P. Heiner Wilmer SCJ
The Primacy of Character. Leo Dehon's Educational Maxims
Commissione Generale pro Beatificazione di p. Dehon
Curia Generale SCJ
Roma - 2004
„Human beings are not to be educated by force, but by inspiration.”
Leo Dehon often used this statement by Lamartine to illustrate a basic principle of his concept of education.
Young people always fascinated Father Leo Dehon, the former curate of Saint-Quentin. He devoted a major part of his life to education. For sixteen years the founder of the congregation of the Priests of the Sacred Heart ran the college of Saint Jean in Saint-Quentin, a secondary school which he had originally founded on behalf of the bishop of Soissons. Even after resigning from his job as headmaster of the school, he remained committed to the children, youth, school-age children, students and seminarians. Even in old age he still took part regularly in the meetings of former students.
Dehon hoped to have a formative influence on young people, to inspire them and to make them familiar with the Gospel. He wanted to endow them with an extensive knowledge of literature, classical and modern languages and the sciences. He had a special interest in Geography. With great care he wanted the students to get to know the treasures of art, music and drama. Religious education was to be obligatory. The training of a strong and healthy body was not to be neglected. But above and beyond the imparting of knowledge he wanted to shape people's character.
To form the personalities of young people in all aspects was the prime concern of his educational approach. One only needs to read the numerous letters to the members of his family which contain his advice about dealing with their children. But the most instructive insight into Dehon's educational style is to be found in the speeches on the occasion of the year-end award ceremonies at Saint-Jean college.
To deal with the different aspects of Father Dehon's understanding of education is doubly fruitful because you not only gain an insight into the educational culture of his charges, but also into the congregation's style of leadership. Just as Dehon tried to inspire and form young people, young people formed and inspired the founder of the congregation of the Priests of the Sacred Heart. It can be said that his experience in dealing with young people influenced both, Dehon's maxims of education and his style of leadership, helping him to build up the congregation of the Priests of the Sacred Heart, which was still in its early beginnings.
This paper does not discuss the basic considerations underlying Father Dehon's educational objectives. It does not focus on the goal of education, but rather on the question how we should educate young people. The intention is to present readers with some of Dehon's maxims of education.
In the Dehonian archives in Rome there is an undated, handwritten note by Dehon with the title „Education”. It is only a few pages long written on A5 German standard paper.
On the first pages Dehon writes about the following topics: „1. Caring for the body, 2. For the soul, 3. Education in the spirit of God, 4. Education for the future.”
These lines were directed not at teachers or educators at boarding schools, but at parents. Since the first two paragraphs, in which Dehon ponders about the education of body and soul, are the most substantial ones, in particular the passage about the soul, I want to quote them in full. Dehon wrote:
1. The mother should breastfeed her child if she can. If she is not able to do so herself, she should look for an honest and pious wet nurse, making sure that the child does not suck corruption together with the milk.
2. The children should be given simple and healthy food; their health should be of more concern than their moods.
3. The father should concern himself with the maintenance and expansion of his position. He should make sure that
4. his children work and
5. give alms, because it is a blessing for the family.
1. Pray intensely each day for your own children.
2. Set a good example in every respect, keeping them safe from scandalous and dangerous books, newspapers and pictures.
3. Implanting virtue into their minds and their hearts from early childhood on. The first few weeks have a decisive impact. The mother should teach her children to pray and guide them in their first steps in faith; they should be trained to lead virtuous lives and to avoid sin, and to honour the Virgin Mary.
4. The mothers should make sure that their children do not play with children of less virtuous character in the streets; they should be solicitous about where their children go and with whom they associate.
5. They should admonish their children.
These souls are carefree, unsteady and interested in having fun. One must surround them with care, warn them, form them and heal them.
Qui parcit virga, odit filium (Proverbs 3,24)
Whoever spares the rod, hates his son.
In general an admonition which aims at persuasion achieves more than a strong rebuke.
6. Let them have a Christian education. Science and virtue are different sides of the same coin and should be cultivated together.
7. Let them be free in the choice of their vocation.
This appears to be a quickly written outline of some ideas concerning education, which might have been meant to serve as a basis for later talks and articles. It is not a systematic text and must therefore not be over-interpreted. Nevertheless, these few lines already point in a direction which gives us a first inkling of Dehon's understanding of education.
The image of man on which Dehon's educational objectives are based is neither Platonic, nor does it go back to the later works of Augustine nor to those conceptions which start from the assumption that human nature is evil. Dehon adopts a very attentive and caring approach towards the human body. First of all, in Dehon's eyes the human body is in need of care. As far as education is concerned - this is also confirmed by other texts - it is vital that the well-being and health of the body is attended to first. The body has its own rights and must be treated accordingly. Only then can the focus be laid on the soul, the virtuous life, the supervision in matters of faith and the imparting of knowledge.
Education in freedom, which leads to being free and which expresses itself, for example, in the freedom of choice in one's vocation, is one of Dehon's principles of education. But before a young person is able to stand on his own two feet and to take life into his own hands, he needs to experience an all-embracing tenderness and care from both his mother and his father. In this Dehon set himself apart from the idea of fatherhood prevalent in his time.
From the second half of the 19th century onwards fathers spent more and more time away from their families. The father was identified with his work rather than with his role as father at home. The pedagogical and medical literature of the time concentrated increasingly on the mother. The natural ability to form an emotional bond with the child was exclusively assigned to the mother. Dealing with children was seen as „unmanly”. The allocation of reason, discipline and firmness to the husband and father resulted in his being assigned the task of „supreme enforcer of rules and regulations,” especially for his sons.
In contrast, Dehon ascribes also to fathers an independent role on the affective level. The father should provide his family not only a decent income, but he should also ensure that his children work and - and this is surprising - give alms. They should learn to become accustomed to the corporal works of mercy. Children should be educated in such a way that already early in life they pay attention to those in need. They should become sensitive to those in need. Their eyes should be opened. They should learn not only to observe poverty but also to act effectively. As a result, altruistic education will become a blessing for the family. And last but not least the father shall pray together with his wife for their children.
It is interesting to see what Dehon's notes tell us about the origin of consciousness, thinking, language and character. It seems that for Dehon putting a stamp on the senses is at the core of developing personality. What a human being perceives through his senses, what he experiences, determines him. It is central for Dehon that the human is marked by his surroundings in which he lives. In short: Dehon's approach is a-posteriori.
The distinction between a-priori knowledge - the knowledge of space or time, which precedes every experience - and a-posteriori knowledge - the knowledge conveyed through the senses - does not exist in Dehon's writings. He seems to have remained completely unaffected by the transcendental arguments which had so influenced German Idealism since Immanuel Kant and which had had an impact also on educational theories.
Nor are there any considerations in Dehon's works concerning the relationship between genes and behaviour. The notion that differences in character are partly hereditary - such as psychic predispositions - and partly nurture is not to be found in his writings.
Dehon seems to have been somewhat suspicious about the questions and theories raised by in 19th century French doctors and psychologists. One of the most influential personalities in this field was the French neurologist Jean Martin Charcot (1825-1893), the teacher of Pierre Janet and Sigmund Freud. He worked at „La Salpêtrière”, the most famous mental hospital of the 19th century, originally the poorhouse of Paris. With his experimental medicine Charcot had arrived at the conclusion that mystical phenomenon were not supernatural but had their origin in the human psyche. The mystic is mentally ill; mystic apparitions are to be put down to hysteria - this theory had thrown the theologians in France into a state of shock. Charcot's writings concerning the human psyche had caused a sensation. They made many educators think, and raised doubts in some of them.
Neither the considerations concerning a-priori knowledge and genetic or psychological predispositions nor the theories stemming from the newly established field of psychoanalysis played a role in Dehon's maxims of education. He rather owed a major part of his ideas indirectly to Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778), even though he would never have admitted this since he harshly criticized the hostility towards religion inherent in Rousseau's philosophy. But Rousseau's philosophy strongly influenced the educators of the 19th century.
As a representative of the enlightenment Rousseau fought for individual freedom and was opposed to the absolute power of state and church. Rousseau's theory of education led to the development of tolerant and psychologically orientated methods of education. He influenced educators like Pestalozzi (1746-1827) in Switzerland, Friedrich Fröbel (1782-1852) in Germany and later Maria Montessori (1870-1952) in Italy to draw up their own concepts of modern education. With his passionate defence of reason and of individual rights, Rousseau's thinking stands between the enlightenment of the 18th and the romanticism of the 19th century with the latter supplanting the rational thinking of the previous period with a more subjective approach. For example, Rousseau had a forming influence on Pestalozzi's educational maxim of the „loving” treatment of pupils, which has shown its lasting effect on the Pestalozzi-schools until today. The same maxim is also found in Dehon's writings.
Nevertheless, Dehon rejected Rousseau in his writings because he refused to accept Rousseau's ideas concerning the natural state of man and the resulting denial of original sin. He rejected the dominating role Rousseau ascribes to the state by charging it with the task of giving its citizens moral instruction in accordance with the general will.
But together with other modern educators, Dehon agrees with Rousseau's emphasis on the considerable role surroundings, experience and the sense observation play in the formation of a person's character. Accordingly for Dehon the following proverb is not the only truth: 'Tell me the company a person keeps, and I will tell you who you are.' He goes much further: 'Tell me what you eat and drink, what you see and read, what you smell, taste and feel and whose company you keep, and I will tell you who you are'.
According to Leo Dehon humans become what they are by what befalls them through his senses. Since what we call the character or personality is due to the impressions upon the senses, the greatest formative task of education lies in watching over all the information which enters the child's mind through the senses in order to ensure that the child is exposed to positive influences. Given this it is easy to see why the books to be read must not be picked at random. It also explains why for Dehon the child's socializing with his peers must not be left to chance and why it is important which wet nurse feeds the baby.
On one of his journeys round the world Father Dehon visited a girls' school in Washington. His enthusiasm can be seen in his journal when he speaks of the school's facilities: There was a school museum, a large park, each student had her own study area, her own bedroom, and a bathroom. Dehon was impressed: „What a difference from our barrack-like boarding schools!”8 He frequently emphasized that education demands adequate surroundings. Students do not have live in luxury, but they ought to live in comfortable conditions.
The primary duty of education is to take care of the health of the young person, in line with with the classic principle, orandum est, ut sit mens sana in corpore sano. „Christian education does not neglect things which are important for physical development. It is concerned with hygiene and with physical exercise.”9
The headmaster of Saint Jean attached more importance to formation of personality than to the imparting of knowledge. He speaks of the schooling of the heart and character. Many institutions, he lamented, were merely interested in the intellect. While planning the timetable there is much discussion about the right proportion of classical and modern languages, of the sciences, of lessons in art and in history.
„But do we occupy ourselves enough with finding the ways and means which will help the children develop qualities like steadfastness, moderation, dignity, respect, courage, initiative? In the meantime their life as individuals will depend more on what they are because of their heart and their character than because of the knowledge they have assimilated. Many an excellent pupil, his head „pretty full”, as Montaigne says, has left the Collège only to perpetrate all kinds of foolish things, from which he might have been spared by a more intensive moral education.”10
„Education in freedom.” With these simple words Henri Dorresteijn characterized Dehon's educational maxim. Dehon was impressed by the Lazarite College in Los Angeles, where he was greeted by an atmosphere of liberty. „The pupils leave the house without any formalities. They can go to the theatre. On Saturdays and Sundays there is no schedule. In America it is regarded as important that children learn to come to terms with freedom at an early age.”11
The heart of education is religion. God is the guiding principle and the aim of all things. Only an education, which initiates one in the faith, only an education which calls upon parents and teachers who pray for their children, who celebrate religious services with them and who are exemplary in all respects will bear fruit in abundance. For this reason school and church belonged together for Dehon. This becomes apparent in his first award-giving speech at Saint Jean, where he cites M. Thiers: „A school is good only when it is in the shadow of the sacristy.”12
An education which offers no religious orientation and which claims to educate neutrally was for Dehon like a square circle. Accordingly, Dehon rejected any tendency critical of religion in education. In his chronicle of September 1903 he reports about an „incident” in Marseille. At an award-giving ceremony there M. Dautresme, the general secretary of the Préfecture des Bouches-du-Rhône, explained to the assembled pupils the necessity of snatching the younger generation from superstitious prejudices in order to prepare them for the coming moral revolution. According to Dehon Dautresme maintained:
This task [of preparing for the coming moral revolution] can only be fulfilled by non-denominational lessons. By this he means not only instruction by a secular staff, but also a teaching which is characterized by the great truths which form a free conscience. Conscience is to be freed from the Christian subservience which humiliates humans with the depressing concept of guilt, moral inadequacy, making them into quaking, superstitious slaves.13 (…) The future belongs to science and not to faith. What a pity for religion (ohs and ahs from the audience) that the evolution of the human intellect runs its course without religion and despite it!„14
Banning religion from school can only lead to a catastrophe, according to Dehon. For the country schools without religion are a national disaster, which - according to Dehon - the good French mind will realize one day.
„The time will soon come when those priests who take a stand in their pulpit against a school without God will no longer be sentenced to prison or a fine. Instead they will be requested to bring the Cross and catechism back into the schools in order to save society.”15
Dehon uses the twofold experience of the poet Lamartine to illustrate the effects of an education without religion. As a youth, Lamartine became acquainted with education both in a secular college and in a Christian school. Here is his memory of the secular college:
Just like among barbarians who throw their sons alternately into boiling and icy water to desensitize their skin against the elements, the child (at a secular college) is tossed between unbelief and belief. It lives in a school whose spirit and direction are divided. It should have two souls, however, it has only one. It is torn to and fro, pulled apart by being pulled in opposite directions. Its thoughts are thrown into uncertainty and disorder; all that remains is a remnant of faith and a few shreds of reason. Its faith fades; its reason grows cold without the fire of passion; its soul withers; and its enthusiasm changes into indifference and despair.”
How different is Lamartine's memory of his days at the Christian school:
The talent of our teachers was to awaken our personal interest in the success of the school and to guide us with the help of our own will and enthusiasm. A divine spirit appeared to inspire both teachers and pupils. All of our souls were given wings and soared with natural vigour towards the beautiful and the good. Even the most unruly pupils among us were raised on high and swept along with the common movement. At this school I saw how young people are educated: not by forcing them, but by inspiring them.16
For Dehon Lamartine was a kind of source. The personal experience of the poet was a reliable point of reference for the principal and headmaster of Saint Quentin. From a modern point of view, as well as in the eyes of his time Lamartine's perception of education at a secular school is too negative and his view of education at a Christian school too positive. It is not the concern of this essay to judge the truth of Lamartine's statements, nor to examine the form and image of the French school system. For our purposes these passages from Dehon's work are important because they help us indirectly to understand his ideal concept of education.
At the centre of the Christian method of education stands inspiration. It is grounded, in the final analysis, in the Spirit of God inspiring both teachers and pupils. This God-given enthusiasm infects the whole school community, unites it as a group, and gives it a feeling of togetherness and identity. It lends the soul wings in its endeavour to attain the beautiful and the good.
The Spirit of God is the true educator, giving form and shape to everything. It renews the face of the earth, instructing also people to its thrust. Dehon advocates an education which is formative and edifying, giving wing to the soul while remaining in touch with reality and down to earth. This aim is entirely different from an education that seeks to be an comprehensive transfer of knowledge.
Just before the summer holidays, on the occasion of the award ceremony, the headmaster of Saint-Jean used to hold a lengthy keynote speech. In the award ceremony of July 31, 1886, Father Dehon spoke particularly passionately to his audience of pupils, teachers and guests. He spoke so passionately because he connected his message with his favourite subject of geography. He describes an imaginary geography lesson in which he takes his pupils by the hand to show them the world. And he explains to them what impression this experience would leave on their souls:
„The beautiful! What reason may there be for keeping it hidden from a child's soul? Is not the one made for the other? Who is in a better position to enjoy the beautiful than a young person. The soul thirsts for the beautiful. This is the age for enthusiasm and for love.
If I were a geography teacher, I would say to young people, „Look at this globe, which is like a garden of humanity, planned by a great artist and his pupils. The artist is God and his pupils are humans, the artists of this earth.” I would say, „Use your holidays, profit from your journeys, make notes, observe, compare.” This should be done, of course, with moderation and without exceeding one's means. Some of you will go only on an imaginary journey with the help of a few good books. Others who need not worry about money will go on long journeys. (…) By the way, a well-undertaken journey, whether it is long or short, is worth just as much as other forms of entertainment and reward. It is a course of study of the best kind. Enjoyment of this course is on the same level as an evening with friends, a game of billiards, reading a novel. Contact with the beautiful ennobles the soul, the spectacle of greatness raises it on high.”17
With this geography teacher in mind, let us conclude by listing the maxims of education which appear to be most important for Father Dehon. On account of the deep impact that his work with young people had on Dehon, these maxims shed light not only on his pedagogy but also on his style of leadership in his young congregation.
1. The child is loved by God; its personality is sacred.
2. Love of children is the basis of education.
3. True education allows itself to be guided by the Spirit of God.
4. Education is all-encompassing; it paves the way for faith and responsibility.
5. Words are meaningless without visuals.
6. Teachers are an example in all respects. The influence of peers is a significant socializing factor.
7. Inspiration and enthusiasm are the main elements of education. They lead to self-discovery in learning.
8. Education takes place in freedom.