After having stated on repeated occasions that I don't believe Christians should send their children to public school, how can I justify sending my son to a state or public college? Isn't this the same thing?
It is and it isn't. I am reticent to make absolute statements
when it comes to issues like this. The answer isn't found in following the
checklist of someone's programme – wisdom is what's required, and situations
differ. I do believe the (K-12) public school system has reached a point where
there's really no scenario or argument to be made for sending one's children
there and remaining faithful, in terms of the obligations that Christian
parents are to uphold.
What's the difference then? It's one thing to send your kids
when they are young to an environment that is hostile to Christianity. I know
there are those who think there are wonderful Christian teachers in their
child's public school. I'm sorry but I disagree with them. They're not wonderful
– they're compromised and turning a blind eye to the totality of what that
environment is and what it represents. Also, these are formative years and to
think that your children can go and spend the majority of their waking hours in
that kind of classroom and peer environment and not come away from it
unscathed, wounded, or virtually apostate is delusional.
I refused to throw my children to the wolves. College however
is different. Presumably your child at that point is at least eighteen years of
age. They're still young and impressionable but well past the critical and formative
years. They are young adults and it's an occasion in which the rubber meets the
road – their faith will be put to the test, a sink or swim situation if may use
another cliché. That said, levels of maturity do differ and that has to be
taken into account as well. I know of one Calvinist homeschooling man who upon
completion of his daughter's senior year of high school, bought her a car and
phone and sent her off to college – six months later she was pregnant and in
the process of apostatizing. That's a nightmare scenario and indicative of some
other deeply rooted problems – along with poor judgment.
We considered some of the Christian colleges, in fact Grove
City College and Geneva College which are rather esteemed in Christian circles
are fairly near to where we live. It would be nothing for a student to drive
home on a weekend. That said, after having spent years interacting with Grove
City faculty, listening to their interviews and lectures on radio and on
podcasts, having even attended some of the Reformed churches in that community
– I can say emphatically that I wouldn't want my kids going there. The only
positive I can see would be the opportunity to interact with other kids from
Christian homes. Otherwise I consider the education substandard and a
perversion of the faith in its promotion of so-called Christian worldview –
which (in the American context) is often just a mask for Right-wing nationalist
and capitalist ideology and a mixed up jumble of Enlightenment Classical
Liberalism and Sacralist Christian thought.
Now is the education at the state college better? No. In
fact, it's fairly pathetic. My wife and I are both reeling as we hear the
stories of what's happening in these classes – the total breakdown in
discipline, and in a very real sense what must be called the dumbing down of higher
education. It's tragic.
But at the end of the day, the Christian college option is
simply not affordable. The money isn't there and while I might laud
institutions like Grove City for refusing to take government funds, the problem
is they're still in it for the money and thus the tuition is prohibitive. We
have no money and while my son has considerable savings from working the past
couple of years, it would be wiped out in short order were he to attend such a
place.
The state or public college is much cheaper and he can
commute – and thus not have to live on campus.
Now are these real reasons? Are these financial and
logistical considerations valid reasons for sending my son to what is in reality
a pagan institution? No they're not, but they are part of the larger equation
or spectrum of consideration.
The education is not Christian. It is flawed to be sure. But
here's the thing – the education at Grove City isn't Christian either. In fact
in some ways it's worse because it represents a kind of counterfeit
Christianity – it's an education that purports to be Christian but is in fact
syncretistic and misleading, and in some cases promotes grievous error in the
name of Christ. From my perspective, it's a lot of Right-wing and
Constantinian-minded rubbish dressed up in Christian garb. It promotes
confusion. The state school has a curriculum that is not Christian but I can
say this with confidence – my son will never confuse it with the Christian
faith with which he has been raised and in fact the exposure (in his case) is
healthy and provocative in a good way.
That would not be true in the case of some young people coming from Christian
homes. Once again, it just depends.
So what's the point? Why pursue education that isn't
Christian? Well, as I've already hinted at – there isn't a lot out there that
actually is Christian. And some of the (maybe better) schools I can think of
aren't accredited – which in some contexts is okay. For example I have no
problem with (and maybe even prefer) a non-accredited seminary. In other
instances or examples of college, while the education is perhaps more
explicitly Christian, it's still substandard and the degree offered is rather narrow
in focus – in other words as a non-accredited document it will only have
standing within the narrow circles of a particular group or denomination. So
unless my son wants to go into 'ministry' within the Fundamentalist or
Anabaptist world, such degrees will be of limited value.
Sadly, college today isn't so much about an education any
more – it's more a question of getting credentialed to get a job. There are schools
where one can be truly educated but as previously stated, they either are cost
prohibitive or environments that are difficult for Christians – or they are
expressions of a kind of counterfeit Christianity in which my son would
probably have as much trouble with the professors as he might at the state
college.
Thus the state-issued bachelor's degree isn't going to be worth
much in terms of actual education – it's certainly going to be a far cry from
the bachelor's degree my wife received at a private Christian college some
thirty years ago. That said, it opens doors for him – for jobs and for further
education which in the end is most likely going to be what he pursues.
We talk about his classes and he has confessed that were he
not grounded in the faith and in all the Scripture, history, philosophy, and
the like that he was taught growing up (in the context of our homeschool) he
would be struggling as the classes certainly don't present an Evangelical-type
view of the world and its history and in many cases challenge its assumptions.
In other words he has recognized that if he had grown up in a run-of-the-mill
Evangelical home, gone to public or maybe even a Christian school and then to
the state college – he would be in a state of crisis. The narratives taught in
those circles about everything from law and government to history, simply do
not stand, and face both indirect and direct assault in the context of the
classroom. He sees clearly now why and how many young Evangelicals go to
college and their faith is shaken if not quickly undermined.
But for him, this is not the case. He was taught an
explicitly Christian view (as opposed to worldview) of everything from history
to government, to philosophy and the like and as such, he can sit in these
classes and interact with them – taking some of the positive teachings,
statements, and critiques and filtering them – sometimes dismissing them. His
faith is not shaken but if anything he's sees in ever clearer terms the
failures of the Christian schooling system and the Evangelical model of child rearing
and the like. He was not taught a Right-wing or secular view but a Christian
one that with no small degree of cynicism questions all world systems and as
such he casts a rather critical eye on what is presented to him in the state
college classroom – just as he would were he to attend a so-called Christian
college.
We've had some good discussions and in many cases he's well
versed enough that he can see through (and even past) his professors and the
shortcomings and flaws in their assumptions and patterns of thinking. Maybe
that will change with some of the higher-level courses, we shall see.
But I will say this – in other cases, it would indeed be
folly to send your kids to a state college. If they're not grounded, they will
quickly be in trouble as they will be assaulted by the dominant narratives in
the classroom. Is something like Grove City or Hillsdale a better option? I
would say no, but I would then look to something else. I will also say this –
the majority of my children have no plans to attend college. We don't define
'success' the way the world does and as I've long argued – those who flourish
in an evil society and within an evil system are part of the evil. And if
that's true even in the broad strokes, what does that say about American
Evangelical and Confessional Christianity?
Another interesting point – we've talked about whether or not
his classes would be considered 'woke' by today's Christian Right. In some
cases yes, they assuredly would. He has certainly sat in classes that deal with
racism and focus on civil rights. But again, he was already taught much of this
while growing up. He understands why these movements came about – why we can
sympathize with them to a point and yet why we cannot fully sign on with them
either. That said, the supposedly Christian context that existed (before the
manifestation of resistance and rebellion throughout the latter half of twentieth
century) is also revealed to be less than Christian and sometimes antithetical
to it.