Reflection #34 (Only 1042 to go!): The Jesuits

     In the mid-90's, during an episode of the highly acclaimed TV police drama, Homicide*, Officer Frank Pembleton (played by Andre Braugher, SICP class of '80) is talking to a nun. In the course of their conversation, Officer Pembleton says that, in his Catholic grammar school, the nuns taught him how to behave and what to think, and he felt perfectly safe. After graduation, he went to Saint Ignatius High School, and the Jesuits taught him to think for himself...and he hasn't felt safe since.
     That was a great line and it touched on what is essential to a Jesuit education. The great Saint Ignatius math teacher, Pat O'Mara attended both St. Ignatius and Loyola U. Those who knew Pat would agree that he could be quite outspoken when he felt an issue needed to be addressed. More than once I heard Pat say he learned that from the Jesuits. The Jesuits had taught him to think for himself, and they also taught him to have the courage to speak out for a just cause.
     St. Ignatius de Loyola formed the Society of Jesus to educate young men to be able to go out into the world to propagate and defend the faith. In doing so, they played a major role in the counter-reformation that stemmed the tide of Protestantism in 16th-century Europe. To me, what characterized a Jesuit education was an emphasis on knowledge and critical thinking. At Loyola U, we were inundated with philosophy courses...24 hours of mostly Saint Thomas...and I was a psych major with a math minor.
     It may be counterintuitive, but life is easier when someone else does our thinking for us. (We see that regularly in politics, but don't get me started.) Thinking for oneself correctly requires intelligence and knowledge and a large dose of humility.  Few things are more difficult for the intelligent person than to recognize and admit to an error.  A favorite saying of mine, from the Jillian Luzzi Compilation of Great Quotes, says, "Your absolute certainty that you are always right absolutely prevents you from knowing when you are wrong."
     When I started teaching at Saint Ignatius, I was often chided by teachers at other Catholic high schools who told me how easy I had it teaching only "smart" kids. (Actually, it wasn’t always that easy.) I'd usually smile, agree and turn away. I didn't argue, and I didn't disagree, but that was, and as far as I know still is, the mission of the Jesuits...to train the brightest students, giving them a strong moral compass so they can be good leaders. When I look at the achievements of so many of our alumni, I feel that we do a pretty good job.

     (*Regarding the Homicide series, not only did Andre Braugher graduate from St. Ignatius, but one of the show's writers, James Yoshimura, was from the Ignatius class of '68. While the drama was set in Baltimore, it seems more than a coincidence that Saint Ignatius and the Jesuits were mentioned.)