Is college worth all the expense and trouble these days? I used to think it was. But look at all the changes for the worse.
So much of what passes for a college education these days is indoctrination in political correctness.
A recent study reported in Newsweek found that one in four Gen Z college graduates regret attending university – all the trouble, all the expense, all the debt. Pew Research Center says Gen Z are those born from 1997 through 2012.
Writing for Newsweek, Suzanne Blake observes: “As artificial intelligence transforms the workplace and student debt balloons, a significant portion of Generation Z now expresses regret over their college education. According to a new survey by Resume Genius, 23 percent of full-time Gen Z workers regret attending college, and 19 percent say their degree didn’t contribute to their career.”
Blake adds, “Only 32 percent said they’re content with their education path and wouldn’t change it, according to Resume Genius.”
I am so glad that I was able to study at college in the 1970s. It was liberal, but it wasn’t Marxist.
To me, a large part of the problem is that college these days represents perhaps one of the largest “mission drifts” in history.
What was the original reason for colleges in the first place? All the original colleges and universities in North America – all of them (certainly as early as the settling and founding eras) – were thoroughly Christian. But today most of these schools stand for the exact opposite. But the liberals didn’t start these schools. They just eventually took them over, turning them away from God.
Consider just a quick run-down of these schools that many of our nation’s founders attended:
- The original motto of Harvard was (in Latin): “For Christ and the Church” – with the word Veritas (Latin for Truth) on the college seal. In the early 20th century, they jettisoned everything but the word Veritas. Founded in 1630, named after Rev. John Harvard, a 1643 statement of the school’s goals said, “Every one shall consider the main End of his life and studies, to know God and Jesus Christ which is Eternal life. John 17.3.”
- William and Mary was Anglican in its founding and as such, Jesus Christ was preeminent. Among other things, two of the Statutes of the College of William and Mary (1727) state the school’s purpose: “That the Churches of America, especially Virginia, should be supplied with good Ministers after the Doctrine and Government of the Church of England; and that the College should be a constant Seminary for this Purpose … That the Indians of America should be instructed in the Christian Religion …”
- Yale was founded to train ministers of the Gospel in the Connecticut area in 1700, and named after the Puritan benefactor Elihu Yale. Its 1745 charter stated, “All scholars shall live religious, godly, and blameless lives according to the rules of God’s Word, diligently reading the Holy Scriptures, the fountain of light and truth; and constantly attend upon all the duties of religion, both in public and secret.”
- An early advertisement for King’s College, which opened in 1754 and is now Columbia University, read: “The chief thing that is aimed at in this college is to teach and engage children to know God in Jesus Christ.” This is the same Columbia that now sees many pro-Hamas protests.
- Rev. Jonathan Dickinson was the first president of the College of New Jersey, which later became known as Princeton. Dickinson once said, “Cursed be all that learning that is contrary to the cross of Christ.” Its official motto even now is reported to be, “Under God’s Power She Flourishes.”
- Dartmouth was originally founded for the purpose of training ministers of the Gospel and missionaries to the Indians.
And on and on it goes. Too bad we have been largely cut off from this important tradition.
In fact, the phenomenon of the university was created by the Church around A.D. 1200. The University of Paris was one of the very first, and Christian theology was a key part of the curriculum.
Dr. Paul Maier of Western Michigan University once said, “You had students from England, studying in Paris who decided to go to a place where the oxen crossed the river, Oxenford, otherwise known as ‘Oxford.’ And that gave birth to Cambridge. Cambridge gave birth to John Harvard, coming over to the United States, Harvard University in 1636. That was the background of our state university system, as well as our private university system, and so on to the universities we have today. Direct Christian origin.”
Today we have cut ourselves off from the ancient wisdom found in the Scriptures, and instead find ourselves adrift in a sea of relativism. No wonder so many young graduates regret going to college.