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punishments. The idea that individuals have free will which supersedes any social programming is
anathema to the very concept of forced schooling. 1 Was the Xavier year valuable or damaging? If
the Ursulines and Jesuits hadn’t forced me to see the gulf between intelligence and intellect,
between thinking and disciplined thinking, who would have taken that responsibility?
The greatest intellectual event of my life occurred early in third grade before I was yanked out of
Xavier and deposited back in Monongahela. From time to time a Jesuit brother from St. Vincent’s
College would cross the road to give a class at Xavier. The coming of a Jesuit to Xavier was
always considered a big-time event even though there was constant tension between the Ursuline
ladies and the Jesuit men. One lesson I received at the visiting brother’s hands 2 altered my
consciousness forever. By contemporary standards, the class might seem impossibly advanced in
concept for third grade, but if you keep in mind the global war that claimed major attention at that
moment, then the fact that Brother Michael came to discuss causes of WWI as a prelude to its
continuation in WWII is not so far-fetched. 3 After a brief lecture on each combatant and its
cultural and historical characteristics, an outline of incitements to conflict was chalked on the
board.
"Who will volunteer to face the back of the room and tell us the causes of World War One?"
"I will, Brother Michael," I said. And I did.
"Why did you say what you did?"
"Because that’s what you wrote."
"Do you accept my explanation as correct?"
"Yes, sir." I expected a compliment would soon follow, as it did with our regular teacher.
"Then you must be a fool, Mr. Gatto. I lied to you. Those are not the causes at all." It was like
being flattened by a steamroller. I had the sensation of being struck and losing the power of
speech. Nothing remotely similar had ever happened to me.
"Listen carefully, Mr. Gatto, and I shall show you the true causes of the war which men of bad
character try to hide," and so saying he rapidly erased the board and in swift fashion another list of
reasons appeared. As each was written, a short, clear explanation followed in a scholarly tone of
voice.
"Now do you see, Mr. Gatto, why you must be careful when you accept the explanation of
another? Don’t these new reasons make much more sense?"
"Yes, sir."
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