The Preventative System of St. John Bosco

When St. John Bosco was a mere nine years old, our Lord appeared to him in a dream and showed him his mission: to win the souls of his students “not with blows but with gentleness and kindness . . . [and] to show them that sin is ugly and virtue beautiful.” When young John protested, Jesus promised: “I will give you a Teacher under whose guidance you will learn and without whose help all knowledge becomes foolishness.” That Teacher was the Blessed Virgin, and over the years St. John Bosco developed a tremendous devotion to Our Lady, Help of Christians. With Our Lady’s help, St. John Bosco won thousands of souls to Christ using his Preventive System of Education.

At St. John Bosco Schools, after the fashion of our venerable patron, we, too, seek Our Lady’s help in winning souls to Christ through the Preventive System of Education. “The practice of this system,” St. John Bosco tells us, “is wholly based on the words of St. Paul who says: ‘Charity is patient, is kind. It beareth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things, (Cor. xiii: 4, 7).” The principles outlined below are from our patron himself:

“[The Preventive System] consists in making the laws and regulations of an institution known. Then the Educator and his staff, like loving fathers, supervise students, converse with them, give advice and correction in a charitable manner; in other words, this system minimizes the possibility of committing faults. Based entirely on reason, religion, and charity, this system excludes all violent punishment and tries to do without even the slightest chastisement. It seems preferable for the following reasons:

(a) The primary reason for this system is seen in the thoughtlessness of youth, which in one moment forgets the rules of discipline, and the punishments which they threaten. Consequently, a child often becomes culpable and deserving of punishment which he had no thought of, and which he quite forgot when heedlessly committing the fault which he would certainly have avoided, had a friendly voice warned him.

(b) The pupil, being previously advised, does not remain downcast by the faults he has committed, as is the case when they are brought to the notice of the Principal. Nor will he be irritated by the correction he receives, or by the punishment which is threatened or inflicted, because it is always accompanied by some friendly warning, which appeals to his reason, and generally wins over his heart, so that he sees the necessity of the chastisement and almost desires it.

(c) The Repressive System may stop a disorder, but can hardly make the offenders better. Experience teaches that the young do not forget the punishments they have received, but often foster bitter feelings, along with the desire of throwing off the yoke and even of revenging themselves.

(d) The pupil will always be respectful towards his educators and will ever remember their care with pleasure. He will look upon them as fathers and brothers. No matter where they may be, these pupils are generally found to be the consolation of their families, useful citizens and good Catholics.

Some may say that this system is difficult in practice. I reply that, for the pupils, it is easier, more satisfactory and more advantageous. To the teacher it certainly does present some difficulties, which, however, can be diminished if he applies himself to his task with zeal. An educator is one who is entirely consecrated to the welfare of his pupils, and should, therefore, be ready to face every difficulty and endure fatigue in order to attain his object, which is the civil, moral and intellectual education of his pupils…

…Frequent Confession and Communion and daily Mass are the pillars which must support the edifice of education, from which we propose to banish threats and the rod. Never force the boys to frequent the Sacraments, but encourage them to do so, and give them every opportunity. On occasions of retreats, triduums, novenas, sermons and catechism classes, the beauty, the grandeur and the holiness of our Religion must always be dwelt on; for, it offers to all in the Holy Sacraments, a means so easy and so useful to attain peace of heart and eternal salvation.