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Tri-State Baptist College

Discussion in 'Baptist Colleges & Seminaries' started by Craigbythesea, Feb 23, 2005.

  1. Wolfeman

    Wolfeman New Member

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    Wow! Thanks for the interesting discusscion of the college I'm currently attending. First let me delve into a fleshly indulgence... To the original poster - Craigbythesea - If your going to be critical of someone's grammer or spelling you need to make sure your's is better. Thanks for the indulgence. Now on to the fun stuff...

    Tri-State Baptist College is not a college with a church but a Church run college. Our college president is also our Pastor. The mission of the college is not awarding degrees but preparing young men and women for FULL time Christian service. ie Preachers, Pastors, Pastors wives, church secretaries ect. This leads to a broader focus than just learning the Bible. It teaches SERVING God. The letter from the president says a lot about why the college exists. However the degrees that are awarded by the school are academically sound and recognised by many larger colleges including Hyles-Anderson.
    I look forward to any questions or comments you may have about my school.
     
  2. Brice

    Brice New Member

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    Wolfe,

    You must discern the difference between an informal thread and an institution of higher learning. Craig shouldn’t be held to the same standard as a college. I’m not too worried about the dress code either. It’s not my cup of tea, but that doesn’t matter. One issue that does raise a question in my mind is accreditation. Why did you choose an unaccredited institution when you could go to an accredited one? Very few if any reputable institutions will accept the credit hours. Transferability to another unaccredited college is not a positive. This gives no validity to the education.
     
  3. Wolfeman

    Wolfeman New Member

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    Brice,
    While you are correct that an institute of higher learning should be held to a higher standard, I would point out that in this day and age most organisations do not create or manage their own websites. But I do concede your point that the internet presence of any church or college should present the same level of perfection we expect from said church or college.
    To short answer to you question about my choice of college is simply that this is where the Lord put me. The church is strong independent Baptist and by extension so is the school.
    To give you the long answer we must first look at accredidation. True accredidation comes only from the federal government. Many schools have organisations that have accredited them and thus you have partial transferability of credits (ie Harvard). Accredidation at the federal level requires opening your school up to government input in terms of class sizes, toilet to student ratio, water fountain height, living area requirements (we originally lost our accredidation years ago because the school refused to provide a smoking section in the dorms) as well as what is taught and to whom it is taught. As I said earlier many "Christian" schools get around this by being accredited by some organisation or having portions of their curriculum accredited (ie math and english courses). Tri-state simply does not wish to open itself up to government inspection and interference of what it teaches. It is however recognised by the state of Mississippi as an institute of higher learning and authorized to issue degrees.
    Because I'm studying to serve the Lord full time some day I'm not too worried about transferability. Besided the only schools I'd really be interested in going to already accept full transfer of our credits.
     
  4. Brice

    Brice New Member

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    Wolfe,

    Thanks for your response. I get the feeling that we would probably not see college in the same light. In my opinion accreditation is important. That being said, I commend you for doing God’s will in your life. It is not my job to question that, I believe your attitude will make you a successful man of God (success in fulfilling God’s purpose).
     
  5. Wolfeman

    Wolfeman New Member

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    Yes accredidation is important. After 11 years in the Army I have enough non transferable classes to have an arts degree already. The problem is, as I've already stated, that most places are not TRUELY accredited or only their undergrad classes are accredited. As a fundamental independent Baptist it is very hard to accredited colleges that have not let their standards slip in some way.
    The best way to judge any college is not to look at its programs or its accredidation but to find people who have employed graduates of that school and ask them what they think of the school.
     
  6. bapmom

    bapmom New Member

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    Now, I have a question too about this idea that if a college has a faculty that has graduated from that same college, that that somehow nullifies or degrades its level of academic scholarship.

    Now, if you look at Tri-State and see that most of its faculty graduated from, say, Maranatha, some of you are saying that would make Tri-State look more acceptable. BUT, then if you look at Maranatha and see that much of its faculty is from Tr-State, youd also say the same thing, then. So they whats the difference? Youd accept the VERY same faculty members if they were teaching at another college.....but not if they teach at their alma mater?
    It seems like an odd standard to judge an entire college on.

    btw, Ive never been to Tri-State and don't know much about it. But ive seen this same standard applied to MANY colleges of which I DO know alot. And oftentimes it is applied unfairly.
     
  7. Wolfeman

    Wolfeman New Member

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    I"d first ask if the degrees were honorary or worked for. If they were honorary why were they given out? Did they just need some teachers? Personally I like the idea of hiring former students. They already know what your like, how hard your willing to work and how dedicated and mature you are.
    It has been pointed out and I do agree that if the only degrees EVERYONE holds are from the college it's a scary thing. But you must also look at how old the college is. It is very possible for a college that has been around 30 years to only have teachers and professors with degrees from that college, especially if the college is very small.
    Tri-State has a student population currently of about 100 students with about 10 seniors. There are only two classes offered each period (4 periods MWF and 3 periods on TT) with a night class on Monday and another one on Wednesday. Each class is taught by a teacher with an applicable degree and experience in that class.
    The one thing I must stress about Tri-State is that it is NOT a stand alone college. It is as much a ministry of the Church it was started by as any other ministry of the Church. All students are expected to tithe and support the Church in the bus ministry or Sunday School. Saturday is our visitation day and all students are expected to visit their bus route or sunday school kids from 9 to 12:30 or go soul winning. Christian service is taught to and expected from all students and that is better than any classroom teaching.
     
  8. Eric Rolen

    Eric Rolen New Member

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    The KJV Is the inerrant word of God. without error. This has nothing to do the order it is written in. while I agree the Trinity should be first but i disagree that one may think the KJV contains error. God commits no error
     
  9. Brice

    Brice New Member

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    Wolfe,

    I think the general sentiment you will get from this board is this – There is no reason to go to an unaccredited college. There are a plethora of options out there and accreditation doesn’t negate a school’s biblical stance. BBC, CCC, etc. adhere to strong biblical standards and are accredited. All accreditation does is set a reasonable standard, so one knows the type of education they will receive. For instance LU lost their accreditation for a period of time because of large amounts of debt. The accreditation body felt that they could not serve the student body well because of this debt. The debt was resolved and they got accreditation back. As a resident student there, we did not have areas for smoking and the Profs. said what they wanted, when they wanted. Accreditation did not hinder, it helped. They are being held to a higher standard, one that is not set by each church board. Please understand my goal here is not to knock your sentiment, but I feel that I should be honest. I hope that helps and God bless.
     
  10. paidagogos

    paidagogos Active Member

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    Deleted upon second thought.
     
  11. Saved

    Saved New Member

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    The purpose of this college is to train young men and ladies to be in the ministry. The only accreditation it needs for that is already listed in their beliefs !
     
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