improve their conduct”.345
There is also a sincere concern with keeping the girls away from idleness and warning them against dangers.”Keep the young girls away from idleness and have them love work... The young boarders should be forewarned and instructed about the future which awaits them but with extreme delicacy and prudence”.346 Remarkable consideration is given to the girl’s youthful age. “Give no weight to small things of no importance: some small defects which are offshoots of a bubbly youthful age, a lively temperament and a buoyant spirit should not be taken too seriously: allow nature to open up and display its tendencies and all this will turn out for the better”.347
Therefore assistance assumes a prominent and decisive role as it is directed to actively promoting, in young girls, balanced and wise self-knowledge and self-control. “Do not invent new sins: there are too many of them already. Rather do your best to decrease their number by forming a good conscience, right mind and pure heart in your young girls”.348 “Do not allow songs, shows, dances, readings and similar things which might somehow prove to be a stumbling block for your pupils’virtue… The shows performed during carnival time or any other amusement of the kind should have as their main objective to instruct, as well as to entertain: everything should help form the girls, in order to achieve virtue and raise them to accepting God”349
The right kind of physical development is also promoted and looked upon as the condition for a sound spiritual freedom. “Young girls need an outlet, a free outlet through their amusements. Let them choose the kind of amusements they want: free relief develops their physical character and disposes them to willingly accept and with better results, the instructions provided for their spirit and the advice provided for their hearts. Have no scruples in allowing them to jump around: girls long for this kind of relaxation which proves to be useful for their health and physical development”.350 “Always within the limits of authority and obedience, the girls should be allowed to enjoy holy freedom so they may come to know that the yoke of the Lord is gentle and that his servants are free”. Otherwise “with your ways of doing things, you make so many slaves out of your girls, who act because of the stick and not as the children of God, who walk out of love”.351
5. The preventive system in infant schools
Ferrante Aporti (1791-1858) does not only think of education as prevention but explicitly uses the 'preventive system' in his education. “The ability of an educator”, he declares, “does not consist so much in being able to prudently punish children’s mistakes as in being able to prevent them from happening. There is no comparison between the merit of an educator who knows only how to provide a remedy for the harm being done and the merit of one who knows how to prevent the harm from being done”.352
Angiolo Gambaro adds the following comment to the above:
In a few words, Aporti highlights the great superiority of the preventive system over the
repressive. This superiority is recognized by educators and pedagogues who are carefully
concerned that love be the very foundation of education. These educators and pedagogues
are concerned about creating a peaceful atmosphere, one of goodness, persuasive activity
around the child, to naturally lead him to what is good and avoid everything that distances
345 Ibid.,. 426.
346 Ibid.,424-425.
347 Ibid.,426; cf. 429-430 (and 438-439 on the value of recreation, also for working some things out about the girls) 348 Ibid., 429; cf 426-431.
349 Ibid., 435.
350 Ibid., 437.
351Ibid., 413-414.
352 Elementi di pedagogia, in F. Aporti, Scritti pedagogici, vol 2, 114.