Wychowanie obywatelskie w jezuickich kolegiach szlacheckich...

Abstract

In his article, K. Puchowski takes up the problem of civic education
in Jesuit colleges for nobility in the First Republic of Poland.
Establishing colleges was supposed to be the reaction of
Jesuits, Piarists, and Theatines to the expectations of the state,
which wanted to have well-prepared elites in order to introduce
reforms necessary at that time. The author makes a brief comparison
and analysis of the activity of colleges for nobility run by
individual orders, with special attention paid to Jesuit colleges.
Jesuit colleges in the Republic of Poland aimed at training exemplary
citizens, full of religiousness and patriotism. The author
disagrees with the standpoint, expressed in literature, that education
in colleges for nobility was deprived of civic character,
which he attempts to prove in the article, showing various forms
and methods of shaping civic attitudes. Colleges passed on not
only knowledge, but they also shaped the attitudes of respect
for statehood. Jesuit schools were elitist, different from knights’
schools of the time. The teaching staff was well-prepared for
conducting cultural and political education. They trained the sons
of the well-known Polish noblemen cherishing hope that it would
prove useful in the process of restoring the Republic of Poland.
K. Puchowski enumerates the leading figures for the area under
discussion, such as: Karol Wyrwicz, Franciszek Bohomolec,
Adam Naruszewicz and others, who had influence on the shape
of the colleges for nobility in the Crown and Lithuania. Those
people were characterised by a critical approach towards what
was happening in the Republic of Poland and willingness to educate
enlightened citizens for the Homeland.