Home School Heartbeat Radio Program

How should Christians respond to our society's growing emphasis on elite education? Today on Home School Heartbeat, Michael Farris looks at why Christians may want to think twice before following this trend.

Michael Farris:


More and more, getting an education from an elite institution is proving to be the key to success as a leader in modern culture. But should Christians attend and support elite colleges that reject and undermine Christian principles?


There are numerous reasons why following this social trend is dangerous for Christians. To begin with, it's important to consider the philosophy of the education presented at such institutions. The radical left dominates the campuses of this country. In fact, the president of Duke University has said the reason they don't employ conservatives is because they think conservatives are too stupid to teach at such colleges.* Should we blindly believe that such professors will not have an influence on the faith of Christian young people when they face them day in, day out, four years of their education?


It's necessary for Christian parents to understand the general philosophy of the professors at a college—both in their child's major and in their core curriculum—before deciding to send their students there.


The Bible is not silent on this subject. The last part of Romans 1 says that those who fail to retain the knowledge of God, He turns them over to a depraved mind to do that which ought not to be done. The philosophies of these schools were once solidly Christian. But the professors changed the colleges, and they can change the students who attend them as well. Christians should beware of the cost of buying into these modern educational trends. I'm Mike Farris.

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*Correction: The President of Duke University did not make this assertion. The anecdote Michael Farris was actually referencing was Robert Brandon's assertion that conservatives were-on average-intellectually inferior to liberals, which is why, Brandon argued, there are fewer conservatives in academia. Robert Brandon is the chair of the philosophy department at Duke University. His comments were quoted in "Debating Party Parity in Faculty Population," Duke Magazine, May/June 2004 (located on the web at http://www.dukemagazine.duke.edu/dukemag/issues/050604/depgaz.html.)