BIRTH OF AFORMULA: PREVENTIVE SYSTEM, REPRESSIVE SYSTEM
3. Pierre Antoine P oullefs Preventive System (1810-1846)
The director o f the Institute St Vincent o f Senlis, Pierre Antoine Poullet (1810- 1846)16 argues against Thiers on these points: the superficial judgements on the religious education provided by the public schools, his com parison betw een the quality and results o f such an education in Catholic boarding schools17 and the educational method used in such schools. Finally he elaborated on the features o f a system o f education which is not formally defined as preventive, but contains all o f its features. First o f all, the system o f education used at the Senlis School is based on foundations shared by any authentic system o f education. It entails commitment, discipline, responsibility; it is not perm issive; it does not allow for uncalled-for fam ily interventions; it demands the exact observance o f the rules, quiet, silence, orderliness, punctuality and obedience.18
13 ibid 57-58.
14 ib id ..62..
15 A . T hiers R apport, pp. 59 -6 2 .
16 On P ou llet, cf. E. V alentini, “L’abate P o u llet (1 8 1 0 - 1 8 4 6 )”, in R ivista di P edagogia e di S cienze R eligiose 2 (1964): 34-52; ibid., “ Il sistem a preventivo di Poullet” , ibid, 7 (1969): 147- 192. P o u lle t’s p ed a g o g ica l th inking can be found in D iscours su r l 'éd u ca tio n p ro n o n cé s aux d istributions des p rix de son établissem ent, su iv is de q uelq u es autres éscrits du m êm e a u teu r, (Paris: Pringuet 1851), 1 6 .4 2 7 pages.
17 C f. L ettre à M. Thiers à l ’occasion de so n R apport su r le p ro je t de loim r e la tif à l'in stru c tio n secondaire, in P.-A. Poullet, D iscours, 2 3 3 -2 6 4 . To be able to speak o f the quality and results o f ‘r e lig io n ’ in d ifferen t institutes, he o b jects, “ on e n eed s to k n ow first o f all w hat is m eant by relig io u s a n d m o ra l education, or rather w hat is religion , w hat is m oral, w here d oes on e find the co m p lete and pure truth w h ich are the d uties im posed by G od .” (ib id ., p. 235).
18 P.-A. Poullet, Discours. 2 46-248.
Secondly, it excludes the “military regim e” o f the State schools even though it does require o f those who hold responsibility in the school that they have the following features: dedication, conscientious vigilance, zeal m ixed with moderate indulgence and fatherly flexibility.19 The im m ediate goal o f educational activity is, in fact, the protection o f the pupils’ innocence. This is achieved through constant assistance which means an uninterrupted presence am ong them .20 But this assistance is expected to be
“ intelligent, prudent, tolerant, i.e., charitable”. This type o f assistance aims not only at protecting innocence and preventing anything contrary to it, but at being solicitous about it and fostering it. This can actually happen when the following three means are used: vigilance exercised; principles instilled; being kept busy.21
The last goal o f this system o f education is to form the hum an and Christian character o f the young, to develop intelligence by m eans o f classical and scientific culture. The religious principle stands out and above, and entails fulfilm ent o f on e’s duties towards God, application to study taken as prayer and as a religious and saintly duty” .22
Education is carried out in a true family-like atmosphere and in a twofold sense:
first o f all, collaboration and integration betw een fam ily and school education are sincerely fostered. N o teacher will ever claim for him self the gratitude, trust and love w hich bind children to their parents. A t the sam e tim e, the school carries out its education, thanks to an authority which is like the extension o f a father’s and m other’s authority. “If the school is not a family, then it is nothing at all” .23
Added to all this is the them e o f love as a pedagogical principle and the theme o f indulgence as a m ethod.24
Love should take first place in educational activity. ‘The H eart’., yes! It is above all, and first o f all, through the heart, w ith a loving heart, with a tender and generous heart that the teacher should carry out his im portant m inistry” .25 N o, the heart is not only expected to pour the oil which facilitates the heart’s m ovem ent; the heart itself m ust be the first mover... It is not enough to call upon the heart as an auxiliary tool, it must be the dominant principle: in a word, education is not the work o f the spirit directed by the heart, it is actually the w ork o f the heart directed by the spirit”.26
19 ibid. 248-249.
20 “Our first rule is to constantly keep the boy with us, near us, under our e y e s” (Discours. 25).
21 P.-A. P oullet, Discours, 28 -3 3 .
22 P.-A. Poullet, D iscours. 3 3 -3 8 ,1 0 7 ,1 2 0 . 23 Ibid., 4 6 -5 1 ,6 3 -7 0 .
24 Ibid.,resp ectively, 1 3 7 -1 5 7 a n d 81-101.
25 Ibid., 138.
26 Ibid., 140-141.
Indulgence is the expression o f the heart and is m ade evident all along the various stages o f education. Poullet excludes the kind o f indulgence which stands for weakness or flattery. “Indulgence implies an attitude o f waiting, tolerating, closing an eye to, forgiving. It is an educative dimension which needs to be joined to all others: to zeal which is always on the alert for action; to vigilance which lets nothing escape the eye; to authority which commands, and to justice which punishes”.27
Indulgence is something required by a boy’s nature, by the limits o f his availability to co-operate with his educator. A boy is a “hum an being w eak in soul, body, w ill, reason. A boy is a human being who is frivolous, inconstant, ruled by a thousand ideas, a thousand feelings which happen to be contradictory; he is a human being subject to all kinds o f im pressions com ing from inside and from w ithout” . “B oys are boys.
Freedom, m ovement, noise are irresistible needs at a boy’s age. When a guilty young m an innocently says I d idn’t think about it, we can always believe him ” .28 However, indulgence should be balanced and prudent. “ Let us be indulgent when confronted with w eakness but let there be no weakness in our indulgence” .29
In particular, indulgence should be m easured according to the different stages o f education: less is needed when it is a question o f disciplinary rules to be observed;
m ore is needed in reference to m oral and religious education: “a m an cannot be reformed except by m eans o f the heart and we cannot reach the heart except through love.”30
Only in an atmosphere o f gentleness can a healthy fear, the beginning o f wisdom, come to the fore in particular circumstances, and with great effectiveness. Fear is the beginning o f wisdom, and nothing more, as w e rem em ber that we are called to be the
“friends and fathers o f our pupils” .31
The final and overall outcome will be the spirit o f a place o f education.32 “This spirit is constituted by the prudence, m oderation, zeal and heart o f the educators but above all, and essentially, by the spirit o f the pupils w hich creates an atm osphere o f sincerity, modesty, good behaviour, openness and affection” .33 “Moreover, this spirit brings true piety tow ards God, com plete loyalty and a cordial benevolence in the pupils’ relationships with their teachers and classmates and the scrupulous observance o f the sacred laws o f m odesty” .34 This is w hy it is indispensable that a system o f
27 Ibid., 87.
28 Ibid. 88-92.
29 Ibid., 92.
30 P.-A. P oullet, Discours. 94-95.
31 Ibid., 99-100.
32 Ibid., 1 5 8 -1 8 5 . D u bon esprit dans les m a iso n s d 'é ed u c a tio n . 33 Ibid., 162-1 6 4 ,1 7 0 .
34 Ibid., 174-175.
freedom, love and trust, o f a love regulated and a trust m oderated by a ju st authority, should be preferred to a repressive system ” .35
It is not enough to stop evil; we have to develop w hat is good” .36
This sum total o f principles and orientations, Poullet concluded, does not constitute a great theory or com plex system or an art reserved only for the initiated. “W hat is sim ply needed is to assist constantly and loyally, to instruct solidly, to use frequent reminders, to encourage with kindness, to reward with joy, to punish with due motivation and in m oderation, and especially to put up w ith everything with tireless constancy, and to love with an unalterable tenderness. All o f this m ay require some virtues, but a very sm all am ount o f skill; it m ay require experience but no deep research; it m ay require the quick glance o f a practical observation, but not the genius needed for high speculation. All o f the above can and m ust be done with sim plicity”.37