Of late the educational work of religious orders has frequently been objected to, even by some who call themselves Catholics. But in spite of all that has been said to the contrary, the care which religious orders take of education is a source of blessings for the pupils, the family, and the whole community. Religious, above all, try to impart a religious, a Christian education. How useful, how absolutely necessary this is for society as well as for the individual pupil, need not be discussed. Further, in the case of religious teachers a guarantee is given that persons of noble character and high aspirations devote their whole lives to the cause of education. Must we not expect that such teachers will obtain most satisfactory results in their work? At all events, it cannot be denied that the educational labors of the Society were crowned with success.
Protestant historians, as Ranke, Paulsen, and others, admit that the Jesuit schools of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries were far more successful than their Protestant rivals. Whence the difference? Ranke finds it in the exactness and nicety of the methods of the Society. This was undoubtedly one cause of their greater success. Still it is more probable that the chief reason is to be sought in the teachers themselves. The teachers in the Jesuit colleges were, on the whole, better fitted for their work than were most other teachers. It is not difficult to prove this assertion. The social position of teachers was, during these centuries, a most undesirable one.[1] The salaries
- ↑ Many interesting details on this subject have been published in a recent book by Reicke, Lehrer und Unterrichtswesen in der deutschen Vergangenheit, Leipzig, Diederichs,
