The Critical Role the Jesuits Played in the History of Humanities Education
What can the Jesuit history and tradition tell us about the seeming dichotomy between the humanities and professional education?
Throughout history, people have gone to college to get a better job, said John O’Malley, a university professor in the theology department at Georgetown University. Yet the Jesuit tradition, of which he and Georgetown University are a part, has done its best to ensure that the education of the whole person is not neglected in favor of job training. O’Malley discussed the history of Jesuit education and its many accomplishments, one of which was the “first real institutionalization of the wedding” of the humanistic school and professional training. According to O’Malley, there are four main goals of a humanistic education:
- “Getting the fly out of the bottle” by breaking down the parochial vision of students
- Providing a sense of heritage
- Teaching students to say what they mean, or to speak clearly and effectively
- Teaching students to mean what they say, or to be ethical
These tenants are just as important today, O’Malley says, but the humanities are under siege. “The more pragmatic approach is dominating in an exclusivist way,” said O’Malley. “Those who believe in the humanities – what they can do, what they’re supposed to do – need to be out there crusading.” Despite the challenges that the humanities face, “my experience with students is that there’s always an idealism there lurking somewhere, and what professors need to do is tap into it…As a humanistic educator, I need to believe in this idealism, and I do believe in this idealism.”
