Commentary; Posted: 9/12/07
Parents and college
Rev. John C. Blackford,
Religion Columnist
It’s fall, and your 2007 high school graduate may be off to college. If so, you are spending a large amount of money on tuition, books and dormitory fees.
Scholarships soften the financial load, but if you have taken out loans, eventually they will have to be repaid. A year at a state university costs over $10,000, and at a private school may exceed $20,000.
These amounts are high for middle-class families, and often prohibitive for those in the lower income brackets.
Beyond the cost factors, parents, whether college-educated themselves or not, are concerned about the impact college will have on their child.
They know it will be different from what they experienced or heard about from others. Most will realize going to college is not merely a way to spend the next four or five years, and not unbridled freedom with little or no accountability.
Researchers tell us that the years between 18-25 are critical to youth.
Decisions are made and practices are developed that will last through life.
With freedom comes responsibility, and there is no such thing as “no accountability.”
One who has worked extensively with college students says, “I always ask students this; What kind of person do you want to be? Have you thought about what it will take to be that kind of person?”
Like everyone else, students are surrounded by ideas that give meaning to life.
Often they hear that what counts is making a lot of money and accumulating things, and that a degree is a passport to privilege and the good life.
There is nothing wrong with attending college and preparing for a career, and the writer is thankful for his opportunity to get a post-high school education, but it should be a great opportunity to broaden the horizons of the mind, and discover personal gifts.
Further, it should be a time when religious concepts, sown in younger years, are developed and nourished, and serviceability to God is cultivated.
College faculty members have a great influence over their students, including spiritual matters.
Studies have shown that a majority of professors claim to be “spiritual,” and neither atheists nor agnostics, so campuses are hardly a hotbed of anti-God unbelief.
In the spring of 2006 two assistant professors of sociology, one from Harvard and the other from George Mason University, contacted thousands of professors, asking them to fill out a questionnaire related to their religious and ideological beliefs.
When queried about their views on God 10 percent selected, “I don’t believe in God.” Another 13.4 percent chose the statement, “I don’t know whether there is a God, and I don’t believe there is any way to find out.”
Together this is a total of 23.4 percent, or almost a quarter of responders. In the General Social Survey only 2.8 percent of Americans say they are atheists, and 4.1 percent agnostics, less than one-third of the total of the academics.
In addition to the fact professors are less religious than other Americans, most do not think religion is important for the students.
A 2003 survey found that 63 percent of students said their professors never encouraged discussion of spiritual or religious matters.
In spite of findings that a majority of faculty members believe developing moral character and helping students develop personal values are “very important,” the implication is that such things do not need input from religion, thus indicating a disconnect between religion and the practical side of life, including education.
Counteracting this imbalance is the fact that there are more opportunities for Christian fellowship and support on our university campuses than ever before, sponsored by various church and denominational groups, and our youth are turning to them in goodly numbers.
Christian parents can prepare their children for college in several ways.
They can have a serious conversation with them about why they are going, what they hope to accomplish, what their biggest concerns are and what they think God is calling them to do and be.
They can tell them about what was going through their minds when they were 18, being honest about their own doubts and fears.
Most of all, they will assure them of their prayerful backing for the challenges they will face and the opportunities that lie before them.
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