Editor’s note: What follows is a letter that the author wrote to his daughter at the outset of her college search.
Dear Madeleine,
As you continue to prepare for college, I want to share a bit of my mind and heart, not for the particular university you attend, but for the kind of university you attend. I want this to be a dialogue between you, your mom, and me as we approach this exciting time of your senior year in high school. And I want this letter to inform that dialogue because it captures the thinking I have been doing on this matter for the last several years.
First, I want to think with you about what a university education is for. Without the main goal in mind, it can be hard to figure out how to prioritize among seemingly endless options. Higher education is about forming the whole person, intellectually, morally, and spiritually. It is about gaining skills for a future career (or careers) while at the same time gaining insight into the kind of person you want to be, the nature of the world we inhabit, and the nature of the God who created all of it. Faithful Christian universities do not have answers to all questions, and they are not perfect places with perfect people, but they are able to engage a number of big questions about human nature, human flourishing, our world, and the God who created them in ways that other kinds of schools simply cannot. They also tend to provide basic coursework in philosophy, theology, and literature that other schools now neglect — i.e., they offer an experience that is closer to the liberal arts education long considered critical for cultivating well-rounded people. Accordingly, I believe they can provide the best context for pursuing a college degree during this pivotal time in your life.
Second, and relatedly, I want you to have direct access to professors who have the highest degrees in their field and who will not only impart academic skills to you that you’ll use in your career, but who will also think critically with you about what it means to be a faithful Christian in this or that career path. Jesus is the Lord of all of life and that means that Christians are invited (and even commanded) to try to figure out what it means to follow the ways of Jesus, not only in their family life, congregations, and neighborhoods; not only in serving the poor, sick, and suffering; but in their professional lives as well. It is not that every professor at a faithful Christian university will take on this great task. And there are certainly areas of ambiguity that Christians face in their jobs, whether working in marketing for a tech firm or as a medical professional in a hospital or as a lawyer in a law firm. But the reality is that many professors at Christian universities are eager to think carefully with you about these matters and to mentor you as you grow in your understanding, during college and beyond. I want that kind of investment in you from your professors. Professors at Christian universities, by and large, feel called to invest in students in this more comprehensive way, as an act of faithfulness to God. That’s why they’ve chosen to be there.
Third, I want you to be surrounded by students who come from diverse geographical, familial, and cultural backgrounds who are eager to grow as faithful Christians at a university that intentionally encourages such growth. Now, it is not that all students at Christian universities will be the kinds of people who seek to grow in their faith in Christ. Moreover, not every aspect of the university’s attempts to promote the spiritual growth of its students will be worthwhile to you. And some students will be hypocrites. Some students will dismiss or demean the university and its Christian rules for “student life.” Some students will not be Christians at all and will be there only because their parents sent them there. Some students will gossip, and otherwise be cruel, selfish, superficial, vain, or exhibit countless other sinful faults. In other words, the students on these campuses will be human, as they are at every other university. But none of these regrettable realities change the fact that there will be an exceedingly higher number of students at faithful Christian universities who have the potential to be the kinds of lifelong friends who will join you in walking the “narrow path” of following Jesus.
Fourth, I want to address the matter of campus life, but I want to emphasize that I listed this one fourth on purpose. It is not my most important reason for pointing you toward a faithful Christian university, but it does, nevertheless, still matter. From small secular liberal arts schools to major state universities, and many colleges in between, it is no secret that their campus life tends to be riddled with rampant alcohol abuse, casual sexual encounters, pornography, drug use, and a general obsession with radical individual autonomy as the highest good. And that is before getting into the periodic bursts of campus activism that sometimes turn violent, but at the very least do little more than distract students from fulfilling their academic responsibilities. At faithful Christian universities, you’ll encounter all of the important questions of injustice that activists on other campuses are often protesting about, but you’ll encounter them more constructively and engagingly. Moreover, and similar to my point in the previous paragraph, it is not that students at Christian universities will not abuse alcohol, have sex outside of marriage, use drugs, engage in ill-informed or frivolous protests, or have harmful views of individual autonomy, but the school itself will set rules and expectations that discourage and denounce these activities rather than encourage them. The difference between the two approaches is enormous.
Fifth, and related to my last point, I want to address the idea that I am trying to “shelter” you from the “real world” by sending you to a Christian university. Many people have said this, and will continue to say this, but they have it entirely backwards. I am glad for the campus ethos of a faithful Christian university that discourages (and even condemns) destructive areas of sin common among young adults and pervasive in our culture generally, but protecting you from the “real world” is not my aim. In fact, I want you to be exposed to the real world in a way that the vast majority of universities are ill-equipped to accomplish. I want to expose you to the reality that the God who is most fully revealed in Jesus Christ wants every part of who you are, and wants you to love and serve him in every area of your life. I want you to be exposed to the injustices in our world that break the heart of God and to be confronted by the weighty moral teachings He has imparted to His people through many millennia. I want you to be exposed to the lifelong practice of thinking carefully about what it means to serve God in your professional and private life, and everywhere in between. My hope for you is that you would catch a glimpse of the true adventure that is the Christian life, and I believe that a faithful Christian university can expose you to that adventure at this pivotal time.
During this spring season, I look forward to launching further into this time of discernment with you and to the many college road trips ahead! I value this time with you more than I can express in words!
With Love,
Dad
Thank you. Very well stated. My feelings are very similar as the father of a high school junior son and as a proud and thankful graduate of Westmont College. God bless you.