Bright Spots Do Exist in American Higher Education—Are They the Future? Four small colleges reject woke orthodoxy, student debt, and federal strings—offering faith, grit, and classical learning as a bold alternative in higher ed. By Teresa R. Manning
On April 8, the Heritage Foundation in Washington, DC, did something unusual: it found and showcased bright spots in American higher education. Such hidden gems are rare, so the event and its participants deserve attention and support.
Many Americans are painfully aware of academia’s current pathologies: soaring tuition resulting in unprecedented debt for students; leftward politicization with Democrat professors outnumbering Republicans 50 to 1; grievance studies such as Women’s Studies or Queer Studies displacing real learning; and, consequently, graduates who are ignorant, especially in American civics, world history, math, and finance, as the repeated schemes to cancel student loans attest.
The humanities were the first to go bad, though the sciences have certainly caught up as politically correct “diversity” and “equity” initiatives are now common in medical schools. The liberal arts used to focus on what was common to all of humanity—hence “the humanities.” They instructed us on our shared vices and virtues, our passions and reason, as depicted in the Great Books of Western Civilization, such as those by Chaucer, Milton, or Shakespeare.
But today’s campus identity politics inverts this and encourages a focus on self, one’s tribe, or one’s pet politics—the direct opposite of the word “education,” the root of which is the Latin ducare, meaning to bring forth or draw out. Traditionally, education was never a focus on one’s own problems but rather a means to broaden the mind and one’s world, to see universals, including human nature, not to fight today’s political battles. Alas, whether they know it or not, most colleges today instead subscribe to the Communist Manifesto line that, “Philosophers have hitherto interpreted the world. The point, however, is to change it.” Campus protests make the point.
But a few notable schools reject this Marxist norm. Presidents of four of them spoke at the Heritage panel, Reclaiming the Culture of Higher Education, introduced by Jonathan Pidluzny, Trump’s Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy and Programs in the Education Department.
First was Brad Johnson, president of Missouri’s College of the Ozarks, dubbed “Hard Work U” by the Wall Street Journal some 50 years ago. Johnson explained how students pay no tuition and graduate debt-free. But they work—a lot—to the tune of 560 hours each academic year. The school welcomes lower-income applicants and prioritizes character and industry as the keys to a good life. (Each student attends a character camp, for instance, rather than orientation.) These traits often lead to material comfort, but that’s a byproduct of the spirit they instill, not the goal.
Next was Brian Mueller, president of Arizona’s Grand Canyon University, a large Christian institution in growth mode since its founding. It originally enrolled 900 students but has expanded to 25,000 undergraduates, including many online, and now also, adult learners. Mueller stressed the school works to attract those “across the life and age spectrum” and now includes instruction for the trades, including newer fields such as cybersecurity. GCU is proud of its biblical worldview and informs students of this outlook, asks faculty to sign a Christian mission statement, and also focuses on student moral character. It also now boasts impressive amenities similar to those of larger state schools (top-notch athletic facilities, swimming pools, etc.). But its faith-based culture and curriculum stress charitable work, especially care for the poor. That means considerable time spent by students helping those in inner cities, including refugee centers or homeless shelters.
Third was President George Harne of Virginia’s Christendom College in Front Royal, founded in the 1970s alongside a number of other new Catholic schools reacting to the perceived de-Christianization of better-known Catholic universities such as Notre Dame. This new batch of more visibly Catholic colleges is generally approved by the Cardinal Newman Society, and so-called “Newman approved.” (The society itself was created to warn parents that many schools claiming to be faith-centered were becoming Catholic in name only.) Christendom is therefore unabashedly Catholic-centered, integrating Catholic principles and philosophy in almost all aspects of student life. It sees the liberal arts as cultivating freedom, leadership, and, ultimately, civilization. Citing Ecclesiastes that “a three-stranded chord is not easily broken,” Harne says the school’s focus is three-fold: first is student learning, second is student mentoring and third is student spiritual development, stressing that “Christian civilization in the West was born out of a school, uniting spiritual renewal with the liberal arts, [teaching] the truths of the Gospel while also teaching reading, rhetoric, etc. This all goes hand in hand.”
Finally, there was President Kyle Washut of Wyoming Catholic College (“WCC”), another recently founded school recommitting to a Catholic outlook but with a focus on and appreciation for nature. Washut described Wyoming as having more cows than people, and added, “There is a need to go out into the frontier to renew the Republic. This is true for the history of Christianity, but also for the U.S. The wilderness is a place of renewal and rejuvenation.” Accordingly, all incoming freshmen go on a required 3-week backpacking hike in the mountains, without cell phones and led by seniors. There, they rediscover the beauty of God’s creation, as well as their own resourcefulness, as they are confronted with the challenges of surviving without modern comforts. Turns out those comforts often make young people weak and docile. But WCC wants to train society’s guardians and leaders to toughen up as they are “those who are going to preserve and defend … the culture,” as described by Plato’s Republic. Students, therefore, need not only to develop “grit” but to step away from the world, first, to truly understand it, and second, to know their specific role within it.
Notably, none of these schools takes federal money; they’re therefore free to pursue their missions without pressure to conform to crazy policies cooked up in Washington, DC. (One thinks of Title IX, the Congressional ban on sex discrimination in federally funded schools, and Biden’s attempt to redefine the word “sex” to include “gender identity,” which means promoting transvestite men who claim to be women.) They’re also candid that their students want something different from the large state university experience. Christendom President Harne says matter-of-factly that Christendom is “not for everyone.” The statement is refreshing given that so many schools today try to be everything to everyone, leaving applicants (and parents!) feeling they’re customers seduced to consume, instead of students about to join a community of minds and souls.
In brief, these niche schools know what they are and therefore what they can offer. Just as important, they know what they won’t offer to students—no debt, no woke political correctness, and no self-absorption.
Let’s hope they represent the future of American higher education.
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