There appeared to be numerous suggestions and confirming proofs related to this overall pedagogical viewpoint which surfaced in the basic but significant pages of Don Bosco's The Preventive System in the Education of Youth.544 Those pages contained many ideas which were the result of Don Bosco’s own experience, which in turn reflected reasons familiar to the Catholic pedagogical tradition: above all the evangelical method of love, gentleness, reasonableness, understanding, previously championed by Fenelon and Rollin and solidly boosted by Don Bosco's encounter with the Brothers of the Christian Schools and perfectly in tune with the personalities and writings of the 19th Century which were accessible to him.545
The most immediate and important source was probably a booklet by the Superior General of the Barnabites, Fr Alexander Teppa: Advice for Catholic educators of youth, a book we have already referred to.
Don Bosco may have become aware of the two words preventive and repressive from his contacts with the judiciary, from people involved in prisons, from people involved in juridical and penal matters, and from correctional institutions. We have mentioned earlier, in particular the correctional institution called La Generala. A similar idea may have also come from knowing, at least in summary, the more demanding pedagogical work written by Bishop Felix Dupanloup On Education, again already mentioned.
10. The impact of Turin's youth
The reference to Don Bosco's various pedagogical documents, and also the reference to their similarity to other books, lead us to an in-depth reflection on those who had an immediate impact on the formation of the mentality and style of Don Bosco the educator.
Don Bosco might have had some sort of dependence on other people both in culture and literature. But beyond all this, those who had most impact on Don Bosco's formation were the young and his fellow workers coming, as they did, from the most diverse backgrounds. Don Bosco's formation from his actual experience must be seen as the starting point. Of particular importance was his encounter with the youth of Turin during the years he spent at the Convitto Ecclesiastico, in the prisons, on the streets and in catechism classes. That was an entirely new experience. Most certainly what prepared Don Bosco for such an experience was not the rural world in which he had lived, and certainly not the Latin school of Chieri and not, at least from a practical point of view, the theological knowledge acquired at the seminary. His real school was the school of personal experience, and that school changed as the times and situations changed. Don Bosco was obliged to constantly restructure his perception of reality as his experience changed. On the other hand, with a realistically open-minded temperament and an ability to read situations, Don Bosco always showed particular sensitivity to those he met and with whom he lived. We should not be surprised if his rigorous fidelity to ideals and his determination to achieve great plans may have not prevented him from understanding and responding to requests, to the needs, to the characters of those he cared for. He was particularly sensitive to the changing needs of young people, something which varied considerably throughout his long life of educational activity from 1841-1888, even though he lived in different historical, social and cultural conditions. There are many examples to prove this. Above all we see it in Don Bosco's daily and intensively personalised
544 These brief pages were published first in a bilingual edition, Italian and French, in a work titled Inaugurazione del
Patronato di S. Pietro in Nizza a Mare. Scopo del medesimo esposto dal Sacerdote Giovanni Bosco con appendice sul
sistema preventivo nella educazione della gioventù, (Turin: tip. E libr salesiana, 1877), 68 pages, OE XXVIII 380-446;
two separate editions followed immediately, the whole work on theInaugurazione: from November of the same year
the pages on the preventive system found a place of honour in the work Regolamento per le case della Società di S.
Francesco di Sales, (Turin: tip. Salesiana, 1877), OE XXIX 99-109. Cf. Giovanni (s.) Bosco, Il sistema preventivo nella
educazione della gioventù. Introduzione e testi critici, ed. P. Braido, RSS 4 (1985): 171-321.
545 Cf. P. Stella, Don Bosco nella storia della religiosità cattolica, vol 2, ch. 14, Elementi religiosi nel sistema educativo di
Don Bosco, especially 450-459 (Il sistema preventivo nel contesto culturale di Don Bosco e del suo ambiente).