One day a professor was giving a big test to his students. He handed out all of the tests and went back to his desk to wait. Once the test was over, the students all handed the tests back in. The professor noticed that one of the students had attached a $100 bill to his test with a note saying "A dollar per point." The next class the professor handed the tests back out. The student got his test back with $64 change.

In the few weeks between the day kids leave high-school and the day they respond to their college's entering freshman survey, one out of eight of them bolt from the church.

YOU KNOW YOU'VE BEEN OUT OF COLLEGE TOO LONG WHEN... ~ Your potted plants stay alive. ~ 6:00 a.m. is when you get up, not when you go to sleep. ~ You hear your favorite song on the elevator at work. ~ You carry an umbrella. ~ You watch the Weather Channel. ~ Your friends marry and divorce instead of hook-up and break-up. ~ You go from 130 days of vacation time to 7. ~ Jeans and a sweater no longer qualify as "dressed up." ~ You're the one calling the police because those kids next door don't know how to turn down the stereo. ~ You don't know what time Taco Bell closes anymore. ~ Your car insurance goes down and your car payments go up. ~ You feed your dog Science Diet instead of McDonald's. ~ Sleeping on the couch is a no-no. ~ You no longer take naps from noon to 6:00 p.m. ~ Dinner and a movie: The *whole* date instead of the beginning of one. ~ MTV News is no longer your primary source of information. ~ You actually eat breakfast foods at breakfast time. ~ Grocery lists are longer than macaroni & cheese, Diet Pepsi, and Ho-Ho's. ~ Over 90% of the time you spend in front of a computer is for real work.

YOU MIGHT BE A COLLEGE STUDENT... 1. If you have ever price shopped for Top Ramen. 2. If you live in a house with three couches, none of which match. 3. If you consider Mac and Cheese a balanced meal. 4. If you have ever written a check for 45 cents. 5. If you get more e-mail than mail. 6. If you have ever seen two consecutive sunrises without sleeping. 7. If your glass set is composed of McDonald's Extra Value Meal Plastic Cups (i.e., Olympic Dream Team I or II). 8. If your underwear supply dictates the time between laundry loads. 9. If you cannot remember when you last washed your car. 10. If you can pack your worldly possessions into the back of a pick-up (one trip). 11. If you live in an area that is smaller than most mobile homes. 13. If you average less than 3 hours of sleep a night. 14. If your trash is overflowing and your bank account isn't. 15. If you go to Target more than 3 times a week. 16. If you eat at the cafeteria because it's "free, even though it sucks." 17. If you are personally keeping the local pizza place from bankruptcy. 18. If you wake up 10 minutes before class. 19. If you wear the same jeans 13 days in a row -- without washing them. 20. If your breakfast consists of a Coke on the way to class. 21. If your social life consists of a date with the library. 22. If your idea of "doing your hair" is putting on a baseball cap. 23 If it takes a shovel to find the floor of your room. 24. If you carry less than a dollar on you at all times because that's all you have. 25. If you haven't done laundry in so long you are wearing your swimsuit to class. 26. If your midnight snack is microwave popcorn. 27. If you celebrate when you find a quarter. 28. If your room is so cold that your toilet freezes over. 31. If you wear a sweat suit for so long that it stands up by itself. 32. If your backpack is giving you Scoliosis. 33. If you get more sleep in class than in your room. 34. If your idea of feeding the poor is buying yourself some Ramen Noodles. 35. If you can sleep through your roommate's blaring stereo.

The critical scholar is not committed, within the area of his research, to accepting the Church's presuppositions about Jesus, but he should not be committed to accepting naturalistic presuppositions either. If he does accept the latter, then the results of his research will in all probability contradict the beliefs of the Church, but this is because he has begged the question from the start. In examining, for instance, the evidence for the virginal conception [of Jesus], if he begins with the presupposition that such an event is impossible he will end with the same conclusion; if he begins with the presupposition that it is possible he may end with the conclusion that the evidence for it is good or that it is bad or that it is inconclusive. This is as far as scholarship can take him. The Christian will accept the virginal conception as part of the Church's faith. In the rare cases where faith appears to be contradicted by scholarship whose conclusions have not been prescribed from the start, [the critical scholar] may be cast down but will not be destroyed. For he will know how temporary and mutable the conclusions of scholarship essentially are, and he will also be conscious that he himself may not have perfectly comprehended the Church's faith.

"When I came back to the navy from Princeton, of course, the navy has a strong antiintellectual bias. I don't think my degree from Princeton helped me very much at all to make flag officer, but after I made flag officer, the navy used to brag about it all the time. [Admiral Crowe has a Ph.D.] It opened up vistas for me that would not have happened otherwise."

Dear Dad, $chool i$ really great. I am making lot$ of friend$ and $tudying very hard. With all my $tuff, I $imply can't think of anything I need, $o if you would like, you can ju$t $end me a card, a$ I would love to hear from you. Love, Your $on. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Dear Son, I kNOw that astroNOmy, ecoNOmics, and oceaNOgraphy are eNOugh to keep even an hoNOr student busy. Do NOt forget that the pursuit of kNOwledge is a NOble task, and you can never study eNOugh. Love, Dad

In a forest a fox bumps into a little rabbit, and says, "Hi, junior, what are you up to?" "I'm writing a dissertation on how rabbits eat foxes," said the rabbit. "Come now, friend rabbit, you know that's impossible!" "Well, follow me and I'll show you." They both go into the rabbit's dwelling and after a while the rabbit emerges with a satisfied expression on his face. Comes along a wolf. "Hello, what are we doing these days?" "I'm writing the second chapter of my thesis, on how rabbits devour wolves." "Are you crazy? Where is your academic honesty?" "Come with me and I'll show you." As before, the rabbit comes out with a satisfied look on his face and a diploma in his paw. Finally, the camera pans into the rabbit's cave and, as everybody should have guessed by now, we see a mean-looking, huge lion sitting next to some bloody and furry remnants of the wolf and the fox. The moral: It's not the contents of your thesis that are important -- it's your PhD advisor that really counts.

· Survey Reveals Sex Practices of Boys: A recent study by the Urban Institute provides the first national data on the sexual practices of 15-19 year old boys. While much has been made of pregnancy prevention, sex education programs have talked little about behaviors which don't lead to pregnancy. The study found that while 55% of the boys claimed to have had sexual intercourse, over 2/3 had participated in some other sexual behavior such as oral sex, anal sex, or masturbation by a female. The study found that most boys do not consider these "activities" as sex, but do see them as a precursor or substitute for vaginal intercourse. A separate study of college students also found that more than half of undergraduates do not find oral sex to be a break of abstinence. Regardless of the exact definition of what constitutes "sexual relations," health experts are concerned about these behaviors which can be risky. Incidents of pharyngeal gonorrhea have increased dramatically in adolescent girls. Experts are looking into revamping sex education to include information about these other sexual behaviors. (Time online, December 19, 2000)

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not flunk; He keepeth me from lying down when I should be studying. He leadeth me to rivers of Mountain Dew when I need to be refreshed He restoreth my faith in study guides. He leads me to better study habits For my grade's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of borderline grades, I will not have a nervous breakdown; For thou art with me. My prayers and my friends, they comfort me. Thou givest me answers in moments of blankness; Thou anointest my head with understanding. My test paper runneth over with questions I recognize. Surely passing grades and flying colors shall follow me All the days of my examinations, And I shall not have to dwell in this university forever, Amen!

1/3 to 3/5 of students undergo intense self-evaluation and reconstruction in political, religious, sexual, and occupational areas. P 202

"Only a handful of studies examine the long-term effects of college on religious attitudes and values, but with one exception, they indicate that changes in this area occur during but apparently not after the college years. Where there are postcollege changes, they are slight and generally away | from traditional religious values." p 323-324 (page break is where | is inserted)

"…living in a residence hall or private room appears to increase the likelihood that a student, by the senior year, will express no religious preference." p 314

"…students' religious interests and values…were positively related to a residence hall environment that promoted personal relationships or was traditionally socially oriented. Religious values were negatively affected by living in residence halls characterized by personal and academic independence." p 314

"the literature published since 1967 fairly consistently reports | significant declines in religious attitudes, values, and behaviors during the college years." p 280-281

"In probably the strongest studies on this point, Astin (1972b, 1977a) found (net of other personal and background factors) significantly greater than expected decreases in conventional religious affiliation and in religiousness (that is, praying and reading the Bible) among students attending selective or prestigious schools." p 303 "The likelihood of changing to no religious preference was also highest at so-called elite institutions." p 303

Hey, here's a quote from the Oct 17th Stanford Daily. Ehud Barak, the former Israeli Prime Minister, is a Stanford grad and spoke at the university last night. ------------------------------------------------------------- Though Barak ultimately left his mark on the world not through academia but rather through the military and politics, he said that he considers universities to be at the forefront of international leadership. "Somehow, the university is the place where the leadership of the future in all areas of life is formed," he said. "Since the best and the brightest are coming through . . . these institutions, they have a great influence on the leadership of this nation and nations as a whole."

"There's a time and a place for everything, and it's called college." -- Chef

On a visit to Leningrad some years ago I consulted a map to find out where I was, but I could not make it out. From where I stood, I could see several enormous churches, yet there was no trace of them on my map. When finally an interpreter came to help me, he said: “We don’t show churches on our maps.” Contradicting him, I pointed to one that was very clearly marked. “That is a museum,” he said, “not what we call a ‘living church.’ It is only the ‘living churches’ we don’t show.” It then occurred to me that this was not the first time I had been given a map which failed to show many things I could see right in front of my eyes. All through school and university I had been given maps of life and knowledge on which there was hardly a trace of many of the things that I most cared about and that seemed to me to be of the greatest possible importance to the conduct of my life. I remembered that for many years my perplexity had been complete; and no interpreter had come along to help me. It remained complete until I ceased to suspect the sanity of my perceptions and began, instead, to suspect the soundness of the maps.

Challenges of college ministry: Heresy: bad beliefs Hedonism: bad behavior

we want to change the changers

Near memchu A circle with roses and benches For the TROUBLED may you find PEACE For the DESPAIRING may you find HOPE For the LONELY may you find LOVE For the SKEPTICAL may you find FAITH Frances C Arrillaga 1941-1995

On the first day of college, the Dean addressed the students, pointing out some of the rules: "The female dormitory will be out-of-bounds for all male students, and the male dormitory to the female students. Anybody caught breaking this rule will be fined $20 the first time." He continued: "Anybody caught breaking this rule the second time will be fined $60. Being caught a third time will incur a hefty fine of $180. Are there any questions?" At this point, a male student in the crowd inquired: "How much for a season pass?"

77% of AG teens leave the church after they graduate from high school.

2/3 of college students on any given Sunday are not in church.

66% of teens have decided to leave the church upon graduation.

Over 70% of the international leaders in government and business will do some of their study in the U.S.

The average American makes seven major decisions in his/her adult life. Five of the seven are made (or at least begun) in college. Think about the choices you made as a university student, and how it affected where you are today. For most, decisions about relationships, location, religion, lifestyle preferences, and vocation are made in college. The only two that aren't made in the young-adult years are retirement and investments.

"Isn't it weird how you can use both bad weather and really good weather as an excuse not to go to class?" -Dave, on class attendance

"Don't worry Meryl, dust is just made up of dead bugs." -Hilary to her roommate, on the unimportance of cleaning their dorm room

[note: Jerod gave me permission to use this however I want, whenever I want] Glen, So I am in Dallas with Crysten Coy attending Henri's support raising siminar. He used your video about how to relate with churches and it was very cool. He is emailing it out to a few of the people in the group who expressed interst in seeing it a few more time to take down the info. So in the support raising phonebook sized binder we are working through, there is a part on vision. One of the questions asks who has influemced you in your call to ministry? Of course I wrote you down as someone who influenced me. Then I thought about that for a second: the whole time I was doing my laundry and eating your food never realized that whole thing was a discipleship setup! I was being discipled, and I just now realized it. You are a tricky one Glen Davis. Tricky. I just wanted to say thanks for that. Now I have support raising homework to work on. Just thought I would let you know that. Godspeed. Jerod

TOP TEN COLLEGE TEMPTATIONS AND THE STRATEGIES YOU NEED TO BEAT THEM BY TAMIE VERVOORN THE NEXT CHAPTER OF YOUR LIFE, college, might be the best yet: learning new things, making new friends, finding new freedom. But college—whether you go to a Christian or secular school—also guarantees something else: new temptations. When Jesus went into the wilderness for forty days of fasting, He knew He would encounter temptation from the Enemy there. That’s why He went armed with the Word of God firmly fixed in His heart. You can read about the battle in Matthew 4:1-11 and Luke 4:1-13. * College isn’t exactly a wilderness, but you’ll need to arm yourself in the same way if you’re going to be ready to defeat the Enemy’s attempts to derail your walk with God. Following are ten temptations that might try to trip you up at college and strategies you can use to fight them. If you meditate on and memorize Scripture now, you’ll have the ammunition you need to resist the devil (and your own flesh) a couple months and years down the road. TEMPTATiON #1 Letting Your Relationship with God Slide During your first months at college, you might feel overwhelmed with your classes (this ain’t high school, baby!) and all the activities going on around you. You’ll have sporting events to attend, roommates to get to know, midnight coffee (or ice cream or taco) runs. It will be easy for God to get squeezed out of your schedule. Strategy: Make an Appointment College is definitely not the time to drift away from Jesus. The key is to set aside time each day to talk to God and dig into His Word. Stick to that appointment! Think of it as your most important class of the day—and pay attention to what your Teacher has to say. The Word: Matthew 22:37-38 “Jesus replied: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.’ ” TEMPTATiON #2 Doubting Your Faith Too many Christian teens ride into college on their parents’ faith. When challenged by intelligent and reasonable sounding but unbelieving professors and students, they’re more likely to shrug off their faith because they don’t own it, or to harbor doubts without really looking for the answers. Strategy: Ask the Right People thE Hard Questions There are answers to the tough questions about what we believe. Dig in for yourself. Get to know the specifics of your faith. Ask wise and trusted Christians about your doubts and questions before you go to college, if possible. With their help, you will be able to boldly defend your faith when others challenge you. When you get to college, be sure to hook up with a solid local church where you can find community, biblical teaching, wise counsel and accountability. The Word: 1 Peter 3:14-15 “But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. ‘Do not fear what they fear; do not be frightened.’ ” TEMPTATiON #3 Buying Into the “No Moral Absolutes” Lie If you go to a secular university you will be told, in one way or another, that most worldviews, philosophies and religions are equally good. Nothing can be known for sure. “If it works for you, go for it!” Your profs and peers might try to make you feel silly about believing that Jesus is the only way to God. You might want to fudge your beliefs just a little to be accepted. Strategy: Commit to Representing Christ to Your Campus Don’t be surprised that non-Christians don’t agree with you. Turn it around, and make your campus your mission field! You’ll be amazed at how your own faith grows when you’re loving and reaching out to others. The Word: John 14:6 (check out Acts 4:12 and the rest of Acts, too) “Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’ ” TEMPTATiON #4 Giving In to Promiscuity Dorm life, even on a Christian college campus, can mean three things: freedom, loneliness and a lot more time with the opposite sex. That’s not all bad, but it opens the door to sexual temptations. Add to that pressure from friends and the media to “get a boy/girl friend” or “get more physical,” and this is a serious danger zone. Strategy: Make a Plan Now Decide before you get to college how you will handle sexual temptation. What are your limits? How committed are you to sexual purity? Remember that it’s God’s will for you not only to remain physically pure, but to guard your heart as well. Learn how to develop godly friendships with both guys and girls and have fun hanging out in groups. Limit the amount of time you’re alone in one-on-one situations—even if you feel strongly about the other person. The Word: 1 Corinthians 6:18-20 “Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.” TEMPTATiON #5 Par-tay! It’s Friday night, and a little voice says, “College is your last chance (or maybe your first) to really party before entering the ‘real world.’ And besides, who’s gonna get hurt if you drink a few beers, do a few drugs, look at pornography, or sleep with someone here and there? Just have fun!” Strategy: Plan Faithful Fun Find friends who want to have fun, but who want to honor God. Commit to accountability with them. Be an initiator! Plan a party of your own that involves good food, good music, good movies, etc., but leaves out the drugs, alcohol and sexual immorality. The Word: 1 Corinthians 15:33 (see also Genesis 39) “Do not be misled: ‘Bad company corrupts good character.’ ” TEMPTATiON #6 Fit In! Tolerance gets talked about a lot on college campuses these days, but it’s amazing how out of it you can still feel if you stand out from everyone else. You might think about doing wrong or worthless things you’re not even interested in just to feel like part of a group. Strategy: Don’t Fit In! By the power of the Holy Spirit, you can choose to be your own person. Find your sense of significance and self-worth in Christ. Again, surrounding yourself with solid Chris-tian friends is a good way to fight the desire to fit in with the wrong crowd. The Word: Proverbs 29:25 “Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trust in the Lord is kept safe.” TEMPTATiON #7 Body and Food Obsessions It’s a huge issue for many women and some men. It’s natural to compare yourself with others and feel like you don’t measure up—or to let stress mess with your eating habits. Some turn to the school cafeteria for comfort, while others turn away from it completely in an attempt to control something in their lives. These patterns are unhealthy and can lead to more serious eating disorders and to dangerous weight gain or loss. Strategy: Capture Your Thoughts Identify the lie that’s making you think your body or the food you eat defines you. Think of that thought as a criminal running around in your mind. Arrest it, put the handcuffs on it, and “take it downtown” to God—and to another person. Your school or church should have counselors you can talk to for help with this serious problem. The Word: Psalm 139:14 (see also 2 Corinthians 10:5) “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” TEMPTATiON #8 Money Madness Your first year of college will include lots of financial freedom—even if you don’t have a lot of cash. You might open a bank account or get a credit card for the first time. It’s way too easy to forget your limitations and lose control. All it takes is ignoring the bottom line in your checkbook for a few days or hitting the limit on your card. Strategy: Make a Money Plan Before leaving for college, sit down with a trusted adult and make a realistic budget. It’s also a great idea to decide before each year of school whether you’re going to get any credit cards and how much you’re willing to charge on them or if they’ll only be used in an emergency. Giving to God through a church is another important habit to start (or maintain). God cares about your money, too. The Word: Matthew 6:19-21 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth … But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven … For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” TEMPTATiON #9 Making College Idols Many things at college can become idols—from intellectual pride and perfectionism to finding your identity in athletics and extra-curricular activities. It’s tempting to devote all your time to your studies or a sport, but the Lord desires your whole heart to be devoted to Him, even while you’re committed to other pursuits. Strategy: Daily Worship Stay consistent with an activity that has eternal value: your time alone with God. If you play the guitar, have a solo worship session, or turn on some music and sing your heart out. God loves to hear a joyful noise directed towards Him! The Word: Exodus 20:3 “You shall have no other Gods before me.” TEMPTATiON #10 Cheating and Giving Up Let’s be honest: college is tough! The fear that you’re not going to make it might tempt you to cheat or quit (both bad options). Each leads to further misery and, ultimately, to failure. The Enemy wants you to believe that you can’t succeed or that you can scrape by with only minimal effort. Strategy: Commit Everything to God and Don’t Commit to Everything If you have a problem with cheating or a fear of failure that tempts you to quit, find help! If you had issues like these in high school and you didn’t resolve them, they will only intensify in college. Ask God to help you rely on His strength and for the wisdom and self-control to turn down new opportunities when your plate is already full. The Word: Proverbs 16:3 (see also James 4:7) “Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed.”

The Study Prayer Now I lay me down to study I pray the Lord I won't go nutty If I should fail to learn this junk I pray the Lord I will not flunk But if I do, don't pity me at all Just lay my bones in the study hall Tell my teacher I did my best Then pile my books upon my chest Now I lay me down to rest If I should die before I wake That's one less test I'll have to take

The Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA conducted a survey in the spring of 2003 of 3,680 students from 46 colleges and universities about spirituality and religiousness among college students. Some key findings: 77% say they pray 77% agree that we are all spiritual beings 70% attended religious service in the past year Between their freshman and junior years, frequent religious service attendance dropped from 52% to 29% 73% say their spiritual/religious beliefs have helped them develop their identity 27% say they are indifferent about the existence of a Supreme Being

Even before finishing his degree, and still lacking pastoral experience, Charles Simeon put his name forward for the pastorate of Cambridge's Holy Trinity church. This was unheard of. Amazingly Simeon was given the parish and would labor there the rest of his life. The church was less than pleased to receive this blustering minister who insisted that those who called themselves "Christian" be truly saved by grace and live lives more closely conformed to Christ. They distrusted his ivory-tower background—they were largely artisan's families, or more bluntly, in Simeon's words, "very poor church folks," and they were wary of his fervor. Opponents harassed Simeon by locking the family-owned pews, forcing those who wished to hear the new minister to find standing room as best they could. When Simeon brought in benches, church council members tossed them out into the churchyard, but he was undeterred. Simeon was also determined to provide the Cambridge undergraduates with decent training in theology and pastoral ministry. In 1790 Simeon began holding informal seminars for ministerial students on Sunday evenings. In 1812, he instituted weekly "conversation parties" in his rooms, essentially theological and pastoral Q&A sessions. By 1823, some 40 students were attending. By 1827 the number was closer to 60, straining the room's capacity and keeping two servants busy distributing tea. Along the way, the eager participants acquired the labels "Simeonite" and "Sim," which they wore as badges of honor. Of the undergraduates Simeon trained during his 54 years at Holy Trinity, some 1,100 became effective—and many, distinguished— parish ministers, chaplains, and missionaries. Citation: Chris Armstrong, "Simeon's Brigade," Leadership (Summer 2003)

Getting Religion By LAURA RANDALL Published: January 18, 2004 Spirituality and religion are thriving on campus, says a new study by the Higher Education Research Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles. Of 3,680 juniors surveyed at 46 colleges and universities, 73 percent said their religious or spiritual beliefs helped develop their identity, while 58 percent found that integrating spirituality into their lives was very important, up from 51 percent in 2000. The interest in religion and spirituality doesn't necessarily extend to the classroom, though. Only 39 percent of students said their beliefs had been strengthened by new ideas encountered in class, and 62 percent reported that their professors never encouraged discussion of spiritual issues. The survey also found that: 78 percent of students discuss their religious beliefs with friends. 65 percent question their beliefs at least occasionally. 9 percent have developed a stronger ''religiousness'' since entering college. 52 percent attended religious services the year before entering college. 29 percent attended religious services their junior year. 77 percent pray.

One sophomore argued that Stanford is not a factor in his decision to use drugs. “It is the fact that I am away from my parents,” he said. “Not being at home has allowed me to do drugs all the time. Thank you, college.” "Hard Drugs are Rare on Campus", Sarah Lustbader, Wednesday, June 4, 2003

Charles Malik is a Harvard educated Lebanese scholar and diplomat. He received more than fifty honorary doctorates from Canadian, American and European universities, including Harvard, Yale, Princeton and Notre Dame. Here is what he writes: "The university is a clear-cut fulcrum with which to move the world. The problem here is for the church to realize that no greater service can it render itself and the cause of the Gospel, with which it is entrusted, than to try to recapture the universities for Christ on whom they were originally founded. "One of the best ways of treating the macrocosm is through the handle of the universities in which millions of youths destined to positions of leadership spend, in rigorous training between four and ten years of the most formative period of their life. "More potently than by any other means, change the university and you change the world." (Charles Malik)

“In the morning, I regret getting drunk every night. But every night it seems like a good idea again. We’re stupid. But we’re 22. It’s allowed.” - Jet bassist Mark Wilson, Blender, March 2004, p. 62.

One day our professor was discussing a particularly complicated concept. A pre-med student rudely interrupted to ask "Why do we have to study this stuff?" "To save lives," the professor responded and continued with the lecture. A few minutes later the same student spoke up again. "So, how does physics save lives?" he persisted. "It keeps the ignoramuses out of medical school," replied the professor.

Nearly half of US undergraduates attend a two-year institution and the vast majority have expressed their approval of those schools. A study conducted by the University of Texas at Austin looked at over 65,000 students on more than 100 public and private two year colleges. They found 86% rated their experience as good or excellent and 95% would recommend their school to a friend. 64% of community college students attend part-time and the average age of such students is 29. 47% hope to transfer to a four year institution while nearly 60% hope to gain job-related skills. While the overall experience is good, the social scene is not - 86% of full time students say they have never participated in an activity outside of class.

The young always have the same problem--how to rebel and conform at the same time. They have now solved this by defying their parents and copying one another.

Many of you high school seniors are in a panic at this time of year, coping with your college acceptance or rejection letters. Since the admissions process has gone totally insane, it's worth reminding yourself that this is not a particularly important moment in your life. You are being judged according to criteria that you would never use to judge another person and which will never again be applied to you once you leave higher ed. For example, colleges are taking a hard look at your SAT scores. But if at any moment in your later life you so much as mention your SAT scores in conversation, you will be considered a total jerk. If at age 40 you are still proud of your scores, you may want to contemplate a major life makeover. More than anything else, colleges are taking a hard look at your grades. To achieve that marvelous G.P.A., you will have had to demonstrate excellence across a broad range of subjects: math, science, English, languages etc. This will never be necessary again. Once you reach adulthood, the key to success will not be demonstrating teacher-pleasing competence across fields; it will be finding a few things you love, and then committing yourself passionately to them. The traits you used getting good grades might actually hold you back. To get those high marks, while doing all the extracurricular activities colleges are also looking for, you were encouraged to develop a prudential attitude toward learning. You had to calculate which reading was essential and which was not. You could not allow yourself to be obsessed by one subject because if you did, your marks in the other subjects would suffer. You could not take outrageous risks because you might fail. You learned to study subjects that are intrinsically boring to you; slowly, you may have stopped thinking about which subjects are boring and which exciting. You just knew that each class was a hoop you must jump through on your way to a first-class university. You learned to thrive in adult-supervised settings. If you have done all these things and you are still an interesting person, congratulations, because the system has been trying to whittle you down into a bland, complaisant achievement machine. But in adulthood, you'll find that a talent for regurgitating what superiors want to hear will take you only halfway up the ladder, and then you'll stop there. The people who succeed most spectacularly, on the other hand, often had low grades. They are not prudential. They venture out and thrive where there is no supervision, where there are no preset requirements. Those admissions officers may know what office you held in school government, but they can make only the vaguest surmises about what matters, even to your worldly success: your perseverance, imagination and trustworthiness. Odds are you don't even know these things about yourself yet, and you are around you a lot more. Even if the admissions criteria are dubious, isn't it still really important to get into a top school? I wonder. I spend a lot of time meeting with students on college campuses. If you put me in a room with 15 students from any of the top 100 schools in this country and asked me at the end of an hour whether these were Harvard kids or Penn State kids, I would not be able to tell you. There are a lot of smart, lively young people in this country, and you will find them at whatever school you go to. The students at the really elite schools may have more social confidence, but students at less prestigious schools may learn not to let their lives be guided by other people's status rules — a lesson that is worth the tuition all by itself. As for the quality of education, that's a matter of your actually wanting to learn and being fortunate enough to meet a professor who electrifies your interest in a subject. That can happen at any school because good teachers are spread around, too. So remember, the letters you get over the next few weeks don't determine anything. Picking a college is like picking a spouse. You don't pick the "top ranked" one, because that has no meaning. You pick the one with the personality and character that complements your own. You may have been preparing for these letters half your life. All I can say is welcome to adulthood, land of the anticlimaxes.

Joel Lynn, manager of residence services at Mount Royal College, said nothing surprises him any more in the lengths parents will go to monitor their child's education, particularly of those living on campus. "We've had fathers slip their business cards to residence staff and say, 'if you need me for anything, give me a call,' parents who want to be part of the discipline process and parents demanding to know their kid's grades," he said. "The most bizarre was the Vancouver mother who moved into her daughter's room." In that case the mother, worried her daughter couldn't combat a cold alone, stayed a week. Staff forced the parent to leave when she began meddling in the daughter's roommates' affairs, telling the other three students when to go to bed, do their homework and to stop watching television. http://www.canada.com/calgary/calgaryherald/news/story.html?id=62467bde-e0ba-4dfd-93c9-9ea039844165

RELIGIOUS COMMITMENT ON CAMPUS: A breakdown of how spiritual commitment varies among different college majors. Nineteen majors were surveyed; seven majors were not included because the sample size was insufficient. Level of religious commitment 62 percent: Fine arts majors 59 percent: Education 57 percent: Humanities 53 percent: Health professional 52 percent: Journalism 51 percent: Psychology 44 percent: Business 43 percent: Physical science 43 percent: Computer science 43 percent: Biological science 41 percent: History or political science 37 percent: Sociology Experienced high level of religious/spiritual growth during the first three years of college 46 percent: Education majors 40 percent: Fine arts 37 percent: Humanities 36 percent: Business 35 percent: Journalism 34 percent: Health professional 33 percent: Psychology 28 percent: Sociology 28 percent: Biological science 25 percent: History or political science 22 percent: Computer science 19 percent: Physical science Engaged in a "spiritual quest" 43 percent: Fine arts majors 42 percent: Humanities 38 percent: Psychology 37 percent: Journalism 33 percent: History or political science 31 percent: Biological science 30 percent: Sociology 29 percent: Education 26 percent: Health professional 24 percent: Business 23 percent: Computer science 19 percent: Physical science Express high level of "spiritual distress" 31 percent: Humanities majors 27 percent: Fine arts 25 percent: History or political science 24 percent: Sociology 24 percent: Journalism 24 percent: Psychology 22 percent: Biological science 21 percent: Physical science 18 percent: Health professional 17 percent: Education 15 percent: Business 10 percent: Computer science Source: Compiled by Kevin Eckstrom from Higher Education Research Institute/University of California at Los Angeles.

Art majors learning at 'higher' level BY KEVIN ECKSTROM Religion News Service AAre biology majors a bunch of godless evolutionists and business students coldhearted capitalists? Are art and music students the ones truly in touch with their spiritual sides? Maybe so, according to new findings from the first-ever survey of the religious habits of American college students, conducted by researchers at the University of California-Los Angeles. The national survey of 3,680 students by UCLA's Higher Education Research Institute found that religious commitment runs strongest among fine arts, education and humanities majors and lowest among biology, history and sociology majors. "Naturally, scientists are focused on the exterior world of objects and things, whereas the humanities and people in the fine arts are more focused on the interior," Alexander Astin, co-director of the study, said in an interview. Astin defined "spiritual commitment" through a series of questions that measured personal value of religion, attendance at worship services, belief in a higher power and applying religious values to everyday life. Sixty-two percent of fine arts majors rated high on "spiritual commitment," compared to 52 percent of journalism majors, 44 percent of business majors, 43 percent of biology majors, 41 percent of political science majors and 37 percent of sociology majors. In addition, Astin found that arts and humanities majors were twice as likely to exhibit signs of "spiritual distress" — questioning beliefs, struggling to understand evil, wrestling with religious upbringing — as business or computer science students. Still, Astin said it is premature to label all scientists or computer whizzes as spiritually hollow. Most of these academic disciplines simply don't prompt or promote spiritual reflection, he said. But, for biology students who are training to be doctors and business majors entering the work force in the shadow of Enron and Martha Stewart, colleges would do well to help students hone their internal spiritual and moral compasses, he said. "I would say that's something desperately needed in modern medicine," he said. "It's the ability of the physician to empathize with the patient's interior situation and not just treat them like a piece of meat." The newest findings, part of an ongoing survey of students at 46 U.S. campuses, support Astin's early data that show campuses do a poor job of fostering spiritual development. Last November, Astin said nearly two-thirds of students said their professors do not encourage discussions of spiritual matters, and 53 percent of students said time in the classroom had no impact on their spiritual development. What's more, only 29 percent of college juniors attend religious services, compared to 52 percent of incoming freshmen. Among Astin's other findings: Students who party frequently are more likely to stop attending religious services, and "spiritually committed" students generally earn higher grades. Students who score high on measures of spiritual commitment generally are healthier, happier and more involved in community service. Education students (46 percent) showed the highest levels of "spiritual growth," followed by one-third of journalism majors, one-quarter of political science majors and one-fifth of physical science majors. One striking finding, however, showed that students engaged in a "spiritual quest" to find meaning in their lives also show higher levels of "psychological distress," evidenced by stress or anxiety. Not surprisingly, majors who tend to be more spiritually engaged — the humanities and fine arts — displayed the highest levels of physical distress, while education, business and computer science majors ranked near the bottom. "Part of questing is not having answers. It's not necessarily a bad thing," Astin said. "Psychological distress can be a positive thing if it leads people to solve some of their problems."

I work with a group of interns that come out of secular colleges. These are very committed believers. They're the cream of the crop. I find they don't have any difficulty saying that something is true, but only with great difficulty can they say something else is false. It's inbred in them by their educational system that to make any such claim is arrogant and impossible. If you even mention the idea of truth or give reasons against post-modernism, you find a strong emotion arising that even goes against any argument. I remember one young man after class came up to me and said, "I really appreciate what you're telling us, but as soon as you mention giving reasons for faith, I have a strong reaction that rises from my gut." I did a poll the next day and found that about two-thirds of the class of these very committed believers felt the same thing. Art Lindsley, on true truth, Dick Staub Interview June 9th, 2004

Top 10 Tips For Stanford Students 1. You've probably already been brainwashed to believe that most items should be washed after wearing once. You're in college now, and you should determine the truth of this statement for yourself. 2. Want to meet people? Wear a t-shirt that represents something cool or important about yourself the first day on campus. You'll quickly find friends with similar interests. Alternate assignment: wear a t-shirt for UC Berkeley your first day on campus. You'll probably meet even more people that way. 3. Take your overachieving ambitions down a few pegs. College is for more than classes, and you don't gain any real competitive advantage for grad school by taking 30 units a quarter. All you do is guarantee that some of the other, more significant, benefits of going to college don't accrue to you. 4. Don't sign up for credit cards. If you want to get things you can't afford, find a rich roommate. 5. Get a cell phone. Seriously. 6. Get a laptop instead of a desktop. Seriously. 7. If you haven't read Lord of the Flies in a while, dust if off and peruse it again. Think about it the next time you're inclined to trust the collective wisdom of your peers. 8. You will meet a significant number of people who are way better than you at things you enjoy being really good at. Befriend them and copy their homework. 9. Repeat after me: "Time I enjoy wasting is not wasted time." 10. Not many people know this, but participation in Chi Alpha has just been added as a requirement for graduation. You might as well get it out of your way your first year. Check us out online at http://www.xaStanford.org/

College Students and Spirituality According to a survey of 3,680 college juniors from 46 different colleges and universities… -Those who agree that "people can reach a higher plane of spiritual consciousness through meditation or prayer": 72% -Those who agree that "we are all spiritual beings": 77% -Those who rate themselves "above average" in spirituality: 39% From the Spirituality in Higher Education Web site. Find more statistics in the "Youth Culture Update" section of the Nov/Dec 2004 "Spirituality" issue of YouthWorker Journal.

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A beautiful student goes to a male professor's office and says, in a breathy voice, "Professor . . . . I'd do anything to get an A on your exam." "Anything?," the professor asks, conspiratorially. The student leans closer. "Anything," she says. The professor says, "Would you . . . study?"

summary: brilliant analysis of envy among academics -- too long to copy in here, but I wanted to leave a pointer to it in case I ever need such a discussion.

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The art of handling university students is to make oneself appear, and this almost ostentatiously, to be treating them as adults....

College can be useless. <img src="http://glenandpaula.com/quotes/uploads/1112209988mach-hall-college-useless.jpg" width="576" height="765" />

If I had to choose between the university and the Church, I will let go of the university and I will keep the Church. For the Church would have the intelligence to build the university again, for they did it once. But the university would have neither the intelligence or the spirit to build the Church.

Colleges are places where pebbles are polished and diamonds are dimmed.

Background story is at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Gallagher 3A. ESSAY: IN ORDER FOR THE ADMISSIONS STAFF OF OUR COLLEGE TO GET TO KNOW YOU, THE APPLICANT, BETTER, WE ASK THAT YOU ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTION: ARE THERE ANY SIGNIFICANT EXPERIENCES YOU HAVE HAD, OR ACCOMPLISHMENTS YOU HAVE REALIZED, THAT HAVE HELPED TO DEFINE YOU AS A PERSON? I am a dynamic figure, often seen scaling walls and crushing ice. I have been known to remodel train stations on my lunch breaks, making them more efficient in the area of heat retention. I translate ethnic slurs for Cuban refugees, I write award-winning operas, I manage time efficiently. Occasionally, I tread water for three days in a row. I woo women with my sensuous and godlike trombone playing, I can pilot bicycles up severe inclines with unflagging speed, and I cook Thirty-Minute Brownies in twenty minutes. I am an expert in stucco, a veteran in love, and an outlaw in Peru. Using only a hoe and a large glass of water, I once single-handedly defended a small village in the Amazon Basin from a horde of ferocious army ants. I play bluegrass cello, I was scouted by the Mets, I am the subject of numerous documentaries. When I’m bored, I build large suspension bridges in my yard. I enjoy urban hang gliding. On Wednesdays, after school, I repair electrical appliances free of charge. I am an abstract artist, a concrete analyst, and a ruthless bookie. Critics worldwide swoon over my original line of corduroy evening wear. I don’t perspire. I am a private citizen, yet I receive fan mail. I have been caller number nine and have won the weekend passes. Last summer I toured New Jersey with a traveling centrifugal-force demonstration. I bat .400. My deft floral arrangements have earned me fame in international botany circles. Children trust me. I can hurl tennis rackets at small moving objects with deadly accuracy. I once read Paradise Lost, Moby Dick, and David Copperfield in one day and still had time to refurbish an entire dining room that evening. I know the exact location of every food item in the supermarket. I have performed several covert operations for the CIA. I sleep once a week; when I do sleep, I sleep in a chair. While on vacation in Canada, I successfully negotiated with a group of terrorists who had seized a small bakery. The laws of physics do not apply to me. Years ago I discovered the meaning of life but forgot to write it down. I have made extraordinary four course meals using only a mouli and a toaster oven. I breed prizewinning clams. I have won bullfights in San Juan, cliff-diving competitions in Sri Lanka, and spelling bees at the Kremlin. I have played Hamlet, I have performed open-heart surgery, and I have spoken with Elvis. But I have not yet gone to college.

Basically, you learn two kinds of things in college: * Things you will need to know in later life (two hours). These include how to make collect telephone calls and get beer stains out of your pajamas. * Things you will not need to know in later life (1,998 hours). These are the things you learn in classes whose names end in -ology, - - -osophy, -istry, -ics, and so on. The idea is, you memorize these things, then write them down in little exam books, then forget them. If you fail to forget them, you become a professor and have to stay in college for the rest of your life.

More than one-fifth of 18-34s are college students... [which] represents a significant population of young people: 22 percent of 18-34s are college students, or some 16.9 million Americans. And of that number, 74 percent live away from home during the school year, according to T-TAM.

The average college student spends $208 on pizza, Starbucks, music, toothpaste, laundry and other discretionary items each month. Most of that money comes from home where nearly 2/3 of students receive money for spending (at an average of just over $300 a month). A survey by the Student Monitor indicates college students spend roughly $15 billion on their personal and social lives annually. When it comes to spending money, 69% of students say they ate out in the previous week, 47% shopped at a grocery store, 38% went to the movies and only 19% bought a cd. In addition to their weekly expenses, many own a variety of gadgets including cell phones (90%); DVD players (76%); TV's (73%); and iPods (37%). Just over half of all students work part time during the school year.

<strong>Good School - Great Ultimate Frisbee Team:</strong> When selecting a school, many look to US News and World Report or other rankings to determine the relative strength of a particular school. However, one University of Washington professor suggests that students may need to look no farther than the national rankings for Ultimate Frisbee. When academic rankings are compared with the "power rankings" for Ultimate, he noticed that all the schools in the top half of the Frisbee rankings were also in the top half of academic performance. Private schools in the top half of the Ultimate standings had also produced 208 Rhodes and Marshall scholars; those in the bottom half had only produced 15. The top seven private schools in Ultimate: Stanford, Brown, Harvard, Tufts, Dartmouth, Yale and Princeton. Public schools showed a similar correlation.

Some philosophers legitimate their claims about mind by citing the evidence of cognitive psychologists; some cognitive psychologists seek legitimacy in the discoveries of the neuroscientists; some neuroscientists look for support in the research of of molecular biologists; some molecular biologists explain the electrical activity of neurons with the concepts of the physicsts; and all stand gazing in awe at the mathematicians, who, staring straight ahead, worry occassionally about the shaky foundations of their elegant equations. The members of each scientific discipline, like children trying to join a more powerful group, seek to persuade others by announcing who their friends are.

Why Research Is Better Than Homework

One of the nice things about being a professor is that you can specialize in those things you are best at, and you can find collaborators that compensate for your weaknesses. In other words, being a professor is a lot easier than being a student.

Hedonism Drives Heresy

A typical case of such unbelief begins when young men are brought up as nominal Christians. Their parents take them to church as children and there they become acquainted with those passages of the Bible used in the service. If their parents still keep some of the old habits, they may even be taught in the catechism. But they go off into the world, yield to youthful temptations, neglect to look at their Bible, and they do not develop their religious duties. They do not even try to reflect, study, or mature in the thoughts that they once might have had as children. They may even travel abroad, relax still further their religious habits, and tend to read only about those controversial issues of religion. Attending church occasionally, these occasional incidents more often offend such youth than strengthen them. Perhaps they are tempted to be morally superior to those they think are superstitious. Or the poor examples of some professing Christians disgust them. Or else they stumble because of the absurdities of others who see they are equally ignorant to themselves. At any rate, they gradually begin to doubt the reality of Christianity. A confused sense of relief that it is all untrue settles within them. Impressions deepen, reinforced by fresh arguments. At length they are convinced of their doubts in a broad sweep over the whole realm of religion. This may not be universally so, but it may be termed the natural history of skepticism. It is the experience of those who have watched the progress of unbelief in those they care about. It is confirmed by the written lines of some of the most eminent unbelievers. We find that they once gave a sort of implicit, inherited assent to the truth of Christianity and were considered believers. How then did they become skeptics? Reason, thought, and inquiry have little to do with it. Having lived for many years careless and irreligious lives, they eventually matured in their faithlessness—not by force of irreligious strength but by lapse of time. This is generally the offspring of prejudice, and its success is the result of moral depravity. Unbelief is not so much the result of a studious and controversial age as it is one of moral decline. It disperses itself in proportion as the general morals decline. People embrace it with less apprehension when all around are doing the same thing.

Higher Education an Elusive Dream For Latino Californians

A <a href="http://www.chicano.ucla.edu/press/briefs/documents/LPIB_16.pdf">report</a> from the Chicano Studies Research Center at the University of California at Los Angeles released last year, for instance, found that of every 100 first-time Latino students in the state, 75 enter community colleges — and only 7 of them will transfer (6 to CSU campuses). Yet, upon entering community college, 40 percent of these students said they aspired to transfer to a four-year institution.

Why College Courses Are So Esoteric

The particular courses offered in colleges and universities often also reflect the professors' convenience more so than the students' educational needs. For example, a history department may offer a course on the history of motion pictures or the history of wine-making, while not offering a course on the history of the Roman Empire or the history of medieval Europe, even though these broader courses would offer much more insight into the way Western civilization has developed and the way our world today has evolved. Because professors must do research in order to advance their careers, beginning with their doctoral dissertations, they must narrow their focus to something that has not been written about in great depth before. Then, having done original research or having made original analyses on such subjects as the history of motion pictures or the history of wine-making, a professor would find it much easier to teach a course on such a narrow subject than to do the vast amount of research required to teach a course on a subject as broad as the history of the Roman Empire or of medieval Europe--research unlikely to have any publication pay-off, since both subjects have already been widely researched and written about by others for generations. On many campuses, including some of the most prestigious, the disappearance of a meaningful curriculum, geared to the educational development of students, rather than to the convenience of career-advancement of professors, is a consequence of a proliferation of courses in narrow subjects. There may be a curriculum listed in the college catalogue but it can mean little if there are many disparate options for meeting a particular educational requirement--if, for example, a course on the history of motion pictures can be used to satisfy a social science requirement instead of a course on leading nations or empires of the world. Thus a student may graduate from some of the most prestigious colleges in the country fundamentally ignorant of history and all the insights and implications of history.

Professors More Religious Than Assumed

According to their study 51.5 percent of professors, responding to the question of whether they believe in God, chose the response, "While I have doubts, I feel that I do believe in God," or the statement, "I know God really exists and I have no doubts about it." While atheists and agnostics in the United States make up about 3 and 4.1 percent of the population, respectively, the prevalence of atheism and agnosticism was much higher among professors: 9.8 percent of professors chose the statement, "I don't believe in God," while another 13.1 percent chose, "I don't know whether there is a God." In other words, religious skepticism is much more common among professors than in the general American population. However, the majority are still believers.