College Guide Helps Steer Values-Oriented Students Toward Best Schools

Colleges & Universities Wesleyan University
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<p>*By Jim Brown
November 17, 2005</p>

<p>The editor of a new college guide is warning parents against sending their children to what he calls some of the scariest university campuses in America – schools across the country that are the most secular or the most hostile to Christian values.</p>

<p>John Zmirak is the editor of Choosing the Right College: The Whole Truth About America’s Top Schools (Intercollegiate Studies Institute, 2005). And near the top of his list of schools not to attend is Brown University, with its renowned drug culture. Another institution to avoid, he says, is Colgate University in New York, where the university president, a former women’s studies professor, is now seizing all the fraternity houses and turning them into minority housing. Students belonging to any fraternity that resists are under threat of expulsion.</p>

<p>But one school stands out among the rest, Zmirak asserts. “I’d be very careful sending anyone to Wesleyan University in Connecticut,” he says, “because they’re getting rid of single-sex dorm rooms. You won’t even be able to guarantee that your daughter is living with another woman.”</p>

<p>The reason for this, Zmirak contends, is that Wesleyan’s “politically correct ideology has gone so far that they say, ‘Well, it’s not for the school to say who’s a man or a woman; each student has to decide that for him or herself.’” Incredible as it sounds, he adds, “It’s impossible to parody that.”</p>

<p>The editor of Choosing the Right College also recommends that parents not send their children to Oberlin College in Ohio, where the head of the campus pro-life group is an open homosexual, but is considered the most Right-wing student at the school.</p>

<p>On the other hand, Zmirak’s college guide also lists some of the top academically excellent schools that are geared toward evangelical students. One school he recommends highly is a Christian college located near Chicago.</p>

<p>“In terms of evangelical schools, I would say Wheaton in Illinois is both academically excellent and religiously solid in a sophisticated way,” the editor says. “Your students will come out sophisticated defenders of the evangelical faith they took in with them.”</p>

<p>Zmirak mentions other schools that he feels do a great job of passing on American traditions grounded in biblical truth. These include Hillsdale College in Michigan and Grove City College in Pennsylvania. *</p>

<p><a href=“http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/11/172005a.asp[/url]”>http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/11/172005a.asp&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Wow. I’m thinking of applying for the Wesleyan Freeman Asian Scholars Program. (Living in Romania, though.) And I have to say the liberalism of Wesleyan is what kept my interest after I found out about the scholarship. If it had been a four-year scholarship at an uber-religious school, I wouldn’t stay, even if wasn’t highly competitive and I had a chance. Nope, sorry!!</p>

<p>Liberalism rocks for me, thank you very much!</p>

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<p>Wesleyan has been at the center of the American cultural civil war for close to forty years now and appears, by all accounts, to be thriving – much to the distress of the domestic right-wing. Personally, I find the ISI guides pretty humorous and strangely informative, in a right-wing obsessive sort of way. For example, I learned more about the Wesleyan First Year Initiative (FYI) in “Choosing…” than I did in the Ted Fiske book; the fact that they didn’t like it (too much freedom) was almost irrelevent.</p>

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<p>The hits just keep on coming!</p>

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<p>I had the same experience; in looking at colleges, I found “Choosing the RIGHT college” [oh, you’re so clever by punning on ‘right’] to be primarily a source of great amusement. My mom and I would read parts out loud and laugh. However, beyond mere comic effect, it does say something about each of the schools here; For example, yes, gender issues are at the forefront here. Most people here, like around the world, consider themselves either male or female and haven’t really considered otherwise; but people who don’t fit comfortably into either gender role aren’t discriminated against, either, and there are so many ways on campus to be educated about these gender roles. Is this a bad thing? That’s for the individual to decide. It was a great choice for me ;D But if you’re an evangelical Christian who isn’t comfortable with homosexuality (and other queer issues) being around you at all, then maybe you might want to look elsewhere.</p>

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<p>Wow that just makes me want to go to Wesleyan more</p>

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<p>dude i love this so much. mad, let’s get married and destroy marraige. also we should corrupt young children.</p>

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<p>sounds amazing, ailish <3</p>