Systematic Vs Non-Systematic


SYSTEMATIC Vs NON-SYSTEMATIC

Cl. Mario D’Couto SDB

            As the oft repeated dictum goes, “Prevention is better than cure”, as educators, it is always said that when a teacher is present among his or her students, a lot of mishaps can be prevented. True, no doubt! But it is also important to see the other side of it.

            The basic fundamental spirituality of a Salesian educator is a spirituality of presence (I am writing from a Salesian perspective since I am a Salesian). We (Salesians) are always told that we need to be present among the boys and that is our mission. Being present is beneficial as the boys then become aware that there is someone watching over them and this would certainly ensure a preventive presence (unless if he chooses or decides not to act).

            However, there is also a flipside to it. If order is to be ensured only by “watchful eyes”, then what happens when there is nobody to watch? This is the danger of being over-protected. When a child grows in an over protected environment, later on in life he or she will find it hard to act out of convictions or to adjust in a new setting. When a child grows in an over protected environment and is later “thrown” into the outside world, he or she will definitely feel like a fish out of water.

            I sometimes wonder over the fact that when St. John Bosco began his work, I am sure that it took some time to settle down. He never began his work in an organized setting with time-tables, order, bells etc. The biographical memoirs testify to it. It was only much later in life, that with the beginning of the oratory, things began to fall into place.

            Henri Nouwen once made a nice statement which goes thus, “The dance of life finds its meaning in the midst of confusion.” Keeping this as our background, it would be good to ask how beneficial is it to keep things orderly? Now that does not mean to say that being orderly or following a fixed pattern of time-table is bad; it is good but it also has its flipside.

            We do not live in a clockwise mechanical world. There is no doubt that there are weather patterns and seasons which follow a particular pattern. Yet in comparison to the way things are going on, most of life’s realities do not follow a fixed pattern or a ‘time-table’. Besides, a time-table or a routine could lead to boredom while in a “play by ear” situation, there is always something novel to it.

            It is also said that the sign of a messy room is a working of a genius. Sounds odd, isn’t it? But think again! It is like a person who has a textbook with him. The textbook is a tool for learning and for a tool to reach its efficiency, it is important to use it. Else, it will become useless. In the same way if a person has a textbook and preserves it neatly without using it, then having a textbook is useless.

            A lot of things in life may not be the best but all the same it does not mean that it is useless. We are called to be perfect in an imperfect world. But the idea of perfection would not be there if we never knew what imperfection is, else, perfection would just become normality.

            Thus, on the whole, as Fr. Kenneth Pereira SDB, would write in his book, Nurturing Presence, “The Salesian educator (this also applies for other educative settings) believes in a world that does not function like a clock-work. It is a mixture of system and non-system. In fact Salesian pedagogy has thorough and healthy respect for the non-systematic. It is said that Don Bosco’s houses and especially the Oratory of Valdocco, were marked by a pleasant disorder, a happy chaos ....... and deliberately so! A perfectly disciplined classroom or boarding school is not at all educationally effective or healthy! Don Bosco knew how to operate in the midst of many unknowns. In this, he was perfectly in harmony with the basic character of our universe, which is an open rather than a closed system”, I guess the issue at hand is about maintaining a healthy balance in life, for balance is the key to a successful life; a balance between the systematic and the non-systematic.
              

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