Roaring Lambs

Over the past few weeks I have been spending 30 minutes or so each day, dissecting the works of Bob Briner in his book Roaring Lambs.  As a graduate of a Christian University, I agree wholeheartedly  with his thesis on Christian higher education.  Here is an excerpt from the chapter “The Christian Academe: Underachievers” :

I’m afraid too many of our Christian colleges have developed an inferiority complex.  Obviously, relatively small Christian colleges cannot compete with giant research institutions in terms of facilities and equipment.  There will probably never be any atom smashers or giant radio telescopes on Christian college campuses.  So What?  Undergraduate education — even in the sciences — does not demand expensive, sophisticated equipment.  Basic laboratory equipment and solid, godly science teachers who demand excellence will give our students the knowledge and skills necessary to get them into medical schools and into graduate programs at the universities.  More and more employers are looking for graduates from liberal arts colleges — graduates who have been well schooled in the world of books, words, ideas, ideals, history, ethics, speech, communication, and creativity.  No expensive equipment is needed here.  For the most part, we already have the most important “equipment” in the form of well-trained, highly motivated, dedicated faculties.  We need to pay them better, encourage them to reach higher in their own scholarship, and expect them to set examples of excellence for our students, while accepting nothing but excellence from them.  In many cases, our faculties, like our students, are not being adequately challenged.