Guest post by ObstacleChick. Previously published in 2017.
During fifth through twelfth grades, I attended a fundamentalist Christian school. Our school had been fairly popular in the 1970s and early 1980s, but by the year I graduated (1988) it was clear that such a strict type of Christian school was on the decline, at least in our area. Other less-strict Christian schools had cropped up and were thriving. Our school was started in 1969 by a Bob Jones University graduate and his wife. Many of the teachers had graduated from Bob Jones, Pensacola Christian College, or some other fundamentalist Christian college. A handful of the other teachers had graduated from secular universities (our high school math teacher, Mrs. C, had graduated from Northwestern University in Chicago). While a large number of teachers had taught there for many years, we experienced an influx of younger teachers who would stay a few months or even just a few years. The pay was very low (most teachers had to work a summer job or occasionally a part-time job to make ends meet), yet each middle school or high school teacher had to teach a minimum of four different classes. Grades kindergarten through five were taught by a single teacher in a classroom (with music classes conducted by the music teacher) as usual. All students were required to take Bible class. Middle school and high school students took Bible class which met three days a week with chapel services on the other two days. Chapel services were like a regular church service, and only male teachers or guests were allowed to preach the sermons.
Students and teachers alike were held to strict rules surrounding gender-based dress codes and conduct codes. While there were no official restrictions on students attending movies, teachers were not allowed to attend movies in a movie theater as it may “damage their witness.” Most of the teachers rented movies at the video store and would freely discuss movies with the students. This hypocrisy was not lost on me. Students could be expelled for being caught smoking, doing drugs, drinking, or having sex, even if any of these activities took place off campus. During my sophomore year, two of my classmates and a senior were expelled because another student overheard them talking about a party they had attended on the weekend that had drinking. Two girls after I graduated were expelled for pregnancy. Students could be suspended for disrespect to teachers. My own brother was expelled in third grade for mouthing off to his teacher and not showing proper remorse during his punishment.
Our school was a member of the Tennessee Association of Christian Schools (TACS) and the American Association of Christian Schools (AACS). Here is the purpose of TACS as appears on its website, and I don’t believe the purpose has changed since the organization’s inception:
The Tennessee Association of Christian Schools (TACS) was formed to provide an organization whereby Christian schools in Tennessee could obtain Christian guidance and educational services which would enhance the academic and spiritual credibility of member schools. A further purpose was to provide an opportunity for Christian schools, who subscribe to TACS’s Statement of Faith, to maintain high standards of spiritual and academic excellence.
Since the primary purpose of a Christian school is academic excellence and conforming young lives to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ, TACS was organized accordingly and is committed to complementing the educational and spiritual goals ordained by each school through professional services.
* To establish educational integrity and excellence.
* To establish guidelines and services which are truly Biblical and creationist in philosophy and methodology.
* To maintain and improve the quality of Christian schools through professional services and programs.
* To provide counsel and onsite assistance in establishing and developing Christian schools.
* To promote the development of guidelines for all courses, curriculum, and other educational programs from a Biblical framework and perspective.
* To promote high standards of behavior consistent with the moral and spiritual standards of Biblical Christianity as set forth in the Scripture.
* To provide quality curriculum materials.
* To provide staff development and school improvement opportunities.
* To promote and assist schools in maintaining financial integrity.
* To preserve the freedom of Christian schools to exist as an alternative to public and private schools.
* To monitor state legislation.
* To establish and maintain a nonintrusive relationship with the State Department of Education.
Each year the TACS would put on competitions among member schools at the regional and state levels for academics, music, art, and specific Bible categories such as preaching, verse memorization, and quizzes. Competing age groups were Grades K-6, Grades 7-9, and Grades 10-12. Typically, students competing in academics were at the highest level of the age category, but for other categories ages varied based on interest and ability. Each school was allowed to send two submissions for each category if they wished (for example, a school could send 2 students for Grades 10-12 math, two students for Grades 7-9 classical piano, etc.). Our teachers typically selected the students who would compete. As my grade’s top student through middle school and high school, I would compete in almost every academic category when I was in grades 9 through 12. And as a musical student, I would typically compete in choir, sometimes small group vocals, and in piano. The first day of competition was for test-taking, so I would end up taking a test in each academic area — I was there all day long! The second day of competition was for music and preaching competitions, so I may have competed in choir, maybe a smaller singing group, and piano if I was one of the students selected. The best pianist at our high school was in my grade, my friend Tom* — we had the same piano teacher. So in junior year he competed in classical piano and I competed in sacred piano. But in grade 12, our mutual piano teacher suggested that I switch to classical as well to give Tom some much-needed competition as he was becoming insufferably arrogant about his piano skills. The competitor in me was happy to fulfill my teacher’s request.
In the TACS competition, the top two winners in each category in the regional competition would go to the state competition to compete. For Grades 10-12, the winner of the TACS state competition was eligible to compete at the AACS national competition held at Bob Jones University. When I was a junior in high school, I competed at AACS National competition in sacred keyboard, and as a senior in high school I competed in classical keyboard and in history at BJU. I have no idea how, but the judges gave me higher scores than Tom and I won the state classical piano title. Tom actually came in third place.
As a teenager, I didn’t know much about BJU except that it was a conservative Christian unaccredited university in South Carolina. Many of my teachers had attended, and they made a big deal about Harvard supposedly being unaccredited as well (so BJU must be great academically like Harvard, am I right?). Hearing their stories, it didn’t sound like any type of school I would ever want to attend, with all its rules concerning nearly every aspect of life. Besides, I was determined to attend Vanderbilt University one day. I lived with my grandparents, and my grandfather was obsessed with Vanderbilt (he never was able to attend), and I guess his influence rubbed off on me. As a teenager, I worked at the university during the summer and fell in love with the campus. Despite the fact that my grandfather was a deacon at a fundamentalist Baptist church, he drilled into my head that my education came first, that I needed to have a career, and that I should NEVER be dependent on a man for my support. He lived to see me graduate from his beloved Vanderbilt University, but he never knew that I grew up to become the primary salary earner in my family. I believe he would have been pleased. (And my daughter will be attending Vanderbilt next fall.)
I had the opportunity to visit BJU twice during high school for the AACS competitions (1987 and 1988). I believe that the competitions were legitimate competitions, but they were also recruitment tools for BJU. After we checked into our assigned dorms (all competitors were required to stay in the dorms with current students), we went to a chapel service and then were divided into groups for tours. My first year I stayed in a dorm with Sarah* (a student to whom I was assigned) and another girl whose name I do not remember. Sarah was a senior majoring in elementary education, and she was engaged to Ben* who was preparing to be a pastor. They would be getting married in June as soon as they both graduated. Sarah was looking forward to getting married, teaching in a Christian school, and becoming a pastor’s wife. My second year there I stayed in the dorm with Jane* who was the older sister of the aforementioned Tom. Jane was 2 years older and had spent her freshman year in college at Belmont University – she transferred to BJU because Belmont was “too liberal” and she didn’t like it. Also attending BJU were Josh* and Christy* who had graduated from my high school and were both freshmen. It was interesting to meet with Jane, Josh, and Christy to find out more about their college life at BJU.
There were a lot of rules at BJU, and I don’t think I even scratched the surface of the breadth and depth of rules that a student must know. First, of course, was the dress code. Girls had to wear dresses or skirts of appropriate length at all times. Their neckline must be no more than 4 finger-widths from the collarbone. Girls also had a dress code for gym classes, but I believe girls weren’t allowed to wear pants while traveling from dorm to gym (though I could be mistaken). Boys were supposed to wear pants with shirts tucked in and a belt, and I believe their hair had to be cut to a certain length. I don’t recall seeing any boys with facial hair. Jane said that girls had to wear dress hats to attend Sunday church services on BJU campus, but hats were not required for weekday chapel services.
Boys and girls, of course, were not allowed in each other’s residence halls. Every evening, there was “mail delivery” – boys could send hand-written notes to girls which were delivered in the evenings. (I wonder if they send emails these days – but then again, their emails are probably closely monitored). My second year there, Josh wrote a note to Jane and me inviting us to meet Josh and Christy at the grill for lunch, an on-campus casual restaurant. Underclass boys and girls were not allowed to date at BJU, but a mixed group of four of us meeting for burgers was somehow okay.
My first year there I made a faux pas at the dining hall. We were told to go to the dining hall at set times for our meals, so I went through the cafeteria line, got my tray of food, and sat down at a table to eat. I was promptly informed that protocol dictated that everyone was to remain standing behind their chair until the last person had gone through the line and found a spot at the table. At that point someone was to say a prayer of thanks for the food. After the prayer, everyone was allowed to sit down to eat. By the time I was able to commence with eating my food, it was cold.
Another thing that I found odd was that there was a curfew for the time students must be inside their dorms and also a literal lights-out time. A hall monitor would come by to check each room to make sure all lights were off and no one was up past bedtime reading. I thought, what is this, summer camp? It really felt like 1950s. My mom attended a secular college from in 1961-1963, and even then, things were more open than what was happening at BJU.
As far as I could tell, the entire campus was fenced. Students were only allowed to leave campus for certain reasons, such as to attend an approved off-campus church. Any time a student needed to leave campus, he or she must receive permission, and my friends told me that they were not allowed to leave campus alone.
Bear in mind that the vast majority of the students were age 18 or older. Age 18 is considered a legal adult in the USA. However, these students were NOT treated like legal adults. Practically every action was monitored, from the times they were allowed to eat in the dining hall to what they should wear to when they should go to bed to whether they could come and go from the campus. There was a cumulative demerit system tallied for infractions. I suppose if one received too many demerits, one would be disciplined, possibly expelled.
I couldn’t believe that students who were legal adults would willingly follow these rules. As a student who was counting the days until the end of my restrictive education, there is no way that I would have chosen to attend BJU. You could not have paid me to go there. Contrast that environment to Vanderbilt University where I worked each summer. Students were free to come and go as they pleased. Some lived in co-ed dormitories. Students dressed as they pleased. There was no curfew, either for dormitories themselves or for bedtime. Students were treated as adults – for they were adults, able to make their own decisions (even dumb decisions).
When my grandparents picked me up at the end of my first visit, I told them everything I had learned about the school. Honestly, I think they wouldn’t have minded if I had attended there as I would have been completely sheltered and “safe,” but since my grandfather was obsessed with Vanderbilt, they didn’t suggest that.
I wondered how it was possible for BJU students who were so completely sheltered to be able to function in the real world. Truthfully, many BJU graduates go on to become pastors and Christian school teachers. Many stay in the fundamentalist Christian world where everything is about maintaining one’s testimony and evangelizing for Jesus. Josh transferred to Clemson University and went on to become headmaster of the school we had attended until it closed (his parents had both been teachers there when I was a student); I am not sure what he is doing now. Apparently, our school’s rules were relaxed a lot under his tutelage, but for some reason – probably too much competition – the school did not survive. I haven’t kept in contact with Christy – on social media I see that she is a divorced mom but most of her posts are about Jesus. Jane graduated from BJU and is an art teacher at a Christian school. Jane’s younger brother Tom graduated from BJU, went to medical school, and now markets himself as a Christian pediatrician (not sure how that differs from a regular pediatrician). Many of my former teachers have retired, some still teach in public or private schools, and many moved on to other careers including nursing, human resources, and medical insurance. Many former students and teachers are still entrenched in the fundamentalist world. Many others switched over to a more progressive form of Christianity. A handful of us are “apostates.” A few male students came out as gay after graduation. I suppose if one is really dedicated to staying within the fundamentalist “bubble” without exposure to “the flesh” or “the world,” then BJU is the place to be.
*names have been changed
Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
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Gotta indoctrinate them when they’re young because no thinking adult would put up with that kind of shit otherwise.
UGHHHH so glad I escaped from the fundamentalist way of thinking.
That’s the truth! And for some – like us – the indoctrination doesn’t completely take hold.
I went to an AACS school that was run by an IFB church in the Midwest during the same time – made 3 trips to BJU for their spring academic/fine arts competition, and was probably there at the same time you were for at least 2 of them.
I can verify everything you have mentioned in this post. And you still haven’t scratched the surface as far as describing the BJU Administration’s controlling nature.
A few observations of mine:
1. The food at their dining hall was horrid. Not only was it not prepared well, but it was also not nutritious. The lines were long, the food cold by the time you sat down, and the quality was just atrocious.
2. They had a rule about no walking on the grass.
3. Students could “date” in their “Dating Parlor.” This was a large room in their student center with chairs/tables for meeting. It was staffed with Chaperones whose job it was to enforce the no-physical-contact rules.
4. In the men’s dorms they required prayer meetings every night. I think it was a grouping of 2-3 rooms or something like that. Someone gave a devotional and then they asked for prayer requests and prayed.
What struck me was how BJU treated their students like children, and so the students acted like children. It was a self-propagating cycle – students acting up, so administration makes another rule, which causes students to find some other juvenile way to act up, etc.
I had a lot of high school friends go to BJU, Pensacola, Maranatha, and Hyles Anderson. Those that stayed on that path are firmly entrenched (or entrapped) in that IFB bubble. Several of my friends were like me, and had parents that valued a real education – and we made it out with minimal scarring.
Indeed, Wilbur Right, you are correct. The food was canned or frozen at best and was a travesty. Prayer was demanded quite frequently throughout the day. Everything about that school was monitored, scheduled, coordinated- the students barely make their own decisions. Anything that could be regulated was regulated. There was no teaching of students how to make their own decisions. There were rules, which were taught and enforced and double enforced. Aberration wasn’t permitted but was punished. Students learned compliance at all costs.
I attended BJU for a year right out of high school. I recently had come to faith, and was looking to attend a Christian university at the time. However, not being reared in the fundamentalist church, this was a very, very different environment for me..to put it mildly, folks. 🙂
I was impressed by the beauty of the campus, and the friendliness of the people. I couldn’t believe that we could walk right into the dining commons, and leave our purses outside in the foyer area without fear of anything being stolen, and, I admired the collection of sacred art.
The thing that I liked the most was how committed and excited everyone seemed about their faith. I wasn’t accustomed to people who seemed so into prayer and study of the Scripture, They actually cared about sharing their Christian commitment with others.
However, over time, I was also able to see the down side of everything. Along with an enthusiasm for God, there was also a kind of legalism working at the same time. Of course, I didn’t see it in those terms then, but there was this desire for outward conformity which really seemed extreme. I remember being called into the dean’s office because my skirt was about an inch too short.
However, this was not the worst of my conflict. BJU had this conviction which I don’t fully understand to this day that the races should remain separated based on the story in the Scripture of the tower of Babel. They would not allow at the time for African-Americans to attend the school. I thought this was crazy, and could not see where this was the rightly understood meaning of the Bible, and fully shared my opinion in the dorm. ( I remember that there was one pastor’s daughter who agreed with me. An inter-racial couple actually attended her Dad’s church.)
Well, once again, I was called into the office. I shared my concern that perhaps this was racism under the guise of religion. The gentleman doing this interview, I can’t remember his name, asked how my parents would feel if I brought home “Black Sambo.” I stated that they wouldn’t care. The professor simply looked at me for sometime in silence, and then advised not to continue to spread my opinions abroad.
Strangely enough, I was never spoken again to about this, and no action was taken. I think students were probably expelled for less.
Overall, my experience at BJU was a mixed bag. I met some wonderful and sincere Christian people, and was not miserable there. But, I also realized for many reasons the school was not for me, and transferred out the next year.
Now I think that this was all part of my spiritual journey, and for me was a growing process of learning how to separate “the fish from the bones,” so to speak, in developing as a person of faith.
Rebecca, this is fascinating – thanks for sharing. I believe BJU rescinded their ban on allowing African-American students to attend. Their religious art collection was impressive for sure. Everyone I met was incredibly friendly as you mentioned. I just couldn’t get past the overreaching legalism. For example, how could they judge your skirt to be 1 inch too short? Did they measure it? I am partly kidding, but to be sent to the Dean for something like that just seems ridiculous. Being given sent to the Dean for your comments on equal rights and to be subjected to racist comments is horrifying. I am sure that if I went there I would have been expelled for something. ..
Yes, Obstacle Chick, the Dean of Women, bless her heart, actually measured my skirt.
I’m not kiddin. 🙂
Yeah I am not actually surprised. At my Christian school the rule had to do with the skirt’s length relative to the knee so it was usually obvious when an infraction occurred. I guess our female staff were tired of pulling out the measuring tape 🙂
I wonder how short Eve’s skirt was?
LOL, Zoe.
But, seriously even if someone takes modesty very seriously..so much of this is just going to be culturally determined.
What is modest in one time and place is not going to be considered modest/appropriate in another.
Who can really determine this? I think the woman actually wearing the dress is the one to decide if she feels comfortable, and dressed appropriately.
Personally, I”m not a dress person, and most of the time, even to church, wear slacks or capris.
And, I absolutely hate wearing panty hose. 🙁
Modesty is completely culturally determined. My great grandmother born in 1895 never wore pants in her life. She used to slut shame her daughter for wearing Bermuda shorts whole doing housework.
We live in a diverse area and it’s interesting to see the modesty differences and similarities among devout Jews and devout Muslims. All the women are covered up but you can identify the sect by what garment types they choose. They would all consider the BJU dress code for women somewhat immodest.
Lol, I never thought of that. Someone commented on an atheist blog about beards and long hair being sinful for men: ‘So after God created Adam, he next invented the shaving kit?’
http://brucegerencser.net/2017/08/is-segregation-scriptural-by-evangelist-bob-jones-the-founder-of-bob-jones-university/
http://brucegerencser.net/2015/03/the-bob-jones-iii-non-apology-apology/
http://brucegerencser.net/2014/12/bob-jones-university-ignored-sexual-abuse-decades/
I feel sickened by reading that sermon by Bob Jones the elder. It revolts me that our Bible catechism at my school were written by an unashamed racist who used the Bible to justify his overt racism. Even my family knew that inter-racial dating wasn’t permitted at BJU but we didn’t realize the extent of the racism. It wasn’t discussed at my school. The seal abuse isn’t that surprising due to the warped teachings about gender that the religion promotes – it’s always somehow the woman’s fault regardless – her skirt must have been an inch too short like Rebecca’s 😉
Part of me would like to discuss this with my former teachers who were BJU graduates. Their silence on these matters implies tacit approval….or at least fear of confrontation.
I recall meeting a young woman on a temp job during my youth. We introduced ourselves to each other. When I asked where she went to school, she cast her eyes downward and whispered, “Bob Jones University.” She added, “please don’t judge me for that.”
Since graduating, she explained, she questioned her faith (She was raised in a fundamentalist family) and realized that her schooling “didn’t prepare” her for work, let alone life. “I probably wouldn’t have been talking to you back then,” she said. You see, I was living as male.
During our time working together, I explained some of the ways of “the big bad city” to her. I think both of us got as much of an education as we’d ever gotten in our lives@
“As a teenager, I didn’t know much about BJU except that it was a conservative Christian unaccredited university in South Carolina. Many of my teachers had attended, and they made a big deal about Harvard supposedly being unaccredited as well (so BJU must be great academically like Harvard, am I right?). Hearing their stories, it didn’t sound like any type of school I would ever want to attend, with all its rules concerning nearly every aspect of life. [sic]”
Harvard has been regionally accredited (by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges) since 1929. They lied to you, Bruce– but then, are we surprised?
Never considered BJU even in my most serious Bible pounder days: the lack of accreditation was a deal breaker in itself, but as I understood it, the whole point of being a Bible believing Christian was to have a standard of faith that was set in eternity and not declared by mortal man. Arbitrary and capricious just didn’t cut it, no matter who was de facto pope. What I wore, the music I enjoyed, the movies I viewed, the books and magazines I chose to read: these were decisions which I made and for which my parents respected my choices. My dad was a combat veteran of World War II and a Chicago firefighter who regularly saved lives and homes. How the hell could some smarmy Bible thumper claim to act in loco parentis to him?
Of course as I finally learned (Thank you, Bart Ehrman et al.), the Bible itself cannot be deemed by any honest understanding of the rules of evidence to be a standard set in eternity. Simply stated, the original autographs of the books of the Bible do not exist, determining which of the early extant manuscripts of the books of the Bible most accurately reflect the original autographs is a purely human call, and determining the canon of which books (or portions of books0 to recognize as inspired is a human call as well. And that’s simply the nutshell, case viewed in a light most favorable to the Fundies, version of reality.
It was always a tossup as to whether I’d become a clergyman or an attorney. And I knew that, if I were going to be a clergyman, I had to set high standards of education as a condition precedent. The Jesuits who taught me set high standards: in addition to an M. Div., they usually required a doctorate in either an academic or professional field prior to ordination. (This is why most of them are not ordained as priests until their late thirties.) And those doctorates were usually attained at respectable secular universities: Harvard, Oxford, the Sorbonne, U /Cal Berkeley, Heidelberg, etc.) Why, I felt, would a minister of the “true Gospel” set objectively lower standards? Doesn’t God expect the best from us?
And so, putting up with four years of arbitrary bullshit for a diploma that wouldn’t get me on a Manhattan bus (let alone an accredited and respectable grad school, seminary, or law school) was clearly not in the cards. For me, it wasn’t BJU. It was Moody Bible Institute. I did visit the place: the cafeteria food actually seemed pretty good, and the admissions people seemed decent.. but when I heard that there was no regional academic accreditation, I was outta there. I believe that has changed and that they are now accredited. Good thing.
Oops. MY apologies. They lied to YOU, ObstacleChick.
And BTW…congrats on that Vanderbilt degree. You did the right thing.
This may have been the first guest post I read on Bruce’s blog, I am glad I re-read it, four years later.
Obstacle, as talented and determined as you are, you are fortunate to have had at least one voice of sanity in your family. Too many other young fundamentalists grow up without that and could not attend any college that is not like BJU. That, in turn, leaves them unprepared for anything that is not in the Fundangelical bubble.
For what it’s worth: I have even more respect for students and alums of Vanderbilt (and schools like the University of Chicago) than the Ivies or Stanford. It always seemed, to me, that young people go to Harvard or Princeton because of expectations, whereas going to Vanderbilt seems to take more of a mind of one’s own.
MJ, thank you! I am thankful every day that my grandfather was such a proponent of women becoming educated and financially independent. My mom was brilliant but completely clueless about life – she had a full ride to college but dropped put in the middle of junior year to marry some rich guy who cheated on her, and they were divorced in about a year. Then she married my bio-dad who also cheated, but this time she was a single mom with no degree and no chold support. My grandfather wanted more for me and always regretted that he didn’t know how to guide his daughter years earlier.
Vanderbilt has changed a lot since I attended. My daughter is about to graduate, and Vanderbilt has become one of those universities that prides itself on its super-selectivity, its US News & World Report ranking, its diversity, and its giant endowment. I actually like the diversity – when I was a student, most students were wealthy kids – now, about half are students of color, and there are few of those wealthy legacies. Now that my son is at Elon University, another private university but not ranked top tier, I see that Vanderbilt lacks some of the student-centered programs that other less-competitive universities like Elon offer. It’s definitely interesting.
I’ll mark this up to another reminder that, “I’m glad I wasn’t raised fundi”. Reading this (again) makes me wonder about the psychology of the chaperones and monitors. Is it done as a Christian duty or do they get some kind of sadistic pleasure out of this?
Even if the food was great (and hot) and the academics were top notch (they are not) they still fail students by treating them like children who need constant supervision. It reminds me of the first time I drove a car by myself. The difference between that and having a parent in the passenger seat was palpable. Another thing I’d mention is the Hillbilly naming of the school. Bob Jones? Even the name is a red flag.
Troy, these universities are preparing their students to live in a fundamentalist bubble. Fundamentalist evangelicalism is set up so that everyone is under the headship of someone else – the exception being the head pastor who is under everyone headship of God, as attested to by Bruce in many of his posts. Therefore, the point of colleges like BJU is to prepare students to be good followers. Those who are being prepared for pastorship will need to put in their time under headship of a lead pastor before becoming leaders themselves. But remember, who are the folks being trained for leadership? Young men who are learning that they are the spokespersons for an omnimax deity. All others are being trained to be good followers – to follow the rules set forth by their pastors.
Gods below, I am so glad I wasn’t raised in an Evangelical tradition, or sent to conservative schools.
The city where I grew up, on the US West Coast, had education issues. My mother was a dedicated Catholic (and I was baptized in that faith); my father had been raised Lutheran and was not particularly a churchgoer, though he would sometimes go with my mother and me. But public schools in my city were horrible, and so I went to Catholic elementary and high schools in the 1960s and 1970s.
My mother was a conservative Catholic. The order of nuns who taught in my schools were the social justice warriors of their time. I had enough sense not to discuss my teachers’ interpretation of what God demanded of his people with my parents. My mother, especially, had the idea that people had to “deserve” to be helped. At school, I was taught to help first, and ask questions later. We were never encouraged to proselytize, but to be focused on meeting people’s basic needs, both in volunteer work and in politics.
My female-only high school was, in retrospect, a terrific experience. Our dean (actually an amazing woman who worked very hard to help the kids on scholarship prioritize studying in the midst of lots of family stresses) could be very hard-ass about student clothes (she detested the “in” platform shoes, and got very annoyed if a student’s uniform skirt showed her underwear when she bent over). She was extremely hard-ass about people being late to classes. But she was teaching students to be on time, to take control of their lives, to be in charge of themselves. The school’s stated mission was to give young women an excellent education and foster spiritual growth. The secret mission was to raise up Christian, feminist, social justice warriors who would go out there and care for the “least of these”, and teach their children to do the same.
Then I graduated, went off to Big State University, where there were very few rules and students were expected to be adults. My high school had taught me how to adult, and it was fine. (Except for all the marijuana smoke in the dorm halls on weekends. I don’t care if people use, but the smell nauseates me. The stuff was certainly illegal, but campus cops didn’t care unless you were throwing a wild party on the roof.)
I don’t believe in any deities, but I do believe in blessings, and I was so, so blessed in my educational experience. But…if my parents’ faith tradition had been Evangelical instead of Catholic, it could have turned out so, so different.
I’d rather go to Bob Evans Univeristy
Isn’t Bob Evans University located down on the farm? 😄
Ha ha hilarious. “Down on the farm” sounds delicious and wholesome, probably because most people haven’t had the experience of smelling a pig sty.
Troy, your remark made me remember a very bad barnyard smell. My mom’s friend raised thousands of chickens for eggs on her farm. The chickens were in cages suspended from the ceilings of two huge, long one-story buildings. Three chickens per cage. When they laid eggs the eggs rolled down into a metal “basket” to be collected. Their poop fell down into big troughs beneath them. The buildings were semi-open, which was a good thing, because the squawking and the smell were overwhelming in the humid summers. The lady used the chicken poop for fertilizer in her beautiful organic garden. We ate a lot of wonderful fresh veggies thanks to her. Those poor chickens, though! Once their egg laying days were done, were shipped off to Heinz to make soup.