To parents with kids about to go to college?

[Kelfa28]

I think it really depends on the major some of these kids choose.
Going with a science major, engineering major or something similar means you’re spending so much time in the lab or in straight math classes…you really aren’t constantly exposed to radical views.

Sociology, philosophy and anthropology…plus women’s studies…will expose college students to an ever present liberal viewpoint that clashes with Catholic theology.

I’ve been attending state run colleges presently and, though I’m an adult, I haven’t seen much of anything that would concern me about sending my child to a state-run school. The pre-recuisite classes are very tame. The only two teachers I’ve run into that had fairly radical beliefs were my English 101 teacher and my World History teacher. Both were very left-wing. My english grade suffered a bit due to my view points when I wrote an opinionated paper on the draft. I know it did because of the foot notes and comments he made about the paper weren’t really grammatical corrections but disagreements on my conservative views.
He was a firm atheist but didn’t berate me when we got into a small discussion about religion. I just told him I didn’t agree with him.

With my world history teacher…she was teaching history that was contrary to actual Church history. I spoke my piece and disagreed with her statements. She said she’d look into it and it ended there and the exchange was quite polite. I corrected some false viewpoints on Jesus and some views on Martin Luther as well. No one disagreed and no one jumped down my throat for what I clearly believed in.

Maybe it’s because I’m an adult and I’m not afraid of professors. I’m not very impressionable. I think young adults need to be strong in their faith and their beliefs. They need to understand what they believe in. They need to be able to answer the question why and not be afraid of what they were taught. They need to be unimpressionable…regardless of what is thrown at them.
They can’t be uncertain and they can’t be confused.

By the way…I’ve been going to school in Massachusetts…and while California is the strong hold of Liberalism and atheism of the West…Massachusetts is that of the East.
These professors were educated in the most liberal of schools, like Harvard, and they weren’t that bad.

 

[Fairwinds]

That’s an awfully expensive verification, especially since there are colleges that actually teach.

but do they teach something that makes the student valuable to someone after graduation? because if they don’t, why would anyone waste four years of lost income and incur heavy debt for an unmarketable degree? unless someone is independently wealthy or after the fabled MRS degree, in which case why not just hang out somewhere cheaper for four years?

ProTip: an electrical engineering student will answer this question differently than an english major.

 

[Em_in_FL]

I think it really depends on the major some of these kids choose.
Going with a science major, engineering major or something similar means you’re spending so much time in the lab or in straight math classes…you really aren’t constantly exposed to radical views.

Sociology, philosophy and anthropology…plus women’s studies…will expose college students to an ever present liberal viewpoint that clashes with Catholic theology.

Oh I agree wholeheartedly (said the electrical engineer with a minor in mathematics!)…

And not to bash the second group of majors you listed… but really, besides staying in academia your entire life - WHAT TYPE OF JOB WOULD YOU GET with those majors? That always boggled my mind.

 

[Rachel126]

I attended a big state university, and it didn’t harm my faith at all. There was a huge Catholic church near campus that welcomed students and had Mass at times favorable to students (Sunday evening!) They also had social events for students and the priests were truly gifted in their interactions with young people. I also didn’t hear any of the rhetoric you are worried about.

 

[BettyBoop416]

If your kids are not going to private Catholic colleges, are you worried about them at all?

Being brainwashed and trained to hate everything you taught them? Most colleges hustle radical leftist rhetoric today.

It is very regular to hear professors and activists on campus referring to Christian society as the root of all hate and bigotry in society. Lewd, sacrilegious jokes by intellectuals are common.

Discuss.

Although I read about such things here on CAF, neither I, my friends, nor my kids had this experience at our local state university. Of course they’re going to be exposed to different ideas, many of which may conflict with Catholic teaching, but that’s just part of dealing with the real world. Despite what you may read on this forum, there is really no organized conspiracy with the goal of corrupting our children.

 

[Lorelei12]

And not to bash the second group of majors you listed… but really, besides staying in academia your entire life - WHAT TYPE OF JOB WOULD YOU GET with those majors? That always boggled my mind.

Well…as a graduate as one of these majors (yes I am employed), there are jobs in human resources, state and federal government, the justice system, market research, social science research, public relations…as well as community and social service positions. Admittedly, I did need a graduate degree in order to do what I wanted, but I do know many people who graduated with me who are doing quite well in some of the positions I just listed.

That being said, the public university I attended for graduate school was very liberal, as were most of the social science professors. I wouldn’t recommend taking one of these majors as an undergraduate at a non-Catholic school unless a student was very well-grounded in the faith. I am thankful that I chose a Catholic college, because at 18 I was very impressionable and needed the additional instruction in ethics, humanities, Catholic social teaching, and so forth as well as instruction in the social sciences that wouldn’t contradict my faith. Not always a problem, of course, especially if someone’s parents prepared them well both matters of faith and life in general…but I did benefit from the Catholic atmosphere and instruction and I’m not sure I’d be as faithful today if I had chosen a different college.

 

[Rachel126]

Although I read about such things here on CAF, neither I, my friends, nor my kids had this experience at our local state university. Of course they’re going to be exposed to different ideas, many of which may conflict with Catholic teaching, but that’s just part of dealing with the real world. Despite what you may read on this forum, there is really no organized conspiracy with the goal of corrupting our children.

 

[HouseArrest]

but do they teach something that makes the student valuable to someone after graduation? because if they don’t, why would anyone waste four years of lost income and incur heavy debt for an unmarketable degree? unless someone is independently wealthy or after the fabled MRS degree, in which case why not just hang out somewhere cheaper for four years?

ProTip: an electrical engineering student will answer this question differently than an english major.

Well I suppose we’re getting off the subject now. Yes it is expensive, so buyer beware. A family needs to make the decision about whether the college degree of choice is worth the price or not.

I have read many an article speculating on whether or not the degree “pays out” in the end. Yours wasn’t one of them. I didn’t glean much actual information from it, just a 2 page rant about hipsters. I guess my answer to that one would be that everyone has to make their own way, regardless of the major picked.

I understand the dilemma for someone interested in English or Architecture or Psychology right now, but I wouldn’t want to fit my English-word loving daughter into engineering just because there are lots of jobs. She really only needs one job… this is coming from an… engineer!

I do think there are other reasons for attending college than the paycheck potential at the end, even though your article managed to make fun of that idea as well. In actuality, a good Catholic education can be good for the soul. And in the end, we need way more than a paycheck to get to heaven.

There are lots of points to consider when choosing college right now. It’s got to be good for the soul, good for the job prospects, and come at a doable price. It is tough to manage those three. Hopefully things will change and college will become more affordable and accessible.

 

[Julianna]

Although I read about such things here on CAF, neither I, my friends, nor my kids had this experience at our local state university. Of course they’re going to be exposed to different ideas, many of which may conflict with Catholic teaching, but that’s just part of dealing with the real world**. Despite what you may read on this forum, there is really no organized conspiracy with the goal of corrupting our children.**/QUOTE]

 

[Julianna]

If your kids are not going to private Catholic colleges, are you worried about them at all?

Being brainwashed and trained to hate everything you taught them? Most colleges hustle radical leftist rhetoric today.

It is very regular to hear professors and activists on campus referring to Christian society as the root of all hate and bigotry in society. Lewd, sacrilegious jokes by intellectuals are common.

Discuss.

You can’t lock your kids in a cave or put them in a fish bowl for the rest of their lives. Once they graduate from college and get jobs…who do you think is going to be there co-workers, their customers, their clients, their patients, their managers, their next door neighbors? Yep, you guessed, liberals, atheists, homosexuals, libertarians, agnostics, Baptists, Lutherans, Jews, Muslims…etc. etc.

You have to trust that you raised your children with a good foundation in Catholicism. They may stick with, they may stray, they may leave and come back. No one has a crystal ball or magic tea leaves to see what is going to happen.

What you see on the news going on with college campus’ makes the headlines, because the ideology is radical, left and right. What doesn’t make the news are the college kids who are actually doing something that imparts, faith, morality and selflessness.

 

[Julianna]

If you read Greg Lukianoff’s book, you might worry a little.

On some campuses, the 1960’s radicals who spent their days protesting the campus administration now ARE the campus administration, and are much less tolerant of dissenting views.

And if you read Tom Wolfe’s novel “I Am Charlotte Simmons” you’ll probably be tempted just to keep the kids at home.

I have to ask why the students in the 60’s were radical on college campuses. Perhaps being shot at by the National Guard kind of got them a bit upset. Or perhaps they discovered that the draft was not as “fair” and “random” as the government said it was.

 

[MaryT777]

In my own little world I know of more than a few young adults that were well educated in the faith that have strayed. They were very, very well educated. Their parents were just as confident as most of you.

Yes, I worry.

I don’t look at a private, Catholic college as sheltering my kids. After all, why would we need to send them if they are already know it all? Are they there to learn? Or is a college degree just going through the motions so that everyone else agrees they know something?

I know that for me, although I am mature enough to ignore friends of mine who promote atheist, new age, hedonistic, and other such ideas, I don’t make a habit of keeping close to them. Why do we think our young adults don’t need the same?

You make a good point; problem is flip side of the coin there are also those that attend Catholic High Schools and Colleges that stray from the faith or are not taught Catholicism
authentic.

 

[JimG]

I have to ask why the students in the 60’s were radical on college campuses. Perhaps being shot at by the National Guard kind of got them a bit upset. Or perhaps they discovered that the draft was not as “fair” and “random” as the government said it was.

In those days the draft was not random. The only way to avoid it was to age out by staying in school and getting a deferment. So they stayed in school. Groups like the SDS (Students for a Democratic Society) were neither democratic nor non-violent. They took over buildings, set fire to schools, caused property damage, and then stayed in school to become professors and get tenure. But if a group of right wing students engaged in similar tactics today, they would find the administration (composed of those former student leftists) much less accommodating. The National Guard would be called out to toss them out without delay.

I recommend Greg Lukianoff’s book; he’s a leftist himself, but finds the loss of student civil and speech rights at universities to be something worth fighting against.

 

[HouseArrest]

You make a good point; problem is flip side of the coin there are also those that attend Catholic High Schools and Colleges that stray from the faith or are not taught Catholicism
authentic.

Yes - so true. It takes a lot of investigation to find out which schools are teaching authentic Catholicism. They are not all created equal.

 

[Contra_Mundum_1]

And not to bash the second group of majors you listed… but really, besides staying in academia your entire life - WHAT TYPE OF JOB WOULD YOU GET with those majors? That always boggled my mind.

It is about transferable skills and ability to learn and adapt to new circumstances. I know many people who went on to work in very different sectors, all with social science degrees. What people end up doing often has little to do with their degrees.

 

[TheRealJuliane]

Despite what you may read on this forum, there is really no organized conspiracy with the goal of corrupting our children.

It’s not an organized conspiracy with a human being at the head of it. It’s society in general, with the Evil One in the center. Being organized would expose his work, and people would fight back. His tentacles reach far and wide. Jesus warned us to stay on guard always.

 

[Julianna]

It’s not an organized conspiracy with a human being at the head of it. It’s society in general, with the Evil One in the center. Being organized would expose his work, and people would fight back. His tentacles reach far and wide. Jesus warned us to stay on guard always.

Being evil is vain, I don’t give it credence.

Change in or to society comes from within, out. Not top down.

If a family has raised their children with a faith based foundation, the basic fundamentals of faith, morality will always be there…whether the child/adult wants to adhere to those core beliefs doesn’t depend on the influence of others…it is dependent upon the inner strength of their beliefs taught to them by their parents and their church.

It is human nature to ignore or deviate from those beliefs…which is “chosen” freely, ie free will by the individual.

I went to a Baptist college and it was pretty insular. I chose that, because I was always shy and was not into the “party” scene. I was more into the “education” scene. Not to say the kids didn’t party, they did. I was a day student and commuted. My focus was education.

 

[TheRealJuliane]

Being evil is vain, I don’t give it credence.

You don’t believe in Satan?

 

[Julianna]

You don’t believe in Satan?

never said that dear… what I said, was I don’t give evil credence. I don’t dwell on it, because it feeds on the paparazzi we choose to give it and being evil’s press agent is beneath me.

 

[Cojuanco]

Current college student, heart of the Midwest, haven’t gotten any of that. I’ve heard more of that stuff from some of my friends who are atheist than from professors. I can actually count on one hand all the times I heard anything like that.

1. Math professor married to an astrologist. Jokingly offered astrological readings
2. Finance textbook mentioning that the medieval Catholic Church lumped all interest under usury

I’m like Em_in_FL. My faith has actually grown. I’m the kid in the dorm who didn’t miss a mass all school year. For that matter, I even sing in the choir at church.

All of that isn’t to say this brainwashing doesn’t happen; just that it’s not as widespread as people seem to think.

Same here. I graduate in a week, and I’ve only had one professor speak that way about Christianity or any other religion. That was the sociology professor who said in lecture that pro-life Christians were fascists, or something similar (from what I gather, she is an ex-Catholic/fallen-away Catholic). I mean, even the European Studies professor, wasn’t vocally sacriligeous and respected the beliefs of his students, and he was an outright Communist! If you could defend your position coherently, they won’t demean you as a rule or make fun of you. Usually they want you to provide a counterargument.

Now on the other hand, my fellow students could be viciously anti-Catholic. Rightly or wrongly, they see Catholicism as something like their parents, telling them to stop having fun, telling them that what they’re doing now will have bad consequences later. And so they lash out. The Newman Center was somewhat of a godsend.

EDIT: I do remember another anti-Catholic professor, who called the Church a threat to human rights in a history lecture for all the usual reasons. It was just a lecture I had to review, though, and my stingingly critical review got an A from the actual professor.