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College level home schooling?

Abdul Alhazred

Philosopher
A
Joined
Sep 4, 2003
Messages
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College From Home
No Greater Joy Ministries
... What saddens me these days, however, is that thousands of Christian homeschooling parents are sending their kids off to college campuses for five or six years to fit into a university system that is morally corrupt and economically disastrous for the next generation of God’s people. In fact, current statistics show that around 70% of Christian freshman will walk away from God after they graduate. ...
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I wonder where he gets that 70% figure, with what definition of Christian?

I'm sure the various Roman Catholic institutions of higher learning would dispute that figure.
 
Likely it is a reference to this:
http://religion.ssrc.org/reforum/Regnerus_Uecker.pdf

Or at least the study cited in it.

So what can be said about the religiosity of today’s young adults? As we might expect, recent data from the Add Health study reveals that nearly 70 percent of all young adults who attended church at least once a month during high school subsequently curtailed their church attendance. Contrary to our own and others’ expectations, however, young adults who never enrolled in college are presently the least religious young Americans. The assumption that the religious involvement of young people diminishes when they attend college is of course true: 64 percent of those currently enrolled in a traditional four-year institution have curbed their attendance habits. Yet, 76 percent of those who never enrolled in college report a decline in religious service attendance.
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Also it appears the your cited link missed out on some important parts of the information. Such as non-college attending young adults experiencing sharper losses in Church attendance.
 
"In fact, current statistics show that around 70% of Christian freshman will walk away from God after they graduate. ..."

Maybe because of the higher level of education they have received? ;)
 
Accidental Martyr said:
"In fact, current statistics show that around 70% of Christian freshman will walk away from God after they graduate. ..."

Maybe because of the higher level of education they have received? ;)
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It turned out to be a less than accurate representation of the data. The data said that 70% of high schoolers who attended church at least once a month curtailed the habit in college. The data also pointed out that 64% of all students of any church attendance levels lessened their church attendance but that 76% of college-aged non-students lessened their attendance.

If anything, I suspect the experiences of a new environment and perspective that happens when one leaves the nest tends to lead to reevaluation of one's goals and priorities. Since we are talking about 18-22 year olds we might assume these new priorities are of the material rather than spiritual forms.
 
I wonder what percentage of home schoolers quit religion in college?

Quit religion. As distinct from merely going to church a little less often.
 
The Fallen Serpent said:
It turned out to be a less than accurate representation of the data. The data said that 70% of high schoolers who attended church at least once a month curtailed the habit in college. The data also pointed out that 64% of all students of any church attendance levels lessened their church attendance but that 76% of college-aged non-students lessened their attendance.

If anything, I suspect the experiences of a new environment and perspective that happens when one leaves the nest tends to lead to reevaluation of one's goals and priorities. Since we are talking about 18-22 year olds we might assume these new priorities are of the material rather than spiritual forms.
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Okay, I have to say it. The first thing that comes to my mind is this: They're too hungover from Saturday night to warm a pew on Sunday.

:blush:

Also, there are a variety of reasons to home-educate your children. Fundie Christians aren't the only homeschoolers in the world. Many secular families opt out of public school. Not all in the home-education community are knuckle-dragging-cave-dwellers. Sure, some are, but definitely not all.

That said, college at home? Good grief. Cut the damned umbilical cord, already! ;)
 
justcharlie09 said:
Also, there are a variety of reasons to home-educate your children. Fundie Christians aren't the only homeschoolers in the world. Many secular families opt out of public school. Not all in the home-education community are knuckle-dragging-cave-dwellers. Sure, some are, but definitely not all.

That said, college at home? Good grief. Cut the damned umbilical cord, already! ;)
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^This.

On a personal level - my daughter was reading before she turned two. With a fall birthday, she would start school at four-almost-five. All the schools - public and private - wanted to start her in Kindergarten, to learn letters, numbers, shapes, and colors. She could already read (about 5th grade level), write, add, subtract, and was learning multiplication. Schools were not interested in meeting her at her level. So, she was homeschooled for a while.
 
Many people that I've known quit going to church when they got out on their own, but then started going back to church when they get married and/or have kids. I wonder if they have any statistics on that.
 
maddog said:
^This.

On a personal level - my daughter was reading before she turned two. With a fall birthday, she would start school at four-almost-five. All the schools - public and private - wanted to start her in Kindergarten, to learn letters, numbers, shapes, and colors. She could already read (about 5th grade level), write, add, subtract, and was learning multiplication. Schools were not interested in meeting her at her level. So, she was homeschooled for a while.
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QFT. We had similar troubles with our oldest and continue to have them to some extent.

Our middle guy is ahead, but handles it better socially. The boredom doesn't really impact him. My eldest nearly went up the walls with it. I tutor both at home after school and keep them busy with supplemental programs to keep up to their actual learning speed.

I'll say this, although all subjects could use better coverage, science and math are a disaster in the public school system. That's the main reason I've heard secular homeschoolers opt out. Also, not all religious homeschoolers are wingnuts. Some have very similar concerns to secular families.

I mean, they're not all wingnutty neocalvinists ;)
 
justcharlie09 said:
Okay, I have to say it. The first thing that comes to my mind is this: They're too hungover from Saturday night to warm a pew on Sunday.
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That would be one of the material priorities I spoke of ;)

From what I can see, the big difference between high school aged young adults and college aged (in college or not) young adults is the level of parental oversight. Even a college student living completely on parental dollars is not likely to be living at home and seeing their parents on a day to day basis. The college age is an age for defining oneself by one's own priorities and ethics. This includes spiritual/religious identification and practices. I still think there is another growth stage to go through for college students that rely on major family support and that is learning to live on one's merits. This will also affect one's spirtuality/religiousness as the demands are different when being supported by oneself rather than the family. A number of college students manage to acquire this growth during college by having to fund themselves, others end up delaying this growth until after a degree is had and a "real" job is found. Then there are those non-college young adults that manage to live off their parents well past the socially acceptable age.
 
The Fallen Serpent said:
That would be one of the material priorities I spoke of ;)

From what I can see, the big difference between high school aged young adults and college aged (in college or not) young adults is the level of parental oversight. Even a college student living completely on parental dollars is not likely to be living at home and seeing their parents on a day to day basis. The college age is an age for defining oneself by one's own priorities and ethics. This includes spiritual/religious identification and practices. I still think there is another growth stage to go through for college students that rely on major family support and that is learning to live on one's merits. This will also affect one's spirtuality/religiousness as the demands are different when being supported by oneself rather than the family. A number of college students manage to acquire this growth during college by having to fund themselves, others end up delaying this growth until after a degree is had and a "real" job is found. Then there are those non-college young adults that manage to live off their parents well past the socially acceptable age.
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I would say that faith (or non-faith) is not necessarily a destination at which one arrives and then stays forever. Most people, even believers, go back and forth on the issue (if not openly, then internally).

Maturity, feeling like an "adult", finding your "place in the world"... all of these things are kind of fluid. One moment you may think you've "arrived" at some stable state, the next you have to reevaluate that position.

I do agree that reaching the "age of majority" or certain "adult" milestones probably helps move things along. But, the process itself is probably on-going, beginning at the age children reach Piaget's "formal operations" stage of cognition.
 
justcharlie09 said:
I do agree that reaching the "age of majority" or certain "adult" milestones probably helps move things along. But, the process itself is probably on-going, beginning at the age children reach Piaget's "formal operations" stage of cognition.
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I pretty much agree with your stance. Faith and maturity are fluid concepts. The various stages of growth influence faith and maturity in general terms, but individuals react individually. The current US society encourages different times and terms of growth than US society did in the early 1800s.

I think fundamentalists attempting to mitigate collegiate influence on faith are fighting a forest by yelling at the treeline.
 
The Fallen Serpent said:
I pretty much agree with your stance. Faith and maturity are fluid concepts. The various stages of growth influence faith and maturity in general terms, but individuals react individually. The current US society encourages different times and terms of growth than US society did in the early 1800s.

I think fundamentalists attempting to mitigate collegiate influence on faith are fighting a forest by yelling at the treeline.
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No argument there. College isn't the enemy. Free will and the vast potential of the human mind on the other hand....
 
That's a really interesting little puff piece in the OP.

Follow along with me here:

...thousands of Christian homeschooling parents are sending their kids off to college campuses for five or six years to fit into a university system that is morally corrupt...

< snip >

Now more than ever parents need to be concerned about their children’s education instead of leaving it in the hands of unbelieving college professors. Thankfully, because of the technology that has been developed in recent decades, kids don’t need to be exposed to the moral depravity festering on the typical college campus. They can complete their degrees from home, under their parents’ nurturing authority..
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I immediately think, "Okay, so, you parents can keep your kids sheltered from the Evil World for another 4 to 6 years, but then what? They're going to have a college degree, and then they'll be done with school, yes? So the next step is for them to go out into that very same Evil World and try to find gainful employment. Question: How are you going to shelter them from the Evil World then?"

And then I get to the very end of the article and I find this:

Shawn is public relations manager at CollegePlus! To learn more about the growing trend of students who are combining high school and college, visit Distance Learning to get a free e-book and audio download on distance learning. Also, when requesting information use promo code NGJ08 for a special discount.

Editor’s Note: Shawn is the middle son of Mel Cohen our General Manager.
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Answer to above question: you parents can continue to shelter your children from the Evil World by...giving them a job in the family business. Well done.

Not. :rolleyes:

The whole article, BTW, is nothing more than an advertisement for their homeschooling courses. Just in case anybody hadn't noticed. :D
 
this reminds me of what happened when my husband left his small, rural, conservative Christian town.

Where he had lived, everyone he knew, for the most part, thought the same, worshipped the same, had all the same values, etc etc.

Then he left his small little town for the big big world. He didn't even move out of the south, just out of his little town.

As he was exposed to different ways of thinking for the first time in his life, he slowly fell away from Christianity. And while he's still right leaning, he is not FAR right as he was raised.

His family doesn't even know how much he's changed. He censors himself a lot because they've already threatened to disown him for having opinions they don't agree with, and he hasn't even gone so far as to tell them he's not Christian anymore. But the fact that he's not a carbon copy of his parents who believes everything they believe infuriates them beyong belief.

They tell him ALL THE TIME that he's "brainwashed." How do they know he's brainwashed? Well, because he thinks differently from them of course. And the only way someone could possibly disagree with them is through brainwashing. It can't be just because they only ever exposed him to one way of thinking his whole life, and as soon as he realized it wasn't the ONLY way of thinking, he started to second guess his teachings.

My husband said to me once about this, "They tell me I'm brainwashed. But in reality, I've become brain FREED."
 
I'm pretty sure there are free legit college level courses Online. But you cannot get any credit for them without paying. I doubt (but maybe I'm wrong) that any homeschooling at the university level would lead to an accredited degree. So you'd be unlikely to be able to market your skills if eventual employment was your goal.
 
that's my thought as well skeptic ginger. Most people aren't going to college for the sheer joy of it. Any job I've had so far required a degree from an accredited university. So this whole teach from home thing seems pointless for anyone who actually wants to get a job that you would typically go to college for.
 
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