Posted on 11/17/2005 10:12:55 AM PST by truthandlife
The editor of a new college guide is warning parents against sending their children to what he calls some of the scariest university campuses in America -- schools across the country that are the most secular or the most hostile to Christian values.
John Zmirak is the editor of Choosing the Right College: The Whole Truth About America's Top Schools (Intercollegiate Studies Institute, 2005). And near the top of his list of schools not to attend is Brown University, with its renowned drug culture. Another institution to avoid, he says, is Colgate University in New York, where the university president, a former women's studies professor, is now seizing all the fraternity houses and turning them into minority housing. Students belonging to any fraternity that resists are under threat of expulsion.
But one school stands out among the rest, Zmirak asserts. "I'd be very careful sending anyone to Wesleyan University in Connecticut," he says, "because they're getting rid of single-sex dorm rooms. You won't even be able to guarantee that your daughter is living with another woman."
The reason for this, Zmirak contends, is that Wesleyan's "politically correct ideology has gone so far that they say, 'Well, it's not for the school to say who's a man or a woman; each student has to decide that for him or herself.'" Incredible as it sounds, he adds, "It's impossible to parody that."
The editor of Choosing the Right College also recommends that parents not send their children to Oberlin College in Ohio, where the head of the campus pro-life group is an open homosexual, but is considered the most Right-wing student at the school.
On the other hand, Zmirak's college guide also lists some of the top academically excellent schools that are geared toward evangelical students. One school he recommends highly is a Christian college located near Chicago.
"In terms of evangelical schools, I would say Wheaton in Illinois is both academically excellent and religiously solid in a sophisticated way," the editor says. "Your students will come out sophisticated defenders of the evangelical faith they took in with them."
Zmirak mentions other schools that he feels do a great job of passing on American traditions grounded in biblical truth. These include Hillsdale College in Michigan and Grove City College in Pennsylvania.
One of the finest evangelical schools is The Master's College under the leadership of it's president, John MacArthur, who is also pastor of Grace Community Church in California.
"What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world,yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exhange for his soul?" asks Jesus (Matt. 16:26) It is more important for parents to nourish the souls of their children than their bodies, because souls last longer.
Exactly what I believe. If you give your child a strong foundation, there won't be anything at any school that will change him. I'm sure many freepers here survived some very liberal schools.
Or you can take the route I took: Go to a blue-collar state school where the vast majority of students work a job in addition to taking classes. Not only do these kids not have any time to misbehave, they respect the value of hard work. It was funny watching the well-fed, over-educated NYPIRG brats try to recruit on campus.
The older editions of the book were well minded but seemed to be lacking in execution. I looked through this book a few years ago. The entry about my Alma Mater, a small selective southern christian school, really messed up a lot of details about course requirements, course offerings, school size/admission numbers, school policies, school politics etc. It was like they'd had one five minute conversation over the phone with a guy who took a tour a few years back. I can't speak for any of the other entries, but ours while flattering, was pretty inacurate.
Ping.
These trends are typically muted in the hard sciences, especially at the grad school level. Also depends on how long ago your friend finished his D. After all, these liberal whorehouses weren't always like this.
However, these schools' squalid secret is that the undergraduate education is mediocre. I knew several guys from Harvard, Wesleyan, BU, etc when I was attending Bowdoin, and they were very average both in their knowledge base and the material they were learning.
The fly in the ointment for conservatively inclined undergrads at such places is that they will be punished academically for their conservatism if they let it show in class, and that can handicap plans for future grad school admisssion.
" However, these schools' squalid secret is that the undergraduate education is mediocre. I knew several guys from Harvard, Wesleyan, BU, etc when I was attending Bowdoin, and they were very average both in their knowledge base and the material they were learning."
That is very true. A lot of research institutions put most of their resources into graduate and research programs. The undergraduates are neglected and are taught largely by TA’s. The goal of many profs is to get to where they don’t have to teach many classes, but can focus on research. These schools can give us some fabulous advances, but most of their undergraduates don’t get anywhere near as comprehensive an education or have anywhere near the workload of folks at schools that are solely focused on undergraduate education. I transferred from a top thirty ranked University, to a top fifteen ranked liberal arts college. The difference in education was like night and day. Much smaller classes. Much more work. Not a single TA. Profs who were more concerned about teaching than in spouting the latest PC crap and fitting in at academic conferences.
Do us a favor and add the Ohio Five Consortium schools, Kenyon, Ohio Wesleyan, Oberlin, Wooster and Denison, as they too may pollute the minds of your christian-educated kids with, god forbid, open-minded attitude and critical reasoning skills.
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