Rising Tide of Applications to Christian Colleges

The education system in the US has generally abandoned its mission in favor of social engineering. It doesn't matter at which level one examines it, from kindergarten on to graduate school there is some form of indoctrination going on. Parents who want to bring an academic focus back to their children's school are put off as troublesome or ignorant, so it comes as no surprise that the home school and privet schools are seeing increased enrollment.

Then comes the great dilemma of collage and university. There is little argument that a collage education opens the doors to more lucrative careers, but the quality of the education has been declining for decades. The political correctness movement didn't start in a vacuum, the leftward tilt of collage and university faculty had reached such a critical mass that it was just a natural extension of the common philosophy of the administration. The hostility of the university environment to American values and culture is exemplified by recent events. Yale has fought off criticism of its bringing a former spokesman for the Afghan Taliban to campus with statements such as:

"What is wrong with you? Are you retarded? This is the most disgraceful alumni article that I have ever read in my life. You failed to mention that you've never contributed to the Yale Alumni Fund in your life. But to suggest that others follow your negative example is disgusting."--Alexis Surovov, assistant director of giving at Yale Law School

Add to this the hostility toward the ROTC to such a point that the government finally stopped any federal payments and grants to schools that refused to allow military recruiters and ROTC programs. Thomas Sowel and David Horowitz among others have written extensively on the nonsense that has become our system of higher education. Is it any wonder that parents, who overwhelmingly finance the education of collage and university students, are looking to an alternative for this stage of their child's education? increasingly they seem to be turning to evangelical schools.

Applications have jumped 8 to 10 percent at the 238 colleges that belong to the North American Association of Christian Admissions Professionals, according to Executive Director Chant Thompson. More applications mean more students on campuses next fall, he says, and that's good news, because 25 percent of those schools are barely breaking even.

Since 1990, enrollment has increased 70 percent, from 135,000 to 230,000, at the 102 evangelical schools that belong to the Council of Christian Colleges and Universities. Over the same period, enrollments at all public and private colleges increased by 13 percent and 28 percent, respectively.

Young people are still impressionable in their early twenties. I struggled with the obvious nonsense that I heard when I was in collage. I had a sense that what the professors were pushing was wrong, but I lacked the knowledge and experience to say why. And that is the problem. We send our child to Collage to learn what is necessary to discern the truth yet they are instead placed in a hostile environment where those tools are not imparted, but are subjected to indoctrination instead. The critics of those who choose home school and the evangelical university complain that children are being shielded and coddled. But when young people are still acquiring the experience and skills necessary for understanding the world around them it is entirely appropriate to be careful of who and what they are exposed to. It's parent's progeny and money so it is parent's reasonability to do the best they can to ensure the best result.

A few years ago I changed careers. A campus of George Mason University was opened not far from where I live. My wife suggested I go and get a degree in economics since I was now in the financial business and I admired the economics department of GMU. I replied, "I would love to, but it would interfere with my education."