Teach Me to Be Generous: The First Century of Regis High School in New York City

Regis High School

My most favorite gift of the Christmas season by far was Teach Me to Be Generous: The First Century of Regis High School in New York City by Anthony D. Andreassi, C.O. I graduated from Regis in 1992. It is a special high school in many ways, especially because "Regis remains singular among all Jesuit (and all Catholic) high schools in the nation in that all its students are academically gifted and on scholarship."

Regis opened its doors in 1914 thanks to an imaginative Jesuit, Father David W. Hearn. Fr. Hearn sought to establish a high school that could serve poor Catholic young men, frequently the sons of immigrants, in New York City in the true spirit of Jesuit education. He succeeded when convinced Julia Grant, the widow of former New York City mayor Hugh Grant (1889-1992), to fund such an endeavor. Julia Grant and her children's financial support of Regis High School would not be recognized for several decades as the family preferred to keep their generosity anonymous.

The book provides interesting insights into Catholic and Jesuit education, especially in the New York area, in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Teach Me to Be Generous traces the school's development through the depression (fortunate financial decisions by Julia Grant), World War II (over 1,000 alumni served in the war), the free-spirited 1960s and 1970s (students wanted more control over their education), the 1980s (Latin no longer required), and today (fewer New York City students, efforts at remaining true to providing a superior education for economically disadvantaged Catholic boys).

The book will mainly be of interest to alumni and others interested in Jesuit and Catholic education. There was a bit of redundancy across chapters that seemed a bit awkward. Some of the statistics were spotty (financial backgrounds of student families, hometowns, college acceptance) and instead we are left to trust that those presented are representative of the times. As an alumnus and social scientist, I would have appreciated more details everywhere, more interviews, and descriptive statistics in tables and figures.

Regis has so far been able to excel in spite of the challenges confronted by Jesuit high schools and colleges throughout the country. Over the first 100 years of its existence, Regis High School was able to provide a superior education to young Catholic boys because of the generosity of the Hearn family, alumni beginning in the 1960s, and friends and family in more recent years. Unfortunately, Mr. Andreassi seems somewhat pessimistic that the free model of Jesuit education offered by Regis High School will complete its bicentennial in 2114.