Jesuit Educational Philosophy

The Goals of Jesuit Education

Inspired by Saint Ignatius de Loyola and the Catholic Church, Jesuit educational philosophy draws from the writings of Fr Pedro Arrupe, SJ, Superior General of the Society from 1965 to 1983, and his successors, Fr Peter Hans Kolvenbach, SJ, 1983 to 2008 and Fr Adolfo Nicolas, SJ, from 2008 to 2016.

Most recently, Fr Superior General Arturo Sosa, SJ (2016 to the present) deepens the discourse on Jesuit education as he anchors human development goals in the context of oneness with others, creation, and God (Sosa, 2017).

Forming Men and Women for Others

The formation of “men and women for others” lies at the core of the Jesuit educational philosophy. Articulated by Fr Pedro Arrupe, SJ, it came at the time when Jesuit education was "refocused" towards the integration of academic excellence with the challenges of the modern world through the active mission of promoting social justice and a preferential option for the poor (Arrupe, 1973).

The 4Cs

Fr Peter Hans Kolvenbach, SJ was attributed the deepening of the Jesuit educational goal in terms of human development or the education of men and women of conscience, competence, compassion, and commitment or the 4Cs (Kolvenbach, 1993). The “maximum development” of our gifts as human beings is to be realized in the service of others and through the practice of active faith or “faith that does justice” (Society of Jesus, 2015).

Human Excellence and the 4Cs

Fr Adolfo Nicolas, SJ, referred to the 4Cs as the adjectives of human excellence. As the bases of Jesuit teaching and learning, a person of conscience “internalizes” and “cultivates” spiritual life and extends cognitive knowledge to the “experience of society and its imbalances”; a person of competence, is further imbued with professional and academic skills; With compassion, s/he is in touch with the world and is “in solidarity with and assumes the suffering of others”. As a person of commitment, s/he works for the “social and political transformation of their countries and social structures to achieve justice” (Society of Jesus, 2015).

Forming Human Beings in Harmony with their Fellows, with Creation, and with God

At present Fr Superior General Arturo Sosa, SJ emphasizes the changing context of the Jesuit educational goals. The Society of Jesus recognizes that the continuing stresses of digital divide, poverty, conflict, migration, and climate change and the parallel challenges of the "globalization of superficiality" that confront the younger generation are pivotal in influencing Jesuit educational institutions and educators to take part in the “necessary process of renewal, innovation, and reimagination..." (ICAJE, 2020). In this process of renewal, schools are called to act as “spaces for educational investigation” where they can “reach out to the poorest”, train our students to the “environmental dimension of reconciliation”. Educators are called to explore and investigate new, hybrid, and nontraditional (online) educational models, where we may “embody magis today” (ICAJE, 2019).