Saint John Bosco is one of the patrons of Catholic education. Born in Italy of good, simple, God-fearing parents, he had extraordinary intelligence, physical strength, and charm. He was ordained a priest and dedicated much of his life to the true Catholic formation of boys. He founded boarding schools and eventually an order of priests under the patronage of Saint Francis de Sales. What follows are some guidelines for students given by the Saint.
My dear sons, I want to suggest a few means for you to triumph in your studies, so I will teach them to you one by one each night.
1. The first means for studying well is to have fear of God.
Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Do you want to become truly wise and make great achievements in class? Fear the Lord. Avoid offending Him, because wisdom will not enter the malevolent soul, nor will it inhabit the body given over to sin. The wisdom of man springs from the Wisdom of God. …What pleasure can one experience in studies when his heart is agitated by his passions? How does one intend to overcome the difficulties he stumbles through in his studies without God’s help?
2. The second means for studying advantageously consists in not losing even a second of time.
Time … is a treasure. In the time that you should devote to studies, give yourself entirely. Never look for pretexts to escape from class. It is painful to see students who contrive pretexts of sickness or forcefully wrest permissions from superiors to avoid fulfilling these duties.
During study time or class time, do not read books that have nothing to do with the material being covered. Suppress daydreams. Do you see that student who seems engrossed in his book? Do you think he is studying? Right, right…! His mind is thousands and thousands of leagues away…. Let’s study, then, and not lose time.
3. The third means for success in studies consists in getting used to not going on in any subject, .... without knowing the previous material well.
Consequently, memorize what you are studying. Cicero said, very correctly, ‘We know as much as we retain in our memory‘. Study daily in such wise that the lesson or the section of the classical author that the teacher pointed out is well engraved in your mind; I say every day because if you are not careful to learn it today, you will have to double your efforts tomorrow to catch up.
4. The fourth means for studying advantageously consists of eating in an orderly and timely fashion.
Gluttony has claimed more victims than the sword. Do you want advice? Don’t live to eat; eat to live. Take little at breakfast and snack. Don’t eat until you are full. If you have a tasty morsel saved in your drawer, don’t be lured by gluttony to eat all of it at once; save some for the next few days, and it will do you no harm. ….. Whoever goes to class stuffed with food soon feels his head overloaded, indisposed, and wearied. He vainly fights tiredness and loses time miserably, because he understands little or nothing and cannot fix his attention….
5. The fifth means for getting ahead in studies is to keep company with other studients.
Use study circles and groups. During the breaks, stay near … your better-instructed companions; ask about [whatever you are studying]. Speak among yourselves often about things related to your duties — the lessons, compositions, and translations. … Frivolous and useless conversations are worthless, merely distracting the mind and cooling the heart…
6. The sixth means is an orderly recreation.
Use the entire recreation period, because playing will bring new strength for studying better during class time. Do not turn your recreation time into study time, because when you have to study later during the appointed time periods, your mind will be tired and you will gain little. Also avoid (giving yourself over) to the game so much that you are thinking about it during class. ….
(Avoid too)…those young people who walk about in cliques, speaking about outings, parties, snacks, festivities, and vacations with such enthusiasm that during class they can think of nothing else. For those who have bad conversations during recreation, I will say only that without fear of God it is impossible for them to truly progress.
Consequently, even in your recreation, be orderly
7. The seventh means for studying profitably is this: attack and overcome all difficulties you encounter in your subjects of study.
When you find difficulties, don’t panic…. it is only natural that you are going to learn what you don’t already know. And to learn what you don’t know means you must force your mind, with greater or lesser effort depending on each one’s greater or lesser wit. Therefore, take courage! It is necessary never to leave a job half-done. Those who evade a difficulty that comes along do not act well if they say, "I don’t understand this!" and then go on to something else. It is worthwhile to wait until the difficulty has been conquered and overcome.
To obtain this, first have recourse to Jesus and Mary, and you will see how the difficulties will disappear. Never forget, dearest sons, that this is the best way to overcome all difficulties in studies, because God is the only Giver and Father of knowledge. He communicates it to whom and as He wishes. Every day you say to the Most Holy Virgin in the Litany: Seat of Wisdom, pray for us. Mary is the Seat of Wisdom. Go also to your teachers and assistants; they will quicken and help you with all the explanations you need. ….
We should not become discouraged in encountering difficulties. Saint Jerome gives an example of perseverance with his studies of Sacred Scripture. Having been commissioned to translate the Bible from Hebrew to Latin, he retreated to a cave. After spending much time with similar studies, he was unable to resolve numerous difficulties. So he decided to put the task aside. One fine day, having left the cave, he saw a rock with a small hole in it. He stopped to consider how the little hole had been formed, and he concluded that the incessant falling of water, drop by drop, in the same spot over a long period of time had formed the hole. "Who knows," he said, "if this is not a sign from heaven for me not to become discouraged and to continue my work? If a drop of water, with time, could drill a hole in this rock, cannot I also, with constancy, finish my job?"
So he continued, taking lessons from a learned master and finished his magnificent task, to the incalculable advantage of all Christendom.
8. The eighth means to study beneficially consists of dedicating yourself exclusively to studying the subjects of your course.
One does not acquire knowledge leafing through many books. When Saint Thomas was asked how he had become so learned, he answered, "Reading just one book at a time."
It is necessary to mark well in your mind that studies outside of your assigned subjects must be postponed. ... There are young men who read a lot and are unable to do anything but tangle their brains. There are many who read unassigned poetry, tales, stories, or classical prose — excellent in themselves, if you will, but which distance them from their duties, preventing them from acquiring true knowledge.
"But," you will ask, "what if I have free time after I have finished my work and studied my lesson?" Go over it again. Go back to certain rules you have forgotten…. In sum, don’t waste your time reading stories.
As I give you these counsels, I do not set aside the importance and advantages of orderly and judicious reading; but it is necessary that you have present, while reading, the following norms:
First: Do not read other books until you have finished your studies, and
Second: Do not read … useless books, poorly written or reprehensible, that corrupt the mind and heart, insinuating perverse maxims.
9. Continuing the list of means to study with headway, always have recourse to the protection of Mary Most Holy.
(Avoid too)…those young people who walk about in cliques, speaking about outings, parties, snacks, festivities, and vacations with such enthusiasm that during class they can think of nothing else. For those who have bad conversations during recreation, I will say only that without fear of God it is impossible for them to truly progress.
Consequently, even in your recreation, be orderly
7. The seventh means for studying profitably is this: attack and overcome all difficulties you encounter in your subjects of study.
When you find difficulties, don’t panic…. it is only natural that you are going to learn what you don’t already know. And to learn what you don’t know means you must force your mind, with greater or lesser effort depending on each one’s greater or lesser wit. Therefore, take courage! It is necessary never to leave a job half-done. Those who evade a difficulty that comes along do not act well if they say, "I don’t understand this!" and then go on to something else. It is worthwhile to wait until the difficulty has been conquered and overcome.
To obtain this, first have recourse to Jesus and Mary, and you will see how the difficulties will disappear. Never forget, dearest sons, that this is the best way to overcome all difficulties in studies, because God is the only Giver and Father of knowledge. He communicates it to whom and as He wishes. Every day you say to the Most Holy Virgin in the Litany: Seat of Wisdom, pray for us. Mary is the Seat of Wisdom. Go also to your teachers and assistants; they will quicken and help you with all the explanations you need. ….
We should not become discouraged in encountering difficulties. Saint Jerome gives an example of perseverance with his studies of Sacred Scripture. Having been commissioned to translate the Bible from Hebrew to Latin, he retreated to a cave. After spending much time with similar studies, he was unable to resolve numerous difficulties. So he decided to put the task aside. One fine day, having left the cave, he saw a rock with a small hole in it. He stopped to consider how the little hole had been formed, and he concluded that the incessant falling of water, drop by drop, in the same spot over a long period of time had formed the hole. "Who knows," he said, "if this is not a sign from heaven for me not to become discouraged and to continue my work? If a drop of water, with time, could drill a hole in this rock, cannot I also, with constancy, finish my job?"
So he continued, taking lessons from a learned master and finished his magnificent task, to the incalculable advantage of all Christendom.
8. The eighth means to study beneficially consists of dedicating yourself exclusively to studying the subjects of your course.
One does not acquire knowledge leafing through many books. When Saint Thomas was asked how he had become so learned, he answered, "Reading just one book at a time."
It is necessary to mark well in your mind that studies outside of your assigned subjects must be postponed. ... There are young men who read a lot and are unable to do anything but tangle their brains. There are many who read unassigned poetry, tales, stories, or classical prose — excellent in themselves, if you will, but which distance them from their duties, preventing them from acquiring true knowledge.
"But," you will ask, "what if I have free time after I have finished my work and studied my lesson?" Go over it again. Go back to certain rules you have forgotten…. In sum, don’t waste your time reading stories.
As I give you these counsels, I do not set aside the importance and advantages of orderly and judicious reading; but it is necessary that you have present, while reading, the following norms:
First: Do not read other books until you have finished your studies, and
Second: Do not read … useless books, poorly written or reprehensible, that corrupt the mind and heart, insinuating perverse maxims.
9. Continuing the list of means to study with headway, always have recourse to the protection of Mary Most Holy.
Mary is the Seat of Wisdom. Thus, before studying your lesson, before beginning the author’s explanation, before doing your composition, don’t ever forget to pray a ‘Hail Mary’to the Virgin, adding ’Seat of Wisdom, pray for us.’ Realize, also, that –our action– is prayer directed to the Holy Ghost.
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