The Culture of the Jesuit Teacher 1548-1773

Abstract

The culture of the Jesuit teacher consisted of his daily pedagogical attitudes, habits, and practices. In 1560, General Laínez decreed that the schools were the most important ministry and that all Jesuit scholastics and priests must teach. All taught grammar and humanities classes in the lower school for three to five years, and some Jesuits spent most of their careers teaching in the upper school. Learning to manage a classroom of fifty to one hundred boys with the aid of student helpers called decurions was part of teacher culture. Jesuit teacher culture strongly emphasized competition. It rewarded good students and punished weak students. A major purpose of Jesuit teacher culture was to educate boys to be good future leaders of the state and the church. Jesuit teacher culture gave preference to well-born students. It also urged teachers to help lowborn and academically weak students.