THE ‘ORIGINALITY’ OF SALESIAN ACADEMIC AND TECHNICAL SCHOOLS
1.1 Salesians in academic schools
The Salesian school originated in the Valdocco Oratory in response to the needs of the young people of that time and became part of an overall plan for the education and evangelization of youth especially those most in need.
The school apostolate has developed greatly in the Congregation in response to the needs of young people themselves, of society and of the Church and it has become a movement of educators of acknowledged quality.
We consider the school:
- as the preferred cultural medium of education in which we can give a systematic response to the needs of pupils proportionate to their growth;
- as an institution that determines the formation of personality, because it transmits a view of the world, of mankind and of history (cf. CS 8); and
- as one of the most important means of fostering human development and the prevention of marginalization.
We recognize the fundamental value of the school as a setting where the gospel throws light on culture and provides an effective integration of the process of education and the process of evangelization. This integration makes it an important educative alternative in today’s pluralistic society.
We are part of this movement of education and evangelization through the school, bringing the patrimony of the pedagogy inherited from Don Bosco and developed by subsequent tradition