Navigating the College Chaos

In a rapidly changing world most young people aren’t sure what career to choose. Parents of high school age children are especially confused and are not always able to direct their sons and daughters effectively when it comes to academic and career direction. The Christian home educating community is no exception to this dilemma. In today’s marketplace no one is immune to this confusion.

Decisions

In the realm of higher education, there seems to be three, or perhaps four, major choices afforded to the Christian. Secular colleges and universities, the so-called Bible colleges and universities, and those colleges and universities which are explicitly Christ-centered which prepare its students to be culturally relevant in the advancement of God’s Kingdom which, sadly, are few and far between. Of course, there are also trade schools which provide rich on-hands education related to a particular skill but do not necessarily fall into the category of Academia. Yet, even here we must confess that if Christians are to be faithful to their professed worldview, every trade must be taught from a Christ-centered presupposition. There can be no neutrality.

College Tuition and Debt

Invariably, whenever decisions are made as to where a Christian young person is to receive an education the topic of career comes to the fore-front as if education and its anticipation of financial success is the determining factor which college or university the student attends. Once lucrative financial possibilities become the dominant deciding factor in choosing a college or university, both parent and student are then more easily able to justify going into debt in order to pay exorbitant tuition which, in truth, cannot guarantee future financial prosperity.

The decision to go into debt, in hope that the education will somehow automatically result in some future financial prosperity, is a clear violation of one of the most basic principles of Biblical Economics. If debt is the status quo of our modern education strategy can we expect God to bless the taking on of large debt for an education that may or may not be comprehensively Biblical? Certainly He will not bless any education motive that does not conform to His commandment to advance His Kingdom.

Yet, how many Christian families are drowning in debt, or considering debt, due to outrageous tuition? Even if one can justify spending the money on what is actually being taught by that institution? Does the mere price tag of an educational institution translate into a good education that is culturally relevant to the Glory of God? Not usually. So what should Christian parents and students  consider when choosing higher education?

Biblical Criteria

The most important criteria for choosing an educational institution must be, if it is to be God glorifying, “What college can best equip my child to advance God’s Kingdom within the scope of his or her chosen area of study?” None of God’s true saints ought to be educated for the sake of learning or for the sake of financial advancement. Our lives are to be invested for the Glory of God. All learning must be devoted to the call of God in advancing His Truth. I think the Christian community has forgotten that and has defaulted to a secular world and life view concerning higher education.

A Christ Centered Alternative

We developed New Geneva as a solution to the college dilemma. Geneva is a unique higher learning institution providing both the learning necessary for individual advancement within whatever field the student seeks to enter into. More importantly Geneva directly mentors and challenges each student to use that learning for the advancement of God’s Kingdom.  Without application learning is simply a head-scratching exercise.

New Geneva is a private College patterned after Calvin’s Geneva during the European Reformation and follows a system of learning much like that of the University at Cambridge.

https://westernconservatory.com/articles/what-i-learned-cambridge