Loading...
Loading...
Click here if you don’t see subscription options
Matt EmersonJuly 08, 2015

What is the meaning of "school"? How do we understand its role as distinct from other centers of learning?

Continuing the summer examen I began last week, I've been thinking a lot about a passage from one of the foundational documents of the Jesuit Secondary Education Association (now the Jesuit Schools Network). In the "Jesuit High School of the Future," the authors called for:

An enlarged concept of what constitutes the “school environment”; an increase in the variety and number of experiences which are seen as part of the schooling process; the school viewed as a center for organizing, integrating and reflecting on student learning experiences no matter what their resource (e.g., television, family, outside educational agencies, work or service experiences, etc.) rather than a view of the school as a self-contained institution which itself supplies a total learning process and environment . . .

As I reflect on this passage, more questions come to mind: What, precisely, does the traditional model of a Jesuit high school (or college) offer that a student cannot find elsewhere? Certainly the the subject matters of theology and spirituality come to mind, as does the related elements of retreats and immersion trips. Not many venues, academic or otherwise, invite young men and women to think intelligently about God. I think, then, the answer to my questions lies in part in the "organizing" and "integrating" functions noted above. Students can learn math many places, but will they learn math while being challenged to think about the good of the person and the possibilities of prayer? Students can study environmental science many places, but outside of a Catholic high school, will they be challenged to think about the environment within context of a concept as rich as stewardship? 

Where else, outside Catholic institutions, will a student be introduced to the underlying unity of all knowledge?

Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.

The latest from america

The conclave that begins next Wednesday to elect a successor for Pope Francis is the first in 46 ½ years for which the Vatican hasn’t ordered a set of cassocks from the two best-known papal tailors.
Papabile: How do conclave watchers come up with their lists of the next pope—and should we trust them?
Inside the VaticanMay 01, 2025
The people of God see the bishop of Rome as a teacher, but they also unquestionably see him as a father.
J.D. Long GarcíaMay 01, 2025
Since the death of Pope Francis, lists of his possible successors have proliferated on social media and in newspapers. Should you trust them?
Colleen DulleMay 01, 2025