Christian College to shape/reform?

I can only answer for me. I went to PCC as a young man who did not want anything to do with living for God. I hated the rules. I had to go to bed at 11pm and I couldn't talk to girls after dinner, except on Fri and Sat. night. I had to get up at 6:30am and had to get passes to leave campus. The rules were, as I thought, killing me. It was in the second semester that I heard a message by Dr. Pennell. He preached a message entitled "The Rod of God". It had such a huge impact on my life and I have never been the same since.

Had I not been forced to go to a Christian College, I seriously doubt I would be pastoring today. By the way, it was my Pastor who made me go, because my parents were unsaved at the time. God used PCC to change my life and then see much of my family get saved because of it.

 

This is one area that I agree completely with you Dr. Bob. We do the same thing. I have student handbooks from the schools that our kids would be considering and make sure they and their parents understand what will be expected of them. It is one of the problems I have with PCC. They don't tell prospective students until they arrive. I agree that it is wrong.

 

I believe that Fairhaven is the same way... They have a weight control program there, I do not remember being told about it before hand. I admit.. I need to loose weight, in college, but to punish people because they did not meet the weekly way in was awful. I thought that I was at a military school, not a BAPTIST COLLEGE.

 

I have recommended Grove City College in PA for conservatives who were not interested in going to a fundamentalist university or Bible college. I know one of the deans there and in many ways they are a very fine school.

Andy

 

Greg,

I agree that a Pastor's recommendation of a college will change depending on who he is speaking to. For instance, I would never recommend PCC for a ministerial student. However, they have, in my opinion, a great education program. If someone asked me for a business program, I might recommend BJU to them. My recommendations are just that though, the individual must seek out the Lord's will for their life and go where God wants them to go.

 

Kids should at least be at the point where they will agree to follow the rules, even if they disagree,

I remember plenty of refugees at my school who were either forcibly removed, or asked not to return to a couple schools in the southern regions of the U.S.

Some of them were trouble, and they found it at a more reasonable school as well. Some were good kids who either were punished for being kids, or for not following some ridiculous rule.

The problem really is the "discipline" program of the school in question. It should be about guidance for young adults, and giving freedom and responsibility, as well as encouragement and accountablilty. Not punishment, or as a means of maintaining a school's reputation at the expense of helping kids who may have genuine needs that the school could address. Rather than simply viewing it as a penal system, it should be similar to the counseling ministry of a Local Church, helping the students deal with the core heart issues that are the cause of the external behavior where practical.

 

Most bible colleges that I am familiar with require the student to sign a form indicating they have read the rule book and are in agreement with it before coming. Of course some may go anyway thinking the school is not serious, or the student may think they can just get away with whatever they want.

As far as the "reform school idea" is a bad idea. I have been involved in a number of schools and found that the few changed lives are small in comparison to the many who rebel and end up getting kicked out or just leaving. And the rebels can create collateral damage to others.

 

Circuitrider,

Unfortuneately a number of the Christian colleges do not give a copy of the rule book to prospective students. You arrive on campus, get a rule book and now have to sign to stay. I agree that if a student agrees to the rules, they should abide by them. The problem is that they aren't given an opportunity to understand what they are getting themselves into.

 

It really should be done before the student comes, and they should have to agree to follow the rules.

And its not a good idea to send students who clearly are not going to follow the rules, There is not enough control at any college to keep the determined out of trouble. Parents who think a college is going to change their kid when they cannot are sadly mistaken in most cases.