Don Bosco was of the opinion that young people make mistakes not out of malice but due to lack of guidance and thoughtlessness. If punishments are inflicted harshly they do not forget them easily and seek to take revenge. Therefore, if possible, it is better not to have recourse to punishments. But if punishment becomes inevitable they should be done privately, with love, prudence and patience. However, certain punishments like striking someone, pulling someone’s ears, making someone kneel and other such punishments are to be avoided absolutely.

In his short work entitled “The Preventive System in the Education of the Young,” Don Bosco says that “there are two systems which have been in use through all ages in the education of youth: the preventive and the repressive.” So the preventive system is not totally a creation of Don Bosco. Many of the elements that he considered as integral to his system were already mentioned by others. What is perhaps specific to Don Bosco is the genial way in which he combined various elements to give the already existing rudimentary system a new physiognomy.