In this reaction we may justly find a vindication of the principle maintained all along by the Society, in spite of the censures of some modern reformers.
§ 4. Contests.
Among the various school exercises mentioned by the Ratio Studiorum, we find the so-called concertationes, or contests between boys of the same or of different classes on matter that has been studied previously. These contests have the same end in the lower classes as the disputations in the higher: accustoming the boys to speak on the subject matter of the class, giving them readiness of reply in answering questions, in a word, making them masters of their subjects. Ribadeneira speaks of them as follows: "Many means are devised, and exercises employed, to stimulate the minds of the young, assiduous disputation, various trials of genius, prizes offered for excellence in talent and industry. As penalty and disgrace bridle the will and check it from pursuing evil, so honor and praise quicken the sense wonderfully to attain the dignity and glory of virtue."[1]
All opponents of the Jesuits try to make a capital point of "emulation" as recommended by the Ratio.[2] This "fostering of ambition" was styled "the characteristic of the corrupt Jesuitical morality." We may first ask: are the Jesuits the only educators that used this means? Professor Paulsen answers our question
- ↑ Hughes, Loyola, p. 90.
- ↑ See v. g. Compayré, p. 146. – Seeley, p. 186. – Painter, p. 171-172, where the Jesuit system is stigmatized as "stimulating baser feelings," "appealing to low motives," etc. – In France the Jesuits were attacked on this point also by M. Michel Bréal, in his Quelques mots sur l'instruction publique.
