The Purpose of Christian Higher Education: Are We Making Consumers or Producers?

Guest feature by Gary Thomas

The other day a student, I’ll call him “Frank,” came to my class late for the umpteenth time.

“I am sorry,” Frank said, “I just can’t get past the bad habit of not getting up in time.”

“What will you do when you get a job?” I asked.

“Oh, I’m never going to do that at my job,” he replied.

Higher education has become a means to an end. It has lost its primary function and meaning. If you ask most students why they are in college, they will very quickly tell you that it is to get a good job; to live the American dream. And with that, college education has become a hurdle students must get over in order to get to the real business of “making a living” so that they can become successful consumers.

I feel that higher education, especially Christian higher education, has a higher purpose than that. It is not simply a means to an end but is an appropriate end in itself. The goal of education is education.

Perhaps I’m idealistic.

I recently read in Proverbs that “to get knowledge is better than gold” (Prov. 16:16). I think most students are getting it backwards. If you ask most of them they will say the gold (money, car, house, stuff, etc.) is more important than education. For many of them the acquiring of knowledge is just a necessary evil that one must endure in order to obtain the gold. And the world reinforces this, sending a strong message that everyone ought to pursue stuff; that we should get more knowledge so we can have money to purchase more stuff.

Jesus said it clearly: “Don’t worry about your stuff,” (my paraphrase, of course), “the pagans run after such things.” (See Matthew 6:31-33.)

So are we raising a bunch of pagans?

We in Christian higher education ought to be teaching our students that knowledge is good for its own sake. Teach students to seek first the Kingdom of God (where true wisdom and understanding come from), and the other things will be added to them as a bonus. In other words, I would like to see us teach them to reverse the order that the world gives them. Wisdom is primary; all the other stuff is secondary.

In some ways, I believe this higher education’s fault. I mean the acquisition of a good career is, for students and parents, a great marketing plan to get students into college. But aren’t we in Christian higher education joining in on the world system when we treat education like just another consumer product, and students and parents like consumers?

The Kingdom of God is made up of those who produce disciples, not simply consumers of the latest products. When knowledge, understanding and wisdom are pursued for their own sake, perhaps our students can become powerful producers instead of consumers.

Gary Thomas, associate professor of art, has been teaching at the university level for ten years, including the past three years at Olivet Nazarene University. He loves teaching AND making art, and is also a writer, sometimes preacher and a wannabe farmer. Gary loves riding his bicycle everywhere he possibly can and is looking forward to spring so he can plant my garden.