Fear Not. You're Studying What? Where? Why?

This summer I had the privilege of joining Wheaton College alumnus and President and CEO of Walk Thru the Bible, Phil Tuttle, as he was the opening keynote for the Home Educators Association of Virginia convention in Richmond, VA. Since Wheaton was the Grand Sponsor of this event, I was able to share a few thoughts from the main stage prior to Mr. Tuttle’s excellent address.

In my own personal journey, I am no stranger to homeschooling. When I began my career in Christian higher education in 1989, my first admissions intern was a home-educated student from New Hampshire. Not surprisingly, given the time, I had not met a homeschooled student or family prior to my intern’s hiring. I was fascinated by her story, and she was patient with all my questions. Yes, I played into all the stereotypes, which I will not enumerate here. Suffice it to say that she was intelligent and independent, both socially and emotionally mature as a young Christian scholar. In addition to having a great sense of humor, she was a joy to work with. My intern had an excellent undergraduate experience, immediately followed by an Ivy League master’s degree and a successful career as an international consultant. Now she resides in Japan, quite different from her childhood in northern New England.

Since that introduction to homeschooling over 33 years ago, I have partnered with many homeschooling families and organizations including my time as a board member for a regional homeschooling network and as an educational advisor for the Classic Learning Test (CLT) used by home and classical schooling families as an alternative to the SAT and ACT standardized college entrance exams. At home, I have admired my wife’s homeschooling of our two older sons using the Classical Conversations curriculum. Homeschooling has come a long way and there are robust and excellent resources and organizations established to benefit homeschooling families and students today.

Many colleges—especially Christian colleges—have worked hard to accommodate homeschooling applicants by providing special instructions and pathways that acknowledge the unique experiences of students, from the curricula they use to the reading lists and travel experiences that have contributed to their spiritual, intellectual, and overall growth. At Wheaton we understand the unique journey of each of our applicants. None is more unique than the homeschooler’s pathway.

At the recent convention I attended, a publisher shared with me that for many families, homeschooling is as much about discipleship as it is about teaching algebraic functions or the political, religious, or artistic influences of the Byzantine Empire. All of this is important for the holistic development of our children. Just as our Wheaton families benefit from a wide range of educational settings, we benefit from the preparation incoming students receive from public, non-sectarian private, Classical Christian, and international secondary schools all over the world as well as the crucial biblical education provided in local churches, youth groups, and parachurch ministries like Young Life and Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

We live in an age where education is taking on new meanings and definitions. The value of a four-year, residential college degree is being called into question. Young men are opting to pursue employment rather than enrolling in a costly endeavor that may or may not offer a good return on investment. Then there is the fear of unmanageable debt. The foundational model of a four-year degree and the principles and value of a liberal arts education are being called into question more than ever before. Moreover, for the Christian family praying about sending their child to a Christian College there are concerns over the ideas examined in the classroom appearing contradictory to the basic tenets of the Christian faith. Sometimes, parents might wonder if the college is truly Christian.

I repeatedly tell my older sons that words have meaning, and ideas have consequences. And ideas, like passions, can either be life-giving or life-destroying. I encourage them to understand what the driving rationale is behind an idea and to examine it through a biblical lens. At the root of a Christian liberal arts education is the conviction that critical thinking and understanding God’s creation through the rigorous study of the humanities and the natural and social sciences liberates the mind. All truth resides with God, who is gracious to reveal it to us. As followers of Christ, we aspire to have the mind of Christ. This educational journey is empowered by the ultimate freedom, thanks to the saving work of Jesus’ death on the cross and His resurrection, through which we are freed from the bondage of sin. While we walk this earth in our present bodies, we have a taste of that freedom as we live out our lives in His service and for His Kingdom. To this end, we cannot live in fear of the world’s ideas. Instead, we must be equipped to engage those ideologies through the thoughtful lens of a Christian education. This is the mark of a truly liberating education. How do we live out the greatest commandment and love our neighbors if we shout from our trenches to ban concepts that appear contradictory to the theological non-negotiables we hold dear? In the 1950s, we feared the great red menace and that fear gave birth to a certain senator from Wisconsin who sought to uncover, punish, and eradicate the threat to our American way of life. McCarthyism was nothing new. Throughout history we have seen this fear-based thinking kill and destroy. Even in early days of our country in Salem, Massachusetts mass hysteria led to the trial and death of 19 colonialists accused of witchcraft.

The church is harmed by the rudeness and arrogance of clanging cymbals and noisy gongs. We know the author and perfecter of our faith; in Jesus, we do not need to operate out of fear. Yes, we do need to wrestle with ideas and examine them closely, even when they appear to be threatening to our faith or way of life. It is an informed citizenry that is best prepared to influence our global societies and cultures for Christ and His kingdom. It is an educated Christian who can engage with those who hold different worldviews and remain salt and light in their spheres of influence. We have an excellent example in Saul who was expertly trained as a Pharisee. Once he encountered Jesus, the scales were removed from his eyes literally and figuratively, and his expert training was used for advancing the gospel of Jesus Christ. When he encountered the Greeks who erected statues to the many gods they worshipped, he was not threatened nor frightened by the lenses in which they viewed the world. Rather, he saw an opportunity to share Christ through the statue they erected to an unknown God. May our calling as educators and students not be shortchanged by an unwillingness to understand ideas, or their consequences, and how through Scripture we can hold those thoughts captive as we master them to engage a world that does not understand the gospel, and that fears religion, which for us is “to love Him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself.”

Pressing on,

Silvio Vazquez

Silvio is the Chief Enrollment Management Officer for Wheaton College where he oversees the Enrollment Division comprised of Undergraduate and Graduate Admissions, Student Financial Services, Global Initiatives for Asia Pacific, and The Wheaton College Summer Institute. He has served at three Christian liberal arts colleges and has also consulted with colleges and universities nationally over his 33-year career in higher education. Silvio came to faith through the ministry of Young Life, and he served on Young Life staff in Ridgefield, CT immediately after earning his B.A in History. He also holds an MBA from Boston College.