4. A comparison between two types of college-boarding school and two systems of education In the contrasting between the two types of boarding school, artificial or that which Thiers highlights, the one secular, the other Catholic, the Frenchman Pierre Sebastien Laurentie (1793-1876) sees two different educational systems pitted against each other: one based on strictness, the other on love.232 This constrast obstructs a correct view of the legitimate differences between the two systems. And it leads to the Manichean, sketchy kind of presentation to be expected of an intransigent monarchist Catholic, a Legitimist. It gives the impression of being guided by not so hidden views belonging to the Restoration.233
Laurentie tells us of the strong accusations brought by some people against the public boarding schools: intelligence degraded, creativity squashed, a boy's personality lost amongst the mob, the climate of fear, hypocrisy, malice and squalor.234 He gives us, for his part, an entirely negative description which he claims to have been the result of a just and considered observation.
The public boarding school looks like a prison, like the Spielberg which Silvio Pellico
wrote about in his Mie prigioni (My prisons) …. The public boarding school is a place full
of sadness and grief. Young people grow old ahead of time, under the authority of gloomy
teachers…. What prevails in a public boarding school is rigid organisation as far as studies
and recreational activities are concerned, distinctively marked by bell or drum. The teacher
does not get close to the pupil; the tone of his command is sharp and inspires fear. The
pupil does not get close to the teacher; obedience is loaded with fear and mistrust. It is a
mechanised kind of world where nothing is forgotten.There is neither trust nor love. No
gentle words can be heard which might reach the heart. Even God has his place, but God is
absent from the youngster's inner thoughts. The end result of this exterior orderliness is that
the vices are kept hidden and they are the ones which devour and poison the heart. Even
the boys’ ages are deceiving. They show a childhood grown prematurely old, a woebegone
adolescence… The consequences of this situation are the advent of destructive passions,
hidden rebellious attitudes, sterile studies....and this is only the foreshadowing of a life
without hope and without élan.235
By contrast we have the enticing image of the Catholic boarding school.
The Christian boarding school is a family. The prevailing authority is the father’s authority, transferred to another father, who substitutes the natural fathers: the teachers who share their zeal and their love. Religion presides over this holy unity. It renders commands acceptable and obedience lovable. There is orderliness in this school, but we are not dealing with that dark discipline which hides deep suffering and hatreds. There is an orderliness which goes deep into the souls of the pupils and sets their innermost thoughts in order. Advice is given with gentleness and is always available. The teaching is variable, flexible, accessible to all kinds of intellect. Piety is not something imposed as a duty to be carried out at given times and on certain days. It is more like an inspired habit which nicely fills one's entire life. In this school, pupils are like brothers and teachers are like friends. The boarding school forms a man for society, because this young man has been provided in timely fashion with all the weapons needed to face society, thanks also to the solid and lasting friendships made. The boarding school is a small world, with its little passions but these passions are held in check by means of a
232Laurentie was the author of three brilliant pedagogical writings, amongst others: Lettres à un père sur l’éducation de
son fils (1834); Lettres à une mère sur l’éducation du son fils (1836); Lettres à un curé sur l’éducation du peuple. The
Italian edition: Lettere sulla educazione del popolo comes from a second edition (1850) by Laurentie, the former
inspector general of studies, (Genoa: Gio. Fassicomo Press 1856), 200 pages.
233 Cf. E Valentini, “Il sistema preventivo di M. Laurentie (1793-1876)”, in Palestra del Clero 61 (1982): 209-231. 234 P.S. Laurentie, Lettres à un père, 38-40.
235 Ibid., 40-43.