, the following should also be added:
I. The student will always be full of respect toward his educator. He will always remember with pleasure the guidance he received, and will go on regarding his teachers and other superiors as fathers and brothers. Wherever these students go, they are, for the most part, the consolation of their families, useful citizens, and good Christians.
II. Whatever the character, the disposition, or the moral state of a student at the time of his admission, his parents may rest assured that their son cannot get any worse, and one can say with certainty that some improvement will always be obtained. In fact, certain boys who were for a long time the scourge of their parents, and who were even turned away from reform houses, have, once they were formed according to these principles, changed their disposition, changed their character, given themselves over to a moral life, and now hold honorable positions in society, becoming the support of their family and an honor to the town in which they live.
III. Students who may happen to enter an Institute with bad habits cannot damage their companions. Nor can the good boys take harm from these others, because there is neither the time, nor the place, nor the opportunity for it: the assistant, whom we are supposing to be present, would put a stop to it at once.
A Word on Punishments (Una parola sui castighi)
What rule should be kept in inflicting punishments? Where it is possible, never use punishment at all. Where necessity calls for repression, hold to the following:
I. The educator, among his students, should seek to be loved if he wishes to be feared. In that case, the withdrawal of his affection is itself a punishment, but a punishment that stirs up emulation, gives courage, and never humiliates.
II. With young people, a punishment is whatever you make serve as a punishment. It has been observed that a single unfriendly look can produce more effect on some of them than a slap. Praise when something is well done, blame when something is neglected, these are already a reward and a punishment.
III. Except in the rarest cases, corrections and punishments should never be given in public, but privately, away from the other companions. The greatest prudence and patience should be used to bring the student to understand his fault through Reason and through Religion.
IV. Striking the student in any way, making him kneel in a painful posture, pulling his ears, and other punishments of this sort must be absolutely avoided, because they are forbidden by the civil laws, they greatly anger the young, and they humiliate the educator.
V. The Rector should make the rules, the rewards, and the punishments laid down by the laws of discipline well known to all, so that the student cannot make the excuse: “I didn’t know it was commanded” or “I didn’t know it was forbidden.”
If this system is put into practice in our houses, I believe that we will be able to obtain great results without ever resorting to the lash or to other violent punishments. For nearly forty years now I have worked with the young, and I do not remember having used any punishment of any kind. With the help of God I have always obtained not only what was a matter of duty, but even what I simply desired, and obtained it from those very boys for whom every hope of a good outcome seemed lost.
Fr. John Bosco, Priest (Sac. Gio. Bosco)
1 Corinthians 13:4, 7. Bosco’s Italian rendering, “soffre tutto, ma spera tutto e sostiene qualunque disturbo”, expands the Latin sustinet into something closer to “endures every annoyance” or “bears every disturbance.” I have followed his own gloss rather than the cleaner Pauline parallelism, because that is what he wrote.↩︎
“Particular affection or friendship” renders Bosco’s amicizie particolari, a term of art in Catholic religious life rather than a prohibition on warmth. Particular is the opposite of universal. Bosco is warning against the favorite, the exclusive and private attachment that singles one boy out from the rest, not against affection as such; his whole system rests on the educator being loved (see the section on punishments, where he writes that the educator “should seek to be loved”). What he forbids is affection that narrows onto one instead of reaching all. Read this way the clause joins naturally to the one that follows it: favoritism is precisely how “the moral ruin of even one boy” begins.↩︎
This is the famous “Good Night” (la Buona Notte) of the Salesian house. Bosco’s word here is sermone, literally “sermon”, but in context it is the brief evening exhortation a Salesian Rector gives the boys before bed. I have left it as “little sermon” so that the reader hears Bosco’s own framing rather than a modern liturgical category.↩︎