Samowychowanie młodzieży w oratoriach prowadzonych w systemie wychowawczym św. Jana Bosko w świetle badań empirycznych

Abstract

The problems of self-formation in Christian pedagogy plays an essential place. In the formative system of St Jan Bosco they are dominating. The paper seeks to show the process of self-formation in the parochial oratories, run in the preventive system of St John Bosco. Accordingly, empirical research was done among the adolescents, participating in the life of oratories, to show the significance of an oratory in the self-formation of young people. Among the subjects under study (75 people) two groups were separated: the first group (44 subjects) stayed in the oratory more than two years; the second group (31 subjects) stayed there for less than two years. The fact that somebody belongs to an oratory is connected with a formative influence, affecting - in some periods - the process of self-formation. The findings proved that those people who had stayed longer in the oratory more than three years) were more committed to the process of self-formation that those who had stayed there shorter. The subjects who were longer in the oratory were more willing to be authentic, they had a greater sense of responsibility for their own life and decisions. The religious life, too, was more profound in those people, as they were more eager to put the religious and moral values into practice. These subjects had taken up in a more decisive way the self-formative process in the religious province. Their faith had become deepened, they had gained a greater awareness in using religious practices, they had improved the interpersonal relationships in their environment. In the light of the findings one could notice a certain regularity, namely that the longer was the sojourn in the oratory the greater was self-awareness, self-cognition, realism in making aims in one’s own life, while enthusiasm and emotional "effusiveness" would subside. One could also notice, on the basis of empirical research, that individual perfection dominated, the orientation towards fellowship was scarce.