Why are some Christians (even Catholics) anti-education?

  • Thread starter Thread starter MP_Kid
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
M

MP_Kid

Guest
Why do some Christians act like education is the devil? Some act like going to college and bettering ones life is a waste of time and even evil.

I remember when I was younger i had a lot of angry elderly people tell me not to go to college, because it is a stupid scam and that I wasn’t smart enough. They expected me to stay uneducated and work a crappy miserable job like they did.

I did not listen to them. I got an education and now am in a job I love. I even have my masters degree. I think it is assumed that one will leave their faith if they go to study at the university. Where does that come from?

Why are some Christians so against education? Do they really think that we are supposed to hate our life, work a horrible job, and be miserable for our entire lives?
 
I think the main fear comes from the introduction of anti-Christian ideas. Philosophy, being one, is suspect of many the evangelical. That is my major. I am a Catholic, most Catholic priests need a philosophy degree for seminary.

Many hyper-traditional-Catholics are against further education because it might also lure their children away from the Church. This seldom ever happens, and an attitude such as that is to be frowned upon.

And individual is an individual. If they are raised properly, then a higher education is to be applauded and encouraged. Everyone should go to university or college if given the chance. It is in their own self interest.

Any attitude against it ought to be shunned.
 
MP_Kid said:
Why do some Christians act like education is the devil? Some act like going to college and bettering ones life is a waste of time and even evil.
Click to expand...
What country are you in? It’s kind of difficult to answer your question without having some understanding of the culture you’re dealing with.
 
I’ve noticed that some christian denominations fear education and history because it brings out the flaws in their own faith. One of the many, many reasons I love being Catholic is that education and reason are on our side. For some other faiths, that is not the case.
 
I’m from USA too.

I am well educated and my Catholic parents supported my getting an education and at times even pushed me to do ti when I was lukewarm about it. At the same time, my mother let me know in no uncertain terms that I shouldn’t turn into a snob and also that I needed to be careful not to lose my faith because college often had that effect on people (including one of her relatives).

College is to some extent a crock and a scam in USA. I could go on about that for pages and pages, and whenever I discuss this topic I invariably tick off a lot of people who are academics or who have education on a pedestal, so I’ll just leave it right there, but quod scripsi, scripsi.

Older people remember a world where those without college could make a good living and also, they may likely see college students as getting corrupted by a lot of worldly ideas. “Poverty culture” also tries to discourage its members from going away and attending college and may say things like "you’re not smart enough’ or “you won’t fit in”. (I learned this from a St. Vincent De Paul workshop program.)

It’s worth listening to the points that older people make, but you need to take it with a grain of salt and do what works for you. If you are happy with your choice, and managed not to lose God in the process, then fine.
 
But, anyway, I find a lot of people are branded as anti-education when, in reality, they hate the current system.
 
Personally, I haven’t seen this. Catholic school around me has the highest college placement rate in the area.

I’ve heard a lot of criticism that parents are pushing college too hard on students, as trade jobs will be in high demand, and have a better return on your investment.

I would agree that the pushback exists in the realm of those who do not believe religion and science are synonymous, but considering our Church does, there appears no reason not to pursue higher education.
 
Arkansan said:
If you’re not all that bright then you’re better off learning a trade.
Click to expand...
I beg to differ. Trades require a great deal of smarts - especially in the deductive and organizational aspects. The master level HVAC mechanics who service the data center I work in not only have to know the physical aspect of their jobs, but also must be tech savvy. Our system is complex, and they are the ones that update and maintain the software that manages the HVAC systems.

Contrast that to two tradesmen who worked on moving a gas meter last fall - and literally blew up a school in the process. Instead of taking certain steps to mitigate the damage, they panicked and fled, without warning anyone in the building. Two people died as a result of their ignorance and poor decision-making.
 
Last edited:
Also, there are plenty of educated people who work horrible jobs and hate their lives. A lot of it is the result of parents and teachers funneling kids indiscriminately into college and not allowing them to decide their own future.
 
With fewer and fewer kids entering trade schools and more people going to college, the bright kids will go to a two year technical school and become plumbers who make 90,000$ a year while the kid with a BA will make 25,000$ a year with 150,000$ in student loan debt.
 
As someone who has been teaching at the university level for more than a decade, I could not disagree more with your comment.
 
Uhm, our modern university system came from the Catholic Church.
Monks laboriously copied old manuscripts by hand so information wouldn’t be lost.
A lot of monistaries and convents were known for passing on herb lore, furthering the study of medicine.

The objections you see to education are these
  1. College is extremely expensive and no guarantee of a job afterwards
  2. There is an enormous liberal bias in most colleges and even down to the NEA, which is the grade school and high school levels, to where opposing views are unwelcome
 
That’s really insulting to people in trades, don’t you think?
 
Last edited:
OKComputer said:
I’ve noticed that some christian denominations fear education and history because it brings out the flaws in their own faith.
Click to expand...
Fundamentalists, regardless of creed or background, tend to hate education, in general. Fundamentalist systems of thought cannot abide disagreement, and are usually built upon carefully constructed narratives that rely upon appeals to authority and heavily redacted information.

A well-educated person has the training to notice glaring leaps of logic, and faulty premises based upon erroneous information. Such a mindset is much more likely to question the conclusions put forth by the group leaders, and threatens the ready compliance of other adherents.
 
Last edited:
I think you’ll find a lot of people are concerned by how kids are Catholic when they go off to college, and when they come back four years later the college has turned them atheist.
 
A lot of professors like to make their political (and spiritual) views known. A lot of them like to talk about it in class. A lot of them use their position as a means to influence their students. I’m not surprised that someone who spent 18 years raising their child or grandchild a certain way and nudging them a certain direction wouldn’t want to see them totally abandon those beliefs in under four years.

There was a study published recently about politics amongst college professors. It wasn’t even close- over 90% of the college faculty sampled were democrats. Many schools hadn’t a single republican teaching. The people you mention are likely worried that their child is going to be bombarded with personal opinion from their professors, and that it’s going to be obscenely one-sided. Moreover, it’ll be geared against everything they’ve taught their child over the past 18-or-so years.

As a college student myself- and one who has been through both public and private schooling- I can only relate to a degree, but it’s definitely worse at colleges on the coasts than it is here in flyover country.
 
Arkansan said:
College is a waste of time for most people. If you’re not all that bright then you’re better off learning a trade.
Click to expand...
Bright people shouldn’t bother learning trades? Leave it to the “dumb-among-us”?
 
Part of that advise you received is a generalization. College is a key if it is approached correctly. It is the key to professional careers such as law, medicine, science, and other professional careers that require higher education.
Another might be the tendency to generalize colleges as bastions of liberalism. Especially in non sectarian large state funded universities. No one can deny that there are many extremely liberal professors on campus and their influence is generally not compatible with RCC principles.
And then there is the perception that all colleges are bastions of binge drinking, casual hook-up sex, 24/7 partying. There are too many good colleges that do not tolerate those activities when taken to an extreme.
I think your view that some Christians ae anti-education for the reason I stated. Some, not all.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top