Cultural and social aspect of Polish Jesuits' activity

in the era of globalization

Presentation prepared by students from Jesuit High School in Gdynia, Poland

Introduction In our presentation, we will discuss general

activity of Polish Jesuits, both in the past and at the present moment. First, we would like to show you the way the representatives of this order acted once in the fields of educational and social issues; then we will focus on their present activity, discussing mainly the actions taking place in Jesuit High School in Gdynia in the context of cultural and social life. We invite you to watch our presentation.

History XVIth/XVIIth century The first Jesuit gymnasium in Poland was opened in Braniewo

on 8th of January 1565. Jesuits from many different countries of Western Europe, who were familiar with the spirit and organization of an order school, worked there.

In XVIth century staple canon of subjects was identical in every school

In 1599 came out the first school statue Ratio studiorum The newly-established school network gave the opportunity to

educate a lot of noble and townsman youth Jesuits put emphasis on secondary and higher education and

languages learning Jesuit schools were open for non-Catholic people too Many church officials and personages, who rendered great

service to our country, received Jesuit education

until 1939: One of the basic elements of Jesuit schools

activity was school trips organising. During such trips, students got to know more about the culture and inhabitants of visited regions and broadened knowledge about their country

years 1939-1945: A group of qualified gymnasium teachers

started the secret teaching. They wanted to save Polish youth from destructive influence of occupation.

Projects Now we intend to give you a piece of

information about some of the projects that our school has participated in. We will focus mainly on student exchanges and projects which involve the participation of lots of Jesuit schools from Europe.

Polish-German students’ exchange For 13 years, with the co-operation of

Realschule Medinghoven in Bonn, our school has been organizing Polish-German youth exchanges. Each year, there is a meeting established, either in Gdynia (Polnad), or in Bonn (Germany). The main goal of this project is to familiarize both of the groups with the culture and history of two neighbouring nations. It motivates the students to overcome stereotypes and search for mental similarities rather than differences.

Polish-Ukrainian project

This project has been carried out since 2008. Over the years, it has been aimed at sharing common experience and working together on important issues of contemporary European societies (i.e. ecology, environmental threats). The project is to bring young people of both Polish and Ukrainian descent together and encourage them to learn the shared past of two countries and their current cooperation within international policy (i.e. EURO 2012).

JEEP - Jesuit European Educational Project Since 2005, our school has participated

in the simulation of European Parliament work within JEEP. Students, who are divided into several groups, discuss and work on specified tasks connected with urgent European issues. This project aims at involving students in creative problem solving, developing their public spirit and increasing awareness of contemporary European policy within young generation.

Australia

This project allows four of our best students to get acquainted with the culture of Australia, together with the development of their language skills through the participation in regular classes at St. Aloysius’ College in Sydney. This trip, apart from being a great opportunity for learning more about everyday experience of Australian students, enables its particiapants to reach English proficiency in the distant country of its native speakers. What is more, additional travels within the project constitute a perfect occasion to familiarize oneself with the rich variety of Australian environment and geography.

Thank you for watching