Bauder on T.T.U.

As KTB observes,

The shrinkage of fundamentalist education mirrors the shrinkage of the fundamentalist phenomenon, but that in turn reflects the shrinkage of American Christianity in general.

This, coupled with the end of the Baby Boom is putting all kinds of educational institutions under pressure. There are many other factors as well, as Kevin notes.

What is the solution? All kinds of voices will jump in to tell you “Fundamentalism needs to do X” while others will say “Fundamentalism needs to do anti-X”. I think all such suggestions tend to be rather simplistic. The culture is rapidly becoming secularistic and antagonistic towards Christianity. I think we need revival, but I don’t think we can generate it from our own strength or superior methodology. What we need to do is follow our calling (Mt 28.19-20) and pray that the Lord will open blind eyes and deaf ears as we preach the Word to them.

O.K., someone else admit it: I’m not the only one who thought, “Steve walks warily down the street…,” upon seeing the title of Bauder’s article!

Seriously though, Bauder’s article is refreshingly self-effacing and reflective. Much to chew on in it.

[Saw the mod note on the other thread: guess I need to move this over here.]

Kevin Bauder says:

“The true agenda of the political Left is becoming clearer: for example, its leaders are now using the force of law to deprive people of their livelihoods for refusing to participate in immoral celebrations of fictitious marriages.”

And Jim says?

I think one question that Bible colleges in general need to answer is what their value proposition is. Looking at the courses of study available at Faith, Summit, and even Boyce offer very little for someone who does not want to go into full time ministry, unless they are trying to remedy a lack of theological instruction in their own churches. And even for those who do want to go into full time ministry, there are no courses in logic (sorry, “critical thinking skills” isn’t logic) and precious few in foreign languages in some of the schools I looked at.

It suggests the question; how effective is a pastor or missionary going to be if his first exposure to a language beyond English is in his mid-20s, if at all? If he never studies logic, is he more, or less, likely to make serious errors in judgment in his sermon preparation, counseling, and the like? How well will a missionary adapt if the first language he learns is when he’s 25 or more? If he decides that God is not after all calling him to full time Christian work, does his degree get him anything beyond a factory job?

Does the perceived need for young people to go to Bible college to “learn the Bible” have something to do, perhaps, with the fact that many pastors know no foreign language beyond “yo quiero Taco Bell”, and no logic beyond playground thinking? But if that’s where the pastors themselves learned, what benefit is it going to those same colleges?

It seems to me that Bible colleges would do well to consider reversing an error they made a century ago; they assumed that academic learning was synonymous with literary form criticism, and thus eliminated academic learning—throwing out a lot of baby out with that bathwater, to put it mildly. I’d have to suggest that earlier colleges founded by believers had it right; if you want to train Christian workers well, you’ve got to give them their grammar, logic, and rhetoric.

Might also help all of us as we interact with the issues of the day—most of our politics today is, after all, a simple shouting of the ad hominem fallacy.

have you taken a look at Maranatha? I can remember my English Grammar and Composition under Miss Laughlin, my Logic Class (you got it wrong by addition) under Dr. Hollowood, Public speaking under Mr. Marsh and finally my Homiletics Class under Dr. Weeks.

[Bert Perry]

SNIP

It seems to me that Bible colleges would do well to consider reversing an error they made a century ago; they assumed that academic learning was synonymous with literary form criticism, and thus eliminated academic learning—throwing out a lot of baby out with that bathwater, to put it mildly. I’d have to suggest that earlier colleges founded by believers had it right; if you want to train Christian workers well, you’ve got to give them their grammar, logic, and rhetoric.

Might also help all of us as we interact with the issues of the day—most of our politics today is, after all, a simple shouting of the ad hominem fallacy.

Rob—had not, now I have, and it’s much better than Faith or Summit, and you actually can get at least one modern language there. Good for them, and I’m at least partially pessimistic. Glad to be so!

….but that said, I looked through the course catalog, and today, there is an “Introduction to Philosophy” course, but not one specifically dedicated to logic. My take on the subject—having approached it after grad school (secular universities often no great shakes either!)—is that it really merits a semester or so to really master it. Would love to see an even stronger liberal arts curriculum in more schools.

Bauder states that the critics of the fundamentalist institutions closing tend to state leadership incompetence or failure to break out of the narrow IFB bubble. He says that reality is more complicated than that.

But that is exactly my point. I think by any standard of reasonable standard of business, customer, and organizational management, the word “Incompetent” definitely comes into play in NIU’s case. Christian or otherwise, an organization must have leaders that study the complexities of the day and impending future, as Bauder discusses, and makes appropriate changes. To do so is the definition of competent leadership. I’m not saying making appropriate changes guarantees anything, but to not make changes almost always guarantees closure or a decline into irrelevance.

Which is exactly why we need quality, competent leadership that comprehends the business management side of operations and looks forward to the changing customer landscape and makes appropriate changes. In my experience, most personnel in IFB college management do not understand very well the business side of organizational management.

I know of a few private Christian grade & high schools that have open enrollment. A student does not need to be saved nor do the parents need to go to church to attend the school. Non-Christian parents and students know the school is Christian and teach the Bible, but they still attend because these schools provide a very high quality education whose graduates have a 100% college acceptance rate. These open enrollment schools that I speak of are thriving.

The point is, you do NOT have to compromise your philosophy or core beliefs in order to have a viable and sustainable organization. In the case of a fundamentalist Bible college, generally speaking if you can create an organizational culture that works very hard at balancing love & caring with HIGH academics, people will come. If you create a high quality program, people will come - even if they don’t necessarily agree with the philosophy of the organization.

The problem is, most IFB Bible colleges, at least in the past, were more concerned with writing up female students for wearing pants or hair check, than they were with developing a sustainable, HIGH quality program. They were too inward and backwards looking and majored on the minors.

[Bert Perry]

Rob—had not, now I have, and it’s much better than Faith or Summit, and you actually can get at least one modern language there. Good for them, and I’m at least partially pessimistic. Glad to be so!

….but that said, I looked through the course catalog, and today, there is an “Introduction to Philosophy” course, but not one specifically dedicated to logic. My take on the subject—having approached it after grad school (secular universities often no great shakes either!)—is that it really merits a semester or so to really master it. Would love to see an even stronger liberal arts curriculum in more schools.

[pvawter]

Bert,
I’m pretty sure that I am from a different era than Rob at MBU, but I took a semester length class in logic in my undergrad.
Paul

In the early 1980’s, I too took a Logic class, but that was at a liberal arts college, Cedarville College.

I had a mandatory philosophy and logic class my junior year at NBBC. I didn’t like it (and hated the textbook), but it has served me well since then.

Forty years ago I had my first exposure to Christian education. BJU was booming, Liberty University had just begun and was being predicted to fail by some, and PCC was in its infancy. Christian day schools were on the rise and while ACE was an embarrassment, most traditional schools were staffed with qualified teachers and directing their graduates to Christian colleges. There was a great demand for Christian colleges to produce teachers for the burgeoning Christian school movement. They were also producing graduates with expertise in the liberal and fine arts. In the realm of Bible, seminary was seen as an option and an undergrad Bible or missions degree could get one into ministry.

Today the Christian day school movement is shrinking and, while there are some good schools, the majority are staffed with teachers with minimal or no qualifications to teach their subjects. The teacher recruitment events hosted by colleges are a shadow of their former selves. The few Christian Education majors have no place to go. One of the largest providers of potential students for Christian colleges is disappearing.

Christian parents are demanding more of the colleges that educate their children. Accreditation matters. Someone has said recently that 60% of college graduates aren’t working in their field of study. The job market is highly competitive and offering useful majors is essential.

In the realm of Biblical studies, the need for seminary training is obvious to most of us. The undergraduate Bible degree provides, at best, the simplest of tools. Ministerial training grounds that rely upon teachers who know little of life beyond the walls of their own seminaries or church buildings are short-changing their students.

I wish I could give Bert, mmartin, and Ron about 14 likes, and I think Dr. Bauder’s take is spot on. There are many factors at work here, and IMO everyone is feeling the winds of change in education as a whole.

Not only have the means and methods changed, but we now need to prepare young people for careers that don’t exist yet. Christian and secular colleges are having trouble keeping up, and MOOCs have also altered the face of higher ed. More employers are looking at experience and ability instead of focusing on whether or not someone has a college degree.