Public University and College Students

[maxdouglas402]

What do you think about the philosophy of public college professors? I have a friend who loves going to school and learning, but he is constantly concerned about the way he is being taught. He explains that the teachers are liberal, and sometimes anti-Catholic. He seems to want to drink knowledge in, but I’m concerned that he might inevitably drink in heavy skepticism and liberalism.

I think about what C.S Lewis said about modern day scholars. They can tell people how a certain thing relates to other certain things, how it was developed, what impact it had, but they can never say whether it is True.

And as a college student paying a lot of money, I assume he is after Truth!

Thoughts?

 

[Allegra]

When I went to college, I had all sorts of professors. I only had one that I felt was anti-Catholic, but I had others with many different attitudes towards the Church. I had one who was a proclaimed atheist but was always complimentary about the Church’s role in history and art. I had others who were devout Catholics themselves. I had others who spoke respectfully of the Church but vocally disagreed with specific teachings. Lots of others never expressed any opinion at all. If classroom discussion included the Catholic Church, I always felt it was a good thing that people felt the Church was relevant enough to discuss in the first place. We never had discussion about the teachings of the Methodist church. We never talked about how Assembly of God affected world history or how Evangelicals influenced science and art.

 

[Usige]

Its not just public universities that are like that. I went to a Jesuit university and had professors that pointed at the crucifix on the wall and said “that” meant less than nothing to them as long as they got paid. Another religious studies professor spoke of how illogical western religions are and bemoaned their male suppression of women.

Liberals defintely infest education. There is a certain academic elitism that sees religion as a mental handicap. This is especially true in the hard sciences and certain social sciences fields. If you believe in God or reject relativism then you are obviously incapable of logical thought.

That’s not to say every professor is like that, but most universities would make more conservative academics uncomfortable.

 

[PaulfromIowa]

If you want to meet liberal anti-Catholic professors, go to a “Catholic” college. They are packed with them.

 

[skigirl1689]

Perhaps you can remind your friend it is a good idea to get involved in a campus ministry if they have one at his school and get involved in the local parish. I was involved in my denomination’s campus ministry as well as the Catholic Campus Ministry (long story, I knew the priest from a time before he was a priest and I found community there despite my disability, which made it hard for me to make friends at school). Anyways they both kept me grounded in the Christian faith and worldview, which helped immensely when being constantly bombarded with secularism on campus. They also reminded me I wasn’t the only young person still adhering to the faith .

 

[kmuestwin]

What do you think about the philosophy of public college professors? I have a friend who loves going to school and learning, but he is constantly concerned about the way he is being taught. He explains that the teachers are liberal, and sometimes anti-Catholic. He seems to want to drink knowledge in, but I’m concerned that he might inevitably drink in heavy skepticism and liberalism.

I think about what C.S Lewis said about modern day scholars. They can tell people how a certain thing relates to other certain things, how it was developed, what impact it had, but they can never say whether it is True.

And as a college student paying a lot of money, I assume he is after Truth!

Thoughts?

What is your friend learning? If he’s going to a public university to study religion then you might need to be concerned. If he is studying any other subject, he should be fine.

If he’s studying philosophy, he’s going to need to learn that he is not required to accept every idea that passes in front of him. He only needs to be able to understand the philosophy and apply it to the world. The study of philosophy does not imply that he will be forced to accept the theories that are presented to him.

There’s a film being produced by the evangelical leaning Lifeway company that paints a very scary and in my opinion silly picture of academics that is coming out next year. The film is called God’s Not Dead In the film, the protagonist is told by his professor that he has to write on a paper, “God is dead” in order to take and pass the course. If you feel like your friend is going to be in a situation like this DO NOT WORRY! This will not happen in the public university setting. If you are worried that over the course of his studies, he may be influenced by people and ideas that are not Catholic that may lead him away from the faith, this could very well happen. Your friend’s faith has much more to do with his own relationship with God than that of his peers and teachers. He is going to need to go to school with the idea that his knowledge of his faith is HIS responsibility.

A public university is a diverse place with people from every walk of life. He is going to need to be well versed in his faith to be able to practice it while away from the comforts and safety of his parents’ home. I am certain that he will make his share of mistakes along the way.

My best friend from college is an atheist. I can say with 100% honesty that she has been a huge support to my walk with God and my journey in the Church.

(I say all of this with 5 years in a public university where I received a BBA and 1 semester in a Catholic seminary.)

 

[Rhubarb]

I’m a philosophy major at UC Davis. This quarter I’m taking three ethics courses. No professor has pushed any agenda that they want us to believe. They DO discuss the relevant theories and arguments on the subjects they teach - often secular or atheistic in nature - because that is how the theories and arguments are formed. No professor or instructor has insisted an atheistic world view upon us. Or a religious world view either - my Bioethics professor is a Christian who has many times debated publicly for the existence of God and the necessary truth of the ressurection.

When studying philosophy one must learn to absorb ideas and arguments (even when contrary to your own), weigh them, and formulate one’s own ideas.

 

[alexandratm]

As others have pointed out, I also went to a public university, and as such, was exposed to a wide variety of viewpoints. Some professors were more strident than others (law school was far worse than undergrad, frankly), but nowhere did I find this all-encompassing, liberal brainwashing machine that people seem to like to bandy about.

Yes, some professors will require you to study and even argue for points you disagree with, because that is an exercise in learning. Truly, you cannot effectively argue your own points until you see the other side and look for weaknesses in your own beliefs or ideas. That isn’t brainwashing - it’s pushing you to be a better thinker. The whole point of college is to broaden your mind and help refine your thoughts. That can only be done by being exposed to a wide array of opinions, writings, and lectures. There were plenty of times I had to read or write on things I disagreed with, liberal and conservative, but in the end, I’d consider it all well worth it.