Extremely strict colleges...your thoughts?

People who have daughters with questionabale reputations send them to schools like this.

 

When I was in the Army there were very strict rules during basic and AIT. Sometimes I was even told when to take a drink of water. Anyone remember, "Drink, water, drink"? However, once I reached permenant party so long as I was at formations and did my job, I was as free as a soldier could be.

 

The college I attended had similar rules, except we were not REQUIRED to use the school nurse or certain approved doctors, and no one searched our rooms/cars for CCM.

We had a curfew. This ensured we were all inside before the front doors were locked up for the night. We had "lights out" time, for which I am thankful, because some of us were quite stupid and irresponsible at the time and would stay up all night and keep everyone else awake, too. We had random weekly room inspections which were no big deal. I simply figured out when this usually happened, based on the "inspectors" schedule, and I'd pile my whole mess on the bed. I'd get one mark for a messy bed and after inspection was over, I'd spread the mess out to where it belonged. (God has since punished me for this by rewarding me with marriage to a "messy" worse than me, which resulted in my becoming OCD about keeping a very clean house.)

None of these rules hurt me, neither were they presented in a legalistic manner as they are at other colleges. The only rule I truly hated was having to wear skirts/dresses until 5 PM every weekday, and on Sundays.

 

I don't see a problem with the rules. They're not as strict as what I grew up with. Any student who goes to Faith BBC knowing the rules ahead of time, and then knowingly and willingly violates them, deserves whatever he or she gets.

I went to BJU from 1970-1972, then Tennessee Temple from '73-'76. Both were strict, but I never minded the rules--I was there to study, not play around. Never got more than a few demerits, except maybe that time Chip won a motor scooter and we were pushing each other around on it in the dorm.... (Dr. Cliff wanted to buy the thing! :smilewinkgrin

 

Or to any other Christian college.... What does a girl's reputation have to do with anything?? I mean really!

To put it another way, are you talking about my three sisters, who all went to strict fundamentalist colleges? Or my mother, who went to Wheaton back in the '40s when it was still strict? Or my grandmother, who went to an SBC college in the 1910s when they were still strict?

 

When I was in HS, a friend of mine went to a college that at some point they sent you to a dentist and made you get dental work. He had to have his jaw broken to mend what he did. They forced him to do that.

If someone cheated and they found out about it and didn't tell the school administration, both the person who cheated and the one who knew would be thrown out of school.

btw, it was some really strict school called West Point.

 

Those kinds of rules are fundamentally problematic. They don't promote an atmosphere of questioning and pushing back. They instead promote a culture of legalism and regurgitation.

 

How do those rules prepare the ones exiting those type of colleges function in our world?

As I see it, the end result of this huge effort at personal holiness ends at a stone room with daily penance. Seems like that was tried before and failed.

I simply cannot find Jesus in any of that...

Jesus sent us out into the world to deal with real-live sinners. He hung around with, ate with, traveled with, and had in His inner circle people who were sinners. That was one of the points made against Him during his trial before the Jewish high priests.

 

As long as they are up front with the rules before hand I have no problem. It’s their school and you either agree to follow their rules or you go to school somewhere else. Kind of like some parents and the “My house, my rules” idea.

The potential problem I see and where this can border on legalism is how these rules are presented. If they are simply the rules of the school, that is fine. But if the school is trying to use a Biblical support for their rules, if they are saying that breaking these rules amounts to sin (other than the sin of breaking any rule of those over us) then I have a problem.

If they want to say, “We don’t want our student s to go to movies.” That is fine and there are plenty of good reasons for a rule like that. But if they say, “Going to movies is a sin and all people who go to movies are sinning. All ‘real’ Christians don’t go to movies.” Well then that becomes legalistic and is a problem.

 

Big, big thumbs up.

 

I am an alum by merger and the school I attended was similar. Rules up front, don't like em - don't apply - simple.

You might want to discuss their faculty, results etc. sometime as well.

I was in the Navy then in a few years attended. It was the school I wanted to attend, they had rules, I did not see a problem with them. Can't say as I remember any of the students caring about the rules either, in fact I'd guess they had more of them back then in the old days :smilewinkgrin:

Nothing "legalistic" about it that I know of. Legalism is related to working for your salvation so definitely not that :tongue3:

 

Anyone who hasn't learned self-control by college age will never learn it. However, those rules are way over the top and absolutely ridiculous. I was told that Bob Jones U wouldn't allow inter-racial dating among the students. Personally, I call that bigotry and discrimination. I have no idea if that rule still stands since it was 50 years ago.

 

You are exactly right. There are those who still purport those kinds of disgusting and dehumanizing regulations. I believe BJU has changed their stance, but it wasn't until recently.

 

I would beg to differ with this. Many college aged young people are irresponsible and self-absorbed all the way through college, but change once they must support themselves and/or a family.

Rules are not a bad thing--it's how the rules are presented and why they are in place that cause objections.

 

While I am not speaking for or against these type of rules I do have a question. How is this legalism?