An Education Model from the Jesuits, the Order of the New Pope

Pope Francis is not only the first pope from the Americas. He is also the first Jesuit to serve as pope. I did my undergraduate studies in a Jesuit institution. My mentor for my senior thesis in chemistry was a Jesuit. Now, I work at the oldest and largest Jesuit university in America, Georgetown University. Throughout my undergraduate education, the Jesuits impressed upon me their dedication to education. Catholics may just have found en educator occupying the highest office in Vatican. To demonstrate how Jesuits may see educational reform, I would like to share one of their educational projects, the Cristo Rey network. The Boston Herald on December of 2011 published an article, "Cristo Rey's Timeless Lesson", describing a new high school established by John P. Foley, S.J.:
About 15 years ago, the Jesuits developed a model that combines business and education and has had success keeping thousands of these students in school and lifting them out of poverty. The Jesuits were troubled to learn that more than 50 percent of young people on Chicago’s southwest side were dropping out of high school. They listened to hundreds of parents in this Mexican-American enclave: “Quiero que mi hijo llegue a ser un profesional.” I want my child to become a professional, they told the Jesuits. This meant they wanted their children to go to college. The Jesuits responded, and in 1996 established a private, Catholic, college preparatory school called Cristo Rey Jesuit High School.
The school model involves students being required to work 5 days per month in an entry-level job in a professional company with their earnings covering the tuition costs. The following is a video from the Cristo Rey website that talks about this program in greater detail:








Comments