A Month in the Life

It's 7:45. I'm in the graduate library at school. Class doesn't start until 9am. But, you know LA traffic. Well, you might not know LA traffic, but if you did, then you would understand why I'm here so early.

I was thinking this morning about education. Once or twice I considered attending bible school. I'm glad I didn't and I'll tell you why. Everyone I know who has graduated from one of the UPCI endorsed Bible Colleges that has wanted to go on and do something besides being a full time minister has regretted going.

The real trouble, and what the schools will not tell you, is that they lack REAL accreditation. Every year that I go to GC I go to their section of booths and I ask, "are you accredited?" The reply is always either yes, or we're working on it. Flash to the people I know who receive degrees from aforementioned schools who decide they'd like to pursue an advanced degree somewhere other than Urshan Graduate Seminary. The scene goes something like this:

Admissions Counselor(AC): Okay, I see here you have a degree in theology. Where did you say you went to college?
Bible School Grad(BSG): "X". (Insert school here).
AC: Oh, I see. Well, we're going to have to require that you take 30 units of basic classes that you would have had to take at a real university before we'll consider accepting you.
BSG: Why?
AC: Your school isn't fully accredited.
BSG: They told me they were.
AC: I'm sorry. They're not accredited by an organization that we recognize.

That's more or less the story I get from most of the grads I know. The thing that really irks me is that the UPCI absolutely could put together a REAL university with REAL accreditation. There are enough people with Ph.D.s and M.A.s to put together a real staff at a central location. But, this would require a few things that are unlikely. The following are what I consider to be the biggest problems with doing this:

1) Putting together a real core cirriculum of courses that meet university accreditation standards. It means that you'd really have to have people teaching honest to God math, history, and English courses. Things like: statistics, literary criticism, and US History 1945-Present. These classes are just plain absent in the current bible school system.

2) Most, if not all, of the bible schools that are currently operating would have to close. The staff would have to draw from the current pool of Ph.D.s and M.A.s that currently run the existing schools.

3) I'll just ignore the fact that you'd have to convince all of the people who would become professors to move to wherever this school would be located.

4) You'd need a champion of the cause, one person, or a small group of people, willing do alot of heaving lifting and red tape cutting so that this could become a reality.

5) Egos would have to be left at the door. Let's just say that there's a reason that so many bible schools have been around for so long and leave it at that.

6) You would have to offer other real majors besides Theology, Musich, and Christian Eduation.

There's all kinds of other problems, like tution would have to be high enough to pay those running the school what they are worth, that I won't even go into. But, I'm really convinced that the benefits to our population would be immense. Other denominations have been doing this for hundreds of years. The Baptists have real colleges. The Catholics basically invented the University. We in the UPCI have an outdated system that needs to be fixed, and if it can't be fixed it needs to be abolished.

Some Baptist Colleges with ACTUAL accreditation: (Many with less than 5000 students.)
Anderson College
Baylor University
Belmont University
Blue Mountain College
Bluefield College
Boyce College
Brewton-Parker College
California Baptist University
Georgetown College

Some Catholic Universities: (With fewer than 7500 students)

Barry University Miami, FL Go to: Quick school profileGo to: School homepage
Bellarmine University Louisville, KY Go to: Quick school profileGo to: School homepage
Benedictine University Lisle, IL Go to: Quick school profileGo to: School homepage
Canisius College Buffalo, NY Go to: Quick school profileGo to: School homepage
Catholic University of America Washington, DC Go to: Quick school profileGo to: School homepage
College of St. Benedict / St. John's University Saint Joseph, MN Go to: Quick school profileGo to: School homepage
College of the Holy Cross Worcester, MA Go to: Quick school profileGo to: School homepage
Creighton University Omaha, NE Go to: Quick school profileGo to: School homepage
Duquesne University Pittsburgh, PA Go to: Quick school profileGo to: School homepage
Fairfield University Fairfield, CT Go to: Quick school profileGo to: School homepage
Fordham University Bronx, NY Go to: Quick school profileGo to: School homepage
Gannon University Erie, PA Go to: Quick school profileGo to: School homepage
Gonzaga University Spokane, WA Go to: Quick school profileGo to: School homepage
Immaculata University Immaculata, PA Go to: Quick school profileGo to: School homepage
Iona College New Rochelle, NY Go to: Quick school profileGo to: School homepage
John Carroll University University Heights, OH Go to: Quick school profileGo to: School homepage
La Salle University Philadelphia, PA Go to: Quick school profileGo to: School homepage
Lewis University Romeoville, IL Go to: Quick school profileGo to: School homepage
Loyola College in Maryland Baltimore, MD Go to: Quick school profileGo to: School homepage
Loyola Marymount University Los Angeles, CA Go to: Quick school profileGo to: School homepage