The Ivy League, which comprises of Harvard, Yale, UPenn, Princeton, Cornell, Brown, Dartmouth, and Columbia, is considered the school to go to. You are almost guaranteed colourful career prospects if you are graduates of these schools. Though founded by Christians, these schools has eschewed Christian beliefs in preference for liberalism and intellectual skepticism. My question always is, how the young men and women's Christian faith going to stand in the midst of such intellectual environment that for the most part is at odds with Christian beliefs. Will it put the students in a place where they constantly have to defend their faith? And how will they fare. Will they get discouraged and end up being swept away, or will they come out stronger Christians?
Many criticize the Holies (Christians schools) to be hothousing their young men and women. They viewed schools such as Wheaton College and Calvin College like greenhouses. The critics argue, just as greenhouse plants are unable to survive outside, young men and women graduates of Christian colleges will also have difficulties withstanding the frigid and hostile climate of the real world. I am a product of a Christian education. What I found in my alma mater, Calvin College, were an abundance of Godly professors who cared about the development of the students' world view. These professors have deep rooted belief and in-depth knowledge of the bible. They are able to lucidly define how the discipline they are teaching relate to God's word. They never fail to bring up controversies brought about by differences in the fundamental tenets. In almost all final exams, there is always a question that look like this: "How do you reconcile so and so's view of this and that issue with this verse in the bible. I believed that instead of hot housing, the Christian colleges gave vaccination by exposing the students to world views that are different from the bible in a controlled manner. As a result of the exposure, Christian college graduates go into the world aware of how the Christian belief is perceived by the world, and they are prepared to give answer.
To those parents whose children are heading to the Ivy, take heart!! The Ivy Leagues turn out to be not so hostile an environment. The article found in this link gave a glimpse of how Christians fare in an Ivy school. It is comforting to know that even in liberal Ivy League schools, there are flourishing Christian communities where Christian students find supports. Even so however, parents who are sending off their children to a secular and liberal schools should do their job well in preparing their children by making sure that they are firmly rooted in their Christian beliefs.
