DeSmit, Baylee Milton, Soto, Kolvenbach

    All of the readings are connected through religion and education, but each conveys its own idea. The Service of Faith and the Promotion of Justice in American Jesuit Higher Education by Peter-Hans Kolvenbach talks about Jesuit education. It says that Jesuit schools were “​​originally founded to serve the educational and religious needs of poor immigrant populations, they have become highly sophisticated institutions of learning in the midst of global wealth, power and culture.” Jesuit education was to help poorer populations who need an education and a path for their religious needs. 

    In A Red Palm by Gary Soto is a poem about a man who did not take his education seriously and now must work extremely hard to provide his family with essentials. The speaker is a lower-class worker who works on a cotton field to support his family and regrets daily that he did not do good in school and hopes his sons will not follow in his steps. The speaker establishes the mood of the poem through the manipulation of words.

    Lastly, the final reading When I consider how my light is spent by John Milton is about faith and work. Milton reflects on blindness, this disability that you could be shamed for. This then calls into question the demands that God places on humans. The speaker ultimately asserts that people best serve God through faith, rather than work. The light in this poem is a symbol of sight and life. The speaker grieves his loss of eyesight and wonders how his life changes due to it. Without sight, he can't continue his work, using his "one Talent" to serve God.

    In Kolvenbach's reading it says “as Jesuit higher education, we embrace new ways of learning.” That should be through guiding its students, teachers, and families to blend education, hard work, and religion. They can blend throughout our education or just our lives because we let the connection between both guide us.