By Editor Bob Terry
What am I going to do with my life? What kind of person do I want to be? How will I know I am going the “right” way? How am I going to leave my mark when I finally pass away?
To the surprise of many observers, these were major questions for college students as discovered in a study by the Higher Education Research Institute (HERI) at the University of California, Los Angeles.
In the executive summary, the researchers wrote, “The study reveals that today’s college students have very high levels of spiritual interest and involvement. Many are actively engaged in a spiritual quest and in exploring the meaning and purpose of life. They are also very engaged and involved in religion, reporting considerable commitment to their religious beliefs and practices.”
Almost eight students in 10 believe in God, the study found. A similar number attended religious services during the past year. Eight in 10 students also discussed religion with both friends and family. More than two-thirds pray. Four in 10 consider it “very important” that they follow religious teachings in their everyday life.
More than two-thirds reported that they derive strength, support and guidance from their religious beliefs, and almost half said they “frequently” feel loved by God.
Three-fourths of the 112,000 students in 236 different colleges who participated in the study indicated they were “searching for meaning/purpose in life.” Interestingly a similar number reported high expectations that their college life would help them develop emotionally and spiritually.
But will it? Will a student’s experience in a college or university help him or her grow spiritually? The answer may depend on the type institution the student chooses.
Another study by the HERI found that more than three in five college professors consider themselves to be “a religious person.” Unfortunately public universities had the lowest percentage of faculty members falling into this category — 33 percent.
When faculty members were asked if colleges should be involved in facilitating students’ spiritual development, the vast majority said “no.” Only 18 percent of faculty in public universities and 23 percent of faculty in public colleges thought it appropriate for such a topic to be considered in the classroom or were willing to help students with spiritual development issues.
When responses were broken down by academic discipline, only about one-third or less of faculty in education, fine arts, business, engineering, math/statistics, English, agriculture/forestry, social sciences, physical sciences and biological sciences felt it appropriate for colleges to help students with spiritual growth.
Is it any wonder that some are concluding that the secular university is increasingly losing touch with American society? In his book, “The Decline of the Secular University,” C. John Sommerville contends that secular universities fail “to connect with people’s most urgent questions.” He points out that higher education was once dominated by religious guidance that gave students insight into terms like “justice,” “freedom,” “truth,” “responsibility,” “purpose,” “evil,” “human rights” and more.
Now secularization has driven religion out of many institutions of higher learning, Sommerville writes. The result is that students have been left unable to make sense of the world in which they live. Students may hear terms like those above, but the terms have no meaning or definition apart from religion.
The study of faculty had another category called “other religious” colleges, which was defined as “mostly Baptist, mainline Protestant-affiliated or Evangelical.” More than two out of three faculty members in these schools felt it was the responsibility of the institution to help students grow spiritually. About the same percentage (two-thirds) of faculty members in these institutions reported themselves to be “a spiritual person.” This is nearly twice the number of public universities.
The conclusion is obvious. Students who choose a public university for the college experience will have less opportunity to have a professor who is self-identified as a “spiritual person” and will have less likelihood of finding help with spiritual questions in the academic setting.
Students who choose a religiously oriented college will have a far better opportunity for an educational experience that helps them grow spiritually and emotionally, as well as academically.
Alabama Baptists are fortunate to have relationships with three institutions of higher learning where students are encouraged, even expected, to grow spiritually and where faculty members are personally religious and open to helping students explore the great questions of life.
Each of Alabama Baptists’ three cooperating institutions of higher learning — Judson College in Marion, the University of Mobile and Samford University in Birmingham — provides regular worship opportunities, prayer groups, Bible study groups, missions opportunities, college courses about the Bible and Christian faculty members — all with a stated purpose of honoring God as made known in Jesus Christ.
These schools were founded in the Christian faith as understood and practiced by Baptists and remain anchored in that tradition. The combination of faith, learning and practice makes these Baptist schools wonderful choices for students who want to learn how to live life, as well as how to earn a living.
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