The Professor Who Knows Our Names

Catholic World Report ^ | 1/10/13 | Brian Jones

[marshmallow]

A tribute to the man who is Schall

“Father Schall cares about where you’re from and how you’re doing. He doesn’t need to do that, but he does. The greatest professor I’ll ever have knows my name.”

— Victoria Edel, former student of Father James Schall

“What, in the end, does a professor most want his students to remember? Not himself but what is true and the search for it. Above all, he wants them to remember the Socratic foundations of our culture, that ‘it is never right to do wrong,’ that death is not the worst evil, that ultimately our lives are about eternal life, as Benedict XVI writes in his great encyclical on modernity, Spe Salvi. The university is a place where truth, all truth, can be spoken, ought to be spoken. Often it is not. It is imperative, as Schumacher said, that a student knows where to turn when it is not.”

— Father James V. Schall, SJ, “The Final Gladness,” December 7, 2012.

I once took a philosophy course in which, at the end of the semester, the professor told us a story about whether or not there was such a thing as a “stupid question.” He said that toward the close of a recent semester at a university in Bulgaria, a young and tepid student raised her hand and asked, “Professor, is there such a thing as a stupid question?” Hoping to relieve the young student of her fear and worry, he quickly shot back, “Of course not. If you have any questions in this class, I want you to come right out and ask them with no worry of rebuke or concern that your question is not worth asking.” The girl breathed a sigh of relief, and then proceeded to ask her question: “Professor, how come you.....

[marshmallow]

"Old school" Jesuit. There aren't many left.

[Tax-chick]

I tell my kids there are lots of stupid questions:

Questions that you already know the answer to, but you’re asking because you want attention

Questions that you asked five minutes ago but didn’t care enough to listen to the answer

Questions for which the person you’re asking has no legitimate possibility of knowing the answer

Questions for which it wouldn’t make any difference if you knew the answer

Questions about things that are absolutely none of your business

I could go on.