Moral Education at Religious Research Universities: Exploring Faculty Attitudes

This article presents the results and an analysis of 1,728 survey responses from faculty at four top tier religious research universities regarding their support for moral and civic education. The results demonstrate that a majority of faculty members at these schools supported both the general goals of moral and civic education and specific suggestions for integrating moral and civic education into the curriculum. Nonetheless, three major concerns emerged about its actual implementation into the curriculum.     

Looking for god in the university: examining trends in Christian higher education

Amid the many recent treatments of the global growth of both Christianity and higher education, little to no attention has been given to distinctly Christian higher education. The survey reported in this essay uses an understanding of Christian education developed from analytical work by Robert Benne to examine the number and nature of colleges and universities that retain and nurture a distinct Christian identity. The results indicate that Christian higher education continues to expand throughout the world, challenging the assumed linear trend toward secularization. This paper focuses upon the results of our survey in countries beyond Canada and the United States where most of the recent growth is occurring. We found a total 579 institutions outside of these areas. When we analyzed the origins, denomination, size, funding, and areas of study of these institutions we found some unique patterns that shed light upon the group as a whole and how they relate to larger trends within higher education.     

RETHINKING THE BOUNDARIES AND BURDENS OF PARENTAL AUTHORITY OVER EDUCATION: A RESPONSE TO ROB REICH'S CASE STUDY OF HOMESCHOOLING

A bstract .  Rob Reich's claim that fruitful discussions about the balance among state, parental, and children's educational interests would benefit by contemplating the widespread phenomenon of homeschooling is a welcome suggestion. His policy recommendations, however, place an unjustified burden on parents to show the adequacy of homeschooling arrangements instead of placing the burden on the state to clarify commonly agreed-upon outcome measures. In this essay, Perry Glanzer argues that Reich places the burden on parents by overstating the threat that the freedom given to homeschooling parents represents to the interests of liberal democratic states and children. Reich, Glanzer contends, also underestimates the state's tendency to use regulation to weaken the civil society essential for liberal democracy. To counter Reich's proposal, Glanzer offers recommendations regarding the proper limits of parental authority in education in general and in the case of homeschooling in particular.     

Are Nondenominational Colleges More Liberal Than Denominational Colleges?: A Comparison of Faculty Religious Identity,Beliefs, Attitudes,and Actions

Throughout American history, scholars called Christian higher education by other names. They used terms such as “denominational,” “sectarian,” “church-related,” “church-sponsored,” “church-based,” and “church-affiliated” higher education to describe Christian higher education. What these terms failed to include, however, were the increasing number of nondenominational institutions that began to emerge in the nineteenth century.

In The Dying of the Light, James Burtchaell (1998 Burtchaell, J. T. (1998). The dying of the light: The disengagement of colleges &; universities from their Christian churches. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. [Google Scholar]) did include these institutions in his argument. He suggested that nondenominational colleges and universities had the same weakness as denominational institutions that abandoned their church connections. In fact, compared to institutions that kept their church ties, in Burtchaell’s eyes, they appeared to be weaker institutions since they lacked direct denominational support.

Apart from Burtchaell’s one historical case study, very little empirical literature exists that supports this argument. This study explores this claim empirically, and compares faculty attitudes, theological beliefs, and religious behaviors at denominational and nondenominational institutions that are part of the Council for Christian Colleges &; Universities (CCCU). Respondents included 1,999 full-time faculty from 49 CCCU institutions. Contrary to what certain scholars claim, results demonstrated that faculty at nondenominational institutions did not significantly differ in their theological beliefs from their denominational counterparts. Further empirical research is needed to understand the reasons for this outcome, although we offer some possible hypotheses.     

Student Constructions of Fit: Narratives About Incongruence at a Faith-Based University

Decades of student persistence and retention literature has brought to light factors of social, academic, and religious fit that influence a student's decision to remain at or depart from an institution. At Christian institutions, increasing student pluralism raises the likelihood that students will not fit religiously. This qualitative study of 21 first-time, full-time students contributes to the existing literature by exploring how students who already feel they do not fit for religious reasons work at constructing a sense of fit at a Christian research university. Many participants coped with religious discontinuity by redefining specifically Christian practices and teachings in terms that were personally palatable: as either general moral lessons that would help them to be a better person or as cultural insights that would benefit them social and professionally in the future. In many cases, university staff were instrumental. Finally, participants worked to construct an acceptable level of fit, or fit threshold, through various combinations of social fit, academic fit, and religious fit, often compensating for one with others. As Christian institutions increasingly invite students from diverse religious backgrounds into their campus community, understanding ways that these students attempt to adapt to religious incongruence will be paramount.     

Saving Democratic Education from Itself: Why We Need Homeschooling

We need homeschooling to save education in a liberal democracy from taking a religious form—what I call Democratic Education. Democratic Education emerges when the democratic identity and narrative become elevated to the highest priority when thinking about educating human beings. This elevation becomes particularly dangerous when other nonpolitical ends and aspects of our humanity are ignored, downplayed, or, worse, delegitimized. This article argues that three signs of this danger currently exist in educational theory and practice. First, Democratic Educators are offering a reductive view of human persons in which undue focus is placed upon those skills or educational justifications that relate to students’ political identity and capacities. Second, the liberal tradition of education that seeks to show justice to the diversity of narratives or comprehensive reasonable worldviews that exist in America is being undermined. Third, educational alternatives outside the public system are attacked by Democratic Educators and even considered politically problematic. If we want to recover more human forms of education, we need to reinvigorate more pluralistic forms of humanistic education, such as homeschooling, that nurture philosophies and practices of education that allow for a wider focus upon human flourishing. Ultimately, this is why liberal democracies need homeschooling.     

SEARCHING FOR THE SOUL OF ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES: AN EXPLORATION AND ANALYSIS OF CHRISTIAN HIGHER EDUCATION IN ENGLAND

ABSTRACT:  Although church-related universities in England gradually became more secular throughout the twentieth century, a group of nine teacher education colleges with church foundations have recently developed into full fledged universities. This article draws upon documentary and site-based research to evaluate the relevance of the Christian identity for these institutions in light of recent scholarship on the subject.