Issue Home Volume 11: Issue 4

Jesuit Pedagogy
William Rehg, SJ
Associate Professor
Department of Philosophy

From its earliest days in the sixteenth century, Jesuit pedagogy has stressed the students’ active appropriation of material. In Part IV of the Constitutions of the Society of Jesus, St. Ignatius insists on active methods of learning he had experienced at the University of Paris. Besides memorization and original composition followed by corrective feedback, these methods include “disputations” and “repetitions.” The former involves debates in which one student defends a given position from objections of an audience; in the latter, one student “repeat[s] the matter” to other students, who then pose difficulties.

Both methods are familiar staples of contemporary higher education. In teaching ethics, I once employed team debates on ethical questions such as euthanasia, capital punishment, and the like. But I found that debates could give students the misleading impression that both sides are equally defensible on any controversial issue. I thus switched to what proved to be a more effective method, in which a panel of students attempts to reach a consensus on some moral issue, which they then present to the class. In some cases, students were surprised to find themselves led by their study of the arguments to a group conclusion that differed from their initial opinion on the matter.

This method combines elements from disputation and repetition as modes of active mastery: on the one hand, the panel must develop a position they can defend in the context of the current debates; on the other hand, they must “repeat” their analysis to the class, and respond to difficulties and objections. This basic method works in a number of courses: one assigns the student or student group a task that requires them (a) to apply course material to a problem (usually of their choosing) and then (b) to present their analysis to the class and respond to questions and objections.

Last updated 04.28.09