school. The activities are attending the daily mass and doing confession of sins in front of the priest.
Doing such activities along the whole year at Clongowes thus causes some consequences to the students. Some of them become religious. Some others do not
but they keep doing them. Students at Clongowes keep doing this since the obligation of religious routine is regulated in the school rules. Clongowes is a Catholic school
managed by the Jesuits, therefore it should follow the instruction of holding a Jesuit school. A book titled Jesuit Education: An Essay on the Foundations of Its Idea
mentions that … the Christian educator believes that the definition of a good character, as
well as the process of educating for it, is essentially linked with religious instruction and the religious life of the student Donohue, 1963: 161.
Thus, religiosity becomes the important part of education in Jesuits school such as Clongowes. The aim of integrating that part into the school system is to be
the means of character education. Another line in the book also states that “cultivation of the liturgical life is a central element in the plan of Jesuit education for
development of moral stature” 1963: 176. Here, one more time the rule of the school shows its power toward the
students. The rule about religious activities must also be obeyed by the students. Looking at this case, it can be said that the enforcement of the rule is an effective
method of teaching religion and getting the students used to it. The educators do not only preach about the importance of that subject, they also oblige the students to do
it.
In conclusion, discipline and religious routine of the students at Clongowes are two signs that imply the power of rules. The school system is able to run well
since the implementation of the rules is pretty strict. Rules are successful in repressing students desire to do things that are against the rules themselves. The
mechanism of giving punishment as the compensation of actions that break the rule creates such fear among the students. This system is able to flourish due to the
attitude of the doers students and teachers that supports the existence of it. Next point elaborates the position of students and teachers including the relationship in
between that enlarges the chance of this system to exist longer.
2. The Relationship between Students and Teachers
School is well-known as the space where people get education from, especially the formal one. The main activity occurred in school is teaching and
learning activity. This activity involves participants who occupy the position of the one who teaches and the one who learns. These people are mostly called teachers and
students. As these parties meet almost whole day long during the school time, they consequently build such a relationship in between.
The kind of relationship between students and teachers is based on the kind of system that the school applies. A different system surely results in different kind of
relationship. Donohue in Jesuit Education illustrates a Jesuit school as a society. He then states that
Society requires, however, the embodiment of authority in certain or its members to whom the others are subordinated in order that the social
resources of the community may be unified and directed toward the common purpose 1963: 177.
At Clongowes, where discipline is one of the important subjects that the school concerns with, the relationship of students and teachers is certainly related
with the method of implementing the discipline. There exists the power relation between them so that the discipline can be enforced well. One party should be
subordinated and the other one owns a certain authority upon the subordinated. At Clongowes, teacher owns the authority. As the consequence, the students are those
who are subordinated. The basic to this position is the conviction that moral excellence can be matured in young people by the pressure of authority which guides
them into the pathways of virtue. Teacher is considered having a greater wisdom and experience in which the student confidently acquiesces 1963: 177.
Such thought indicates that school’s society believes that teacher is superior to the students. The explanation from Donohue even mentions that students ‘confidently
acquiesce’. It means that teacher’s superiority is non-debatable. This belief among the people who are involved in school activities strengthens the position of teacher to
maintain an authority upon the students. Although the description of school used in this study is a Catholic Jesuit
school, it represents what happens at most common schools. It is explained by Paulo Freire a pedagogue from Brazil in his book titled Pedagogy of the Oppressed by
stating that “A careful analysis of the teacher-student relationship at any level, inside
or outside the school, reveals its fundamentally narrative character. This relationship involves a narrating Subject the teacher and patient, listening objects the students”
1972: 46. As the consequence of such position, school maintains these attitudes: 1. The teacher teaches and the students are taught.
2. The teacher knows everything and students know nothing. 3. The teacher thinks and the students are thought about.
4. The teacher talks and the students listen – meekly. 5. The teacher disciplines and the students are disciplined.
6. The teacher chooses and enforces his choice, and the students comply. 7. The teacher acts and the students have the illusion of acting through the
action of the teacher. 8. The teacher chooses the programme content, and the students who were
not consulted adapt to it. 9. The teacher confuses the authority of knowledge with his own
professional authority, which he sets in opposition to the freedom of the students.
10. The teacher is the subject of the learning process, while the pupils are mere objects 1972: 47.
Clongowes teachers obviously show that kind of relationship as told in the novel. The moment when Stephen Dedalus is beaten by the prefect of studies because
of not studying like the other students indicates not only the superiority of the teacher, but also the hierarchical authority that the school system applies. In that case,
the prefect of studies gives Stephen punishment on his assumption that Stephen plays trick by telling a lie to him about the reason Stephen’s not studying. The punishment
is given by the person who occupies the task to make frequent visits to each class Monroe, 1957: 423 while in that class a teacher is teaching.
The teacher of the class has given the permission for the boy, but it does not work for the prefect of studies. Father Arnall, the teacher of the class, knows that
Stephen is not telling a lie and he really faces difficulties in studying without glasses.
However, Father Arnall remains silent when Stephen is punished by Father Dolan. The attitude of Father Arnall implies that Father Dolan has a higher authority than
his. This authority seems like nearly absolute since even though Father Arnall understands well that Stephen is innocent, he does not advocate the boy well enough
to prevent him from being punished. Father Arnall just talks to Stephen and Fleming a student who is punished
together with Stephen after the prefect of studies leaves. “Father Arnall rose from his seat and went among them, helping the boys with gentle words and telling them the
mistakes they had made” Joyce, 1992: 38. He even does not say anything about Father Dolan’s mistake to punish a student for nothing. He tells the students about
their mistakes. Father Arnall takes side to Father Dolan. He blames the innocent student instead of a mistaken prefect of studies.
After this event in class, Stephen is persuaded by his friends to make a report to the rector of the school on his Father Dolan’s false punishment. At first, Stephen is
afraid to do it. He thinks it is not going to work. But he could not go. The rector would side with the prefect of studies and
think it was a schoolboy trick and then the prefect of studies would come in every day the same, only it would be worse because he would be dreadfully
waxy at any fellow going up to the rector about him. The fellows had told him to go but they would not go themselves. They had forgotten all about it. No, it
was best to forget all about it and perhaps the prefect of studies had only said he would come in. No, it was best to hide out of the way because when you
were small and young you could often escape that way Joyce, 1992: 41.
Stephen’s thought indicates the inferiority to the authority of school’s elite. He thinks that all of them will stand on one side and will not accept any resistance from
the student toward their authority. Stephen even considers never dealing with it anymore. It shows how the authority works well in repressing student’s freedom to
speak out. Such situation surely emerges the impression that there is a certain gap
between students and their teachers. The concept that they bond in a father-and-son- likely relationship is not implemented as similar as the instruction of Jesuit school.
Students and teachers at Clongowes are not that close. The point that is really happened in their interaction at school is the admission of teachers’ power as the
representation of father and the obedience of students who represents the sons. The function of the father to show reality to the infants results in a need to
teach them how to repress their desire into something which is more acceptable by that reality. At Clongowes, the institution of school plays role as the father who needs
to lead its students into certain reality happened in and around the school. In order to get the students accustomed to it, school needs to do action of repression. The
repression that is usually done by school is limiting students’ freedom and making them adjustable to the regulation that school makes. This kind of repression is done
through a certain kind of relationship between the people who are involved in. A superior position is occupied by the educators at Clongowes. This position
powers them with certain authority which enables them to give pressure and force to the lower positioned participants. Hence, students are positioned under the power of
the educators. By this kind of relationship, students are not able to directly take an action against the authority of the teachers. As the consequence, teachers own the
