Quote from Forum Archives on February 4, 2004, 9:53 am

Posted by: homenews <homenews@...>

 

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         THE HOPE CHEST

with Virginia Knowles

Tidbit #25 on February 4, 2004

 Mary Knowles Interviews the President of The King's College

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Dear Hope Chest friends,

 

It is with great pleasure that I turn over this issue of the Hope Chest to my sixteen year old daughter, Mary.  I encourage you to read aall the way through it, because even if your children aren't anywhere near college age yet, it happens in the blink of an eye!  There is also plenty of good stuff for those of you who love classical education. I've put the contact information and a few short notes from me at the bottom for this issue.  Without further ado, here's Mary:

 

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When I first met Dr. Stan Oakes, the president of The King’s College, in September last year, I might have appeared calm, but I was actually trying to compose myself after what I’d just heard. That afternoon, Dr. Oakes and other representatives from The King’s College in New York City were in Orlando to promote the college and a trip it was sponsoring last fall. After hearing from them, I was at the bursting point of excitement about going on the trip as well as eager to meet Dr. Oakes.

 

            When I got the chance to introduce myself, I found out Dr. Oakes was as insightful in conversation as he was on a podium.  Since King’s is the “flagship college of Campus Crusade for Christ,” Dr. Oakes is a crusader, and it was obvious in talking to him what his crusade is all about.  He shared his conviction that a college rooted in a Christian worldview, but in tandem challenging relevant cultural issues, is the best preparation for a Christian student who wants to impact his or her culture.

 

Since The King’s College isn’t (yet) a household name like Harvard or Yale, is a King’s education equal in reputation to one at a more established college?  Though I didn’t ask the question, Dr. Oakes anticipated it. “When you go to get a job or apply to graduate school, show your skills. Show that you can think and write well,” he told me. His advice makes sense to me, because these are two abilities (and two of the emphases of a King’s education) which characterize success as much as a diploma from a prestigious college. Dr. Oakes also observed to me that professors make a college just as much as students do. Professors aren’t hired accidentally, and the beliefs a college’s professors hold are the beliefs that the college itself is trying to further.  Dr. Oakes keeps this in mind as he oversees and expands the team of professors at King’s.  (One of King’s newest professors is the noted author Dr. Peter John Kreeft, who has taught at Boston College for 38 years and is now the Crawford Professor of Philosophy at King’s.)

 

            Throughout the conversation, Dr. Oakes’ vision for equipping a new generation of Christian leaders was so contagious that I went home wanting to find out more about the college which attracted such a president. So I registered for the Operation Airlift trip last October and had an incredible time. (You can read about it at the end of the interview.)

 

            With all the above said, I’ll make way for the interview with President Oakes, a crusader whose leadership sense and devotion align with his passion for God’s truths and testify to the work God is doing through The King’s College.

 

            To learn more about The King’s College, visit www.tkc.edu.  The site will let you learn the history behind The King’s College, read about the board of directors, download an application, and investigate financial aid.

 

Two chapters from your upcoming book are currently available: What Difference Does it Make? and The Ideas That Move the World. Tell us more about the book and your goals for it.

I have worked on secular campuses for 25 years, and I have spent 17 of those interacting with professors and intellectuals.  Having overseen hundreds of lectures and debates and conversed with scores of intellectuals, I am writing this book to describe what I have observed and learned.  In reading and analyzing what intellectuals are saying, I feel like a magician who is telling everyone how the tricks are done. 

When I observed the flimsy foundation upon which the views of intellectuals rest, I was quite surprised, especially since intellectuals claimed the moral and intellectual right to re-shape culture.  As such, it is not a book on how to prepare for college as much as it is an insight into the moral agenda of the secular intellectual.

As for goals, I hope that I can aid students, parents and thoughtful lay people in understanding that Christianity is not just about the heart, the home, the family and the church. The gospel has implication for economics, politics and sociology.  And these three disciplines serve as the foundation of America’s strategic national institutions.  They can either be informed by secular ideology and amorality or Christianity.  This is the great divide in America today.

Who is your favorite author, and along the same line, what is your favorite book?

My favorite writer of fiction is the author of Les Miserables, Victor Hugo.  At the end of the book, I wept over the worthy life of Jean Valjean.

The non-fiction writer that I appreciate the most is Paul Johnson, the author of Modern Times.  He is learned and perceptive, a wonderful writer.

Other than the Bible, my favorite book is Aristotle’s Politics.

What advice do you have for high school students as they consider their college options?

Do not get suckered in by prestige and adjectives like “great.”  Ask yourself which college will help you learn to write well, speak persuasively, understand money and markets, gain a biblical worldview and progress in your Christian life. 

Also, don’t try to choose a major or discover your calling too early; doing so will narrow your options.  A college education should provide you with increased opportunities, a broad knowledge base in the important ideas and essential skills. 

Finally, ask what side your prospective college takes in the “ideas that move the world.”

What advice do you have for parents as they support their students in the college search?

Meet with professors.  Talk to them.  Look at what they have written.  This is not so important in engineering or science programs (except the life sciences like chemistry and biology), but it is crucial in the social sciences and humanities. 

Colleges are not the ivy covered buildings or the admissions department or the dorms or the technology or the Greek houses, or the sports programs.  A college is its professors.  The problem is that it takes an extraordinary amount of time to investigate properly.  Most parents choose a college based upon cost, proximity, nostalgia or sports, as if a secular education is essentially the same as a Christian one. Time won’t allow for elaboration, but this is why I wrote chapter one.  In fact, I am doubling the length of the chapter to include a case study on homosexuality.

Your inauguration as president of The King's College was in May of 2003. What have been the most exciting developments you've participated in since then?

Without a doubt, the most exciting development this year is our growth.  We started with 17 students in 1999; it made for a long year.  Of course, it’s good to remember that Harvard started with just 9 students.

Now we have more than 225, and we expect to grow to more than 400 next year.  We can now confidently predict that we will have 2,000 outstanding students within 10 years. 

When you start getting great students, it means that good things will happen.  This fall, some of our new freshman students started a radio station.  They are learning to put together programming, raise money, develop a business plan and work together.  Just to give you an idea of what they have done, they contacted one of the biggest radio stations in New York City, and when the manager heard the story, he committed to give our student station all of their used equipment as they change it out every year.  And one of the most popular radio talk show hosts in America promised to host a fundraiser for them.  Leadership is infectious.

In an article for Vision magazine, you wrote, "After all, a liberal-arts college traffics in the ideas that move the world." Please explain this statement in-depth.

There are only a few issues that are truly important in this world.  They are the issues of truth and error, war and peace, wealth and poverty, God and religions, and liberty and equality.  All of the great debates of the day are over these issues.  And the best programs in which to study these crucial issues are politics, philosophy and economics, that is, the liberal arts, supported by literature, history and the arts.  I would include theology but not as a separate field because each of these issues is shaped by one’s theological views.  Some people call this a classical education, but you can have a classical education and never address these seminal topics.

The reason that these issues are the most important is really quite easy to see if you think about it.  If you do not understand politics, you could end up in a stalag or a gulag, or tortured and gassed, or killed outright if you dissent.  Or you might have to send your sons to fight on a battlefield where they have every chance of being killed.  Think about Iraq here.  There will be no marriage for your son, no grandchildren, no legacy, all snuffed out because a tyrant demanded hegemony.

If you are not willing to discuss economics, then you may think that wealth is the natural condition of mankind, so you should not be surprised if the government confiscates more and more of what you have.  But if poverty is the natural condition, and you have to work hard and long for what you earn, then you are increasingly aware of the power that government has to take what it wants from you without your consent. 

Of course, if you do not want to talk about faith, then you probably believe that all religions are the same.  But you must understand that your eternal destiny hangs in the balance on questions of truth and religion.  And when we believe in Jesus Christ, we quite literally avoid eternal capital punishment.

What recommendations do you have for home schooling parents as they teach their children about worldviews?

The question of worldviews is complex.  We should, of course, attend seminars like Summit Ministries and other offerings.  You can write papers using www.leaderu.com and other web sites.  Take and discuss the Weekly Standard, WORLD and National Review magazines.  Read the editorial pages of the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. All of the most important debates are there. 

Do all of this, but also do the following: Teach the Bible’s ideas (not just the stories) to your children and then teach them to dissent from the crowd. 

Why would a home school student want to come to The King's College?

If a student wants to study engineering or the applied sciences, he or she should not come to King’s.

If a student wants to come to a school that is protected from the influences of the world, we cannot provide that.  But if a young man or women wants to learn to lead and to influence the world, then this is it.  Building warriors cannot be done in a holy huddle.

Our vision comes out of what it takes to compete with elite secular universities and what it takes to thrive in a secular society.  Based upon my decades of experience on secular campuses, it is clear that secularism is an ideology that is fundamentally anti-Christian, meaning that the intellectuals who espouse it are constructing a secular worldview to replace Christianity.  But even people without faith should understand that universities have developed compelling arguments that are anti-business, anti-marriage, anti-male, anti-motherhood, anti-Republican, anti-conservative, anti-Bush, anti-truth, and anti-heterosexual.  I could go on and on. 

So when a home school parent sends a child to a secular school, that child may make it through the secular gauntlet, but they will never be taught a comprehensive biblical worldview.  That is what we do.

Moreover, if a student wants to learn to lead one of America’s strategic national institutions—the media, the courts, business, the arts, the schools or the church—then this is also what we do.  We don’t have a lot of majors nor do we need them.  We have business and education, and we will soon announce our core major, what we call the Oxford program:  politics, philosophy and economics.  The Oxford sequence will be our pre-law program.  It will also prepare students for careers in the media, the courts, ministry, the schools and even the arts.  Artists should have this kind of education and then study with someone in the visual or performance area of choice. 

In sum, we specialize in those areas that shape culture.

What makes The King's College unique among colleges, especially Christian ones?

Since Christian colleges educate less than 2% of all of the students in America, I don’t criticize what they are doing.  We need more of them, each with their own, unique vision. 

Our vision is simple: 

a.    New York City;

b.    America’s strategic national institutions; leadership;

c.    Classical and Christian ideas from the great books;

d.    Multiethnic students;

e.    Writing well, speaking persuasively, understanding money and markets, a biblical   worldview, and vital Christian living;

f.     A lot of fun;

g.     The Oxford core;

h.     And a sense of mission.

This is what we do, and nothing else.  What else matters?

 

To repeat myself, I was extremely excited to visit The King’s College in New York City last October 16-19th. I have wonderful memories of that trip and I’ll share some of the highlights here:

On Thursday, our first afternoon and night in NYC, all 200-plus students (and some parents) got settled into their hotels and had dinner at Planet Hollywood. Then we saw either “Aida” or “42^nd Street” on Broadway and split up for sightseeing according to our groups (most went to Times Square).  Throughout the trip, students from King’s accompanied our groups to help us find our way around the city and get the most out of our time there.  My group’s guide was Zuri, a student from Jamaica (King’s has a very diverse student body). I knew some of my group’s members before the trip, but the constant traveling together helped us all get acquainted before very long.

On Friday we toured the city and visited the King’s campus in the Empire State Building. (Before getting there the first time, I kept looking up for its spire -- I must have asked, “Is that it?” about twenty times). After the campus and office tour and some talks from President Oakes and Vice President of Enrollment Management Brian Bell, we visited the very pleasant apartments (located five minutes from King’s) which King’s has reserved for some of its students. Friday night we went to a Youth Explosion rally at Christ Tabernacle Church in Queens, which God powerfully infused with His presence.

Saturday morning we took the subway to the South Bronx to do outreach.  Some members of my group, including me, went door to door in an apartment building handing out church information and tracts.  Zuri encouraged us to be bold in our efforts and several people seemed to be interested in the church services we told them about.  That afternoon we went to Central Park, Ground Zero, and Canal Street before going on a twilight Harbor Lights cruise featuring the Statue of Liberty and the beautiful New York skyline. Later that night we had dessert at St. Bartholomew’s Church and said goodbye to all the staff and students we’d come to know. Even later that night, some of my group marched down to Times Square in the freezing rain! (It was freezing for a Florida girl, anyway.)

On Sunday everybody caught flights home. Orlando’s balmy weather and my first full night of sleep since leaving were a wonderful welcome home, but I was still a little sad about the end of such an incredible weekend!

When I think about college decisions and my time at The King’s College, I realize that it’s the rare college recruiting trip that is filled with people who have an almost intimidating level of energy to further God’s truths in culture and change lives in the process. I’m not the only one who’s awed at God’s work through King’s; I could tell other students on the trip had the same reaction. God has blessed The King’s College, and He has blessed me through it.  If you’re ever in NYC, traipse the sidewalks over to King’s (you can’t miss the building) and prepare to be amazed by God!

 

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A quick note from Virginia:  I'm obviously very proud of Mary, and would love to thank several people who have helped her develop in the areas of writing and world view:

• Gwen Simmons, who teaches the Write On home school e-mail creative writing correspondence courses which Mary took when she was in middle school (http://www.writeonagain.com or  [email protected])
• Scott Smith and Missy Duncan,  Mary's 9th and 10th grade English, History, Speech, Debate and Bible teachers at Smith Prep, a classical Christian home education program with weekly classes in Longwood, Florida.  (I am certainly no expert in classical education, but Mary learns best this way, so it's a good thing God graciously made a way for her to attend Smith Prep!)
• Pastors Benny Phillips and Todd Twining, who teach weekly home school enrichment classes in Philosophy and Church History (respectively) at Metro Life Church (http://www.metrolife.org) in Casselberry, Florida
• Dr. Janice Hunter, Freshman Composition teacher at Valencia Community College, where Mary has dual enrolled part-time this school year.

(When I checked with Mary to see if this list was complete, she added, "And you!"  Thanks, Mary, for not forgetting me!  It's been a privilege to teach you!  I guess you survived being the home school guinea pig for all your sisters and brothers...)

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The Hope Chest is a free e-mail newsletter with encouragement and practical teaching tips. The writer is Virginia Knowles, wife of Thad, mother of nine children, and author of Common Sense Excellence: Faith Filled Home Education for Preschool to 5th Grade, and The Real Life Home School Mom.

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