Peter Gonsalves – Don Bosco’s “Expressive System”. An alternative perspective for a communication age

Don Bosco called his pedagogical experience the “preventive system” in his effort to identify his educational method, to show that it was in keeping with his times, and to disassociate it from the “repressive system” which he abhorred.

In this article we ask ourselves if this choice made about 150 years ago appeals to the men and women of our twenty-first century who are unacquainted with Salesian discourse. Does the formula express the full richness of Don Bosco’s educational intuition? Are there newer metaphors by which his method can be simultaneously relevant today and faithful to his original spirit?

This is the concern at the heart of the paper. It investigates the history and debate underpinning the traditional “preventive system” terminology. It proposes new metaphors by which to reframe, rethink and research Don Bosco’s pedagogy for our times.

Don Bosco chiamò la sua esperienza pedagogica “sistema preventivo”, nello sforzo di identificare il suo metodo educativo, per mostrare che era una pedagogia all’altezza dei tempi e per dissociarsi dal “sistema repressivo” che egli aborriva.

Ci domandiamo se questa scelta fatta circa 150 anni fa continua ad attirare uomini e donne del XXI secolo che vivono fuori dell’ambito Salesiano. Così come è formulata esprime pienamente la ricchezza della sua intuizione educativa? Esistono nuove metafore per le quali la sua pedagogia può diventare nuovamente rilevante per il nostro tempo e simultaneamente rimanere fedele al suo spirito originario? Questa è la preoccupazione centrale dell’ articolo.

Il contributo indaga la storia e il dibattito attorno alla terminologia tradizionale del “sistema preventivo”. Nel suo sviluppo propone nuove metafore tramite le quali tenta di rinquadrare, ripensare e ricercare la pedagogia di Don Bosco per il mondo di oggi.

Contents:

• Don Bosco’s ‘preventive system’
• The ‘preventive’ discourse and the search for alternatives
• The term ‘expressive’ and its meanings
• Don Bosco’s expressive education in practice
  • 1. The goal of Don Bosco’s expressive education
  • 2. The ecology of Don Bosco’s expressive education
    • 2.1. Freedom of expression
    • 2.2. Expression rooted in Grace
    • 2.3. Expressed rapport
    • 2.4. Assisted Expression
    • 2.5. Expression based on reason
    • 2.6. A vast supportive network
  • 3. The means to foster expressivity in Don Bosco’s pedagogy
    • 3.1. Expression through play
    • 3.2. Expression through Music
    • 3.3. Expression through Theatre
    • 3.4. Expression through Literacy
    • 3.5. Democratic expression
    • 3.6. Expression through leadership
    • 3.7. Expression through cooperation
    • 3.8. Expression through personal counselling
    • 3.9. Expression through child rights
    • 3.10. Expression through self-reliance
• Some advantages of the new discourse
• Conclusion

Reference time period: 1817 – 1978

Reference institution:
Università Pontificia Salesiana