FINAL Feature Story

Abbie Brien

J1

Period 5

Feature story:

Neil Brien, now 51, attended a private and strict Catholic school his entire life. Growing up in a harsh Catholic setting, taught by priests, is a stark difference from public school. People often wonder what it’s like to grow up taught by priests and have religion integrated into education, and make assumptions that students who attend Catholic school are either ‘goodie-goodies’ or something similar. It's hard to know how much of a difference it really is though.

From the very first day of freshman year at Jesuit High School in Dallas, Brien was told what viewpoints he’d be taught from.

“One of the very first questions my theology teacher asked on my first day was about issue of questioning the Bible,” Brien said. “The purpose of questioning everything was to use the brain God gave you, and that was very much a perspective of the Jesuits.”

Leardon Brien, sister to Neil Brien and attendee of the sister school to Jesuit, Ursuline Academy, heartily agreed.

“We were always encouraged to be creative and express our opinions.  I never felt that I could not speak out about an issue or subject.  Not to say I did not have a little bit of ‘Catholic guilt’ from time to time - especially in Grade school. There were a lot of nuns back then,” Leardon said.

One major difference from Jesuit to public schools is the punishment level.

“We had a very strict conduct code and dress code,” Neil said.  “Any infraction resulted in three hours of detention. There was definitely zero policy for drugs, alcohol, or cigarettes. One of my classmates smoked a cigarette and was expelled on the spot in the courtyard.”

Brien’s parents came from Ireland, and both attended Catholic schools their whole lives.

“I wanted to go, but my parents would’ve made me attend Jesuit either way," Brien said.

One surprising thing, considering the level of strictness the Jesuits held to the kids, was that Brien never really wanted to go to a different school.

“When I was getting ready to graduate, I had some hesitation and I was ready to leave,” Neil said. “But otherwise, I never wanted to leave.”

Leardon agreed with Neil.

“I did not have anything to compare it to, but I never felt as if I was missing anything,” Leardon said.

An important question, arguably the most important, was if the nuns or priests were like the stereotypes people made them out to be.

“Coming from a Catholic middle school where the nuns were definitely stereotypical, it was a nice change that the Jesuits were strict but they didn’t focus on discipline as much as they focused on my education," Neil said.

At Jesuit, they didn’t go to church every day.

“At Jesuit, we went every month to the church which was nice because we had a full mass most days of the week in middle school," Neil said.

Jesuit is a very well-known school. Jordan Spieth, the famous and talented golfer, actually attended that same Jesuit High school in Dallas. It’s also very prestigious.

“The school workload was very heavy. I would study an average of three hours a night solidly,” Neil said. “I would get behind if I didn’t.”

The school is also very focused on what students do to be a part of the community outside of school. In jessuittampa.org, they clarified that, "In 2015-2016, Jesuit students completed a documented 41,462 community service hours, of which the seniors completed 19,394."

“Everyone was expected to do extracurricular activities,” Neil said. “Whether it was sports, speech and debate, etc. There were probably 20 different clubs.  In addition, seniors needed to complete 100 hours of community service in order to graduate. Every student had to participate in intramurals as well.”

The students at Jesuit were competitive with each other as well.

“It was extremely competitive between students,” Neil said. “In many classes, the seating arrangements were based on test scores.”

Obviously, all schools have problems, or things that students would like to change.

“When I was a freshman, we had a sister school Ursuline, and seniors were able to take some classes there. They eliminated it though, because they thought it was too much of a distraction. I understood, but it was fun to have a change and have girls around sometimes,” Neil said.

Leardon had a very different perspective. "Studies show that girls find it easier to excel and become more confident learners in a student-centered, all-girl setting," ursulinedallas.org said.

“Being in an All-girl environment allowed me to focus on education without distractions,” Leardon said.

One thing that Jesuit taught Neil was hard work.

“They taught me to question everything and that was okay. Also if you wanted something worthwhile, you had to work hard for it,” Neil said. “There were no shortcuts whatsoever.  I also learned self-respect, discipline, and how to respect many other viewpoints, which was extremely important.”

Since private school has some differences from public high school, preparation for college would obviously be different.

“It was an excellent education in all the fundamentals,” Neil said. “Jesuit was very big on how to study and organize your time, so that was a great lesson. We did a lot of group work as well, so that helped me prepare for group presentations and study groups in college. It taught me how to get along with others.”

Neil grew very close to his peers who attended Jesuit with him, and keeps up lasting relationships even now.

“Anytime you’re going through an experience through adversity or a hard experience, it brings you closer to your peers,” Neil said.

Leardon felt the same way.

“My favorite thing was lifelong friendships with girls not only in my class, but with the entire Ursuline community.  I am sure it is everywhere, but it makes a difference in who you know," Leardon said.

In addition to rules and grades, students learned to be good people overall, which is the focus and purpose of Jesuit - raising honorable and intelligent men. "A Jesuit student encounters many opportunities for growth and formation through his involvement in campus and community events, his participation in grade-level activities, and his commitment to the education of the whole person. By encouraging active student participation in the learning process, we build a student community from a foundation of mutual trust and mission," jesuitcp.org said. 

“I can say for Jesuit they really try to integrate ethics, morals, and good behavior,” Neil said.  “They thought that it was equally important to classwork, which was a stark difference to my public school friends. We had theology and ethics classes every single day, and that was woven into the whole experience. It was drilled into us from the very first day that you were going to be held to a high standard of conduct, and good behavior is part of the education of being a man."

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