Be Careful Not to Get Too Much Education

""My professor-I have this great professor-told me that you have to be careful not to get too much education, because you could lose your foundation, your core values."

"If you get a bachelors," the seasoned student reassured, "you'll probably be okay. But my professor said that when you get a master's, and definitely if you go beyond that, you can lose your values. He said that college students have to be watchful because if you get too much education, you could turn LIBERAL. He's seen it happen to a lot of good Christians."

This is from an article by Dr. Teresa Whitehurst that desribes what will happen if radical "conservatives" have their way with our univeristy system. They are concerned that students will be exposed to "non-biblical ideas".

This same professor "said that if you're ever taught anything that sounds questionable, you should talk about it with your minister to see if it's right." He also said "when you get a Master's, and definitely if you go beyond that, you can lose your values."

Is it really a bad thing to get too much of an education? Will it really hurt your core values or strenghten them? If an education can't strenghten these values then are they really worth having once you become educated?

The fear is that college students will have exposure to "non-biblical ideas". But, does anybody remember The Inquisition perpatrated by the Catholic Church? This was prosecuted because scientists like Copernicus had to balls to question dogma with scientific research. If we didn't grow out of that mind-set then would this country even exist? If so, would we have advanced as far as we have such that this country has become a world player in the global economy, science and reseach? Would our lives would be so much better?

Now, I am not knocking the Catholic Church. I have a very strong Catholic faith, but I am also glad that they were forced to abandon that policy and "saw the light".

It would appear to me that there are radical professors in the university system from both sides of the political divide. This article illustrates one from the right. What is really needed is professionalism.

I teach a class at a local university called "Reasearch and Technology". It is a two hundred level course, but it is dominated by freshmen. The primary purpose of the class is to force students to look at all sides of an issue then write a persuasive research paper on a topic and support their position after addressing both sides of the issue.

I pride myself on my even-handedness in class. I have failed students who took a position that is the same as mine and I have passed those who have taken positions opposite to mine. In fact I gave one of them an 'A' this past semester.

If we actively encourage students to not get a Masters or a Ph.D won't we just be slitting the throat of our economy and our country?

BTW, if the professor in this story is so against getting a Masters or a Ph.D then what degree does he have?

•  Tip jar

  What are your thoughts on the subject?

  by shark on Sun Jan 02, 2005 at 07:07:53 PM PDT

  •  higher education

    oops, too late, I'm doomed, got a Phd nearly 30 years ago.  But, I guess they're right, I'm liberal.

    by outlanddish on Sun Jan 02, 2005 at 10:22:19 PM PDT

•  Ignorance

  Mass ignorance is crucially important to the radical right wing fundamentalists. An education could lead to the belief that the world was created more than 10,000 years ago. It could lead dedicated believers to finding out that the bible contradicts itself, so if the bible is unquestionably true, how does one reconcile the differences between the gospels? Fundamentalism can not survive inquisative, independent-thinking people, and if fundamentalism goes then the power of the fundamentalist leaders goes with it.

  by weatherbigot on Sun Jan 02, 2005 at 07:29:05 PM PDT

•  The Saddest Part is . . .

  The saddest part of this is that the universities were orginally founded by religious organizations to further Man's knowledge of everything in Creation. In spite of the established church's pushing out some scholars as heretics, there really was a hope that by learning more about the Creation, we could learn more about God. (This wasn't the same as ID which tries to prove God exists, but starts with the assumption that God exists and tries to learn about the nature of God.)
  

  by NoisyGong on Sun Jan 02, 2005 at 07:47:55 PM PDT

•  Your course

  It sounds like you are teaching a "critical thinking" and "argumentative writing" class combined into one.  I'd love to take the course, just to see if I could pass it.  ;)

  Sorceress Sarah

  by Sorceress Sarah on Sun Jan 02, 2005 at 07:56:59 PM PDT

  •  That is correct.

    That is essentially what I am teaching. I find that students who come out of high school do not know how to think critically. If there was one thing that I wish school systems improved it would be how to think critically.

    If you put you mind to it then anybody can do it. The key is having the will.

    by shark on Sun Jan 02, 2005 at 08:01:23 PM PDT

•  the american dream...

  i always thought that education was the american dream.  but these days you hear so much about the "liberal universities" and "liberal professors."  what is that all about?

  education broadens horizons and exposes people to outside ideas.  i think thats a good thing, but many biblical types dont like it.  why?

  well, if you start reading about other religions you might start seeing ideas that arent all that bad, and that make sense.  you might become more understanding of others, which jesus probably would have liked.  

  if you take some science classes you might run into ideas that conflict with a literal interpretation of the bible.  you might begin to wonder whether the bible was meant to be a literal history, or whether thats not really the point of it.

  if you take too much history you might begin to get a different opinion about war, for one thing.  if you read more about the american indians and their histories you might get a different view of what america is all about.  if you read about vietnam you might get a different idea of what that was.  and on and on.

  college is where people learn about things beyond the grade school and high school versions.  this is a good thing.

  personally, i am always concerned when anyone suggests that someone should stop learning.  when anyone tries to close someones mind, when someone tells another person to stop thinking.

  by anders 75 on Sun Jan 02, 2005 at 08:24:48 PM PDT