Change in higher education
During the time of the founding fathers there were three major universities established where some of them attended: Harvard University, Yale University and Princeton University.
Harvard University had published requirements that stated,
“Let every student be plainly instructed and earnestly pressed to consider well the main end of his life and studies is to know God and Jesus which is eternal life, John 17:3, and therefore to lay Christ in the bottom as the only foundation of all sound knowledge and learning.”
To help each student accomplish that, Harvard established guidelines to follow:
“Everyone shall so exercise himself in reading the Scriptures twice a day that he shall be ready to give such an account of his proficiency therein.”
Some of the founding fathers who chose to attend Harvard University were John Adams, John Hancock and Samuel Adams. Whether these men practiced Christian living or not might be open for debate, but they did attend a university that encouraged them to do so.
Yale University had similar requirements for those attending:
“Seeing God is the giver of all wisdom, every scholar, besides private or secret prayer…shall be present morning and evening at public prayer.”
Those founding fathers that chose to attend Yale University included William Samuel Johnson and William Livingstone, both men signed the Constitution. Another notable who attended was Noah Webster.
Princeton University published in its founding statement:
“Cursed be all that learning that is contrary to the cross of Christ.”
Almost one-third of the more than two hundred founding fathers attended Princeton. Among the most notable were James Madison, who of course became President of the United States, and Benjamin Rush and John Witherspoon both of whom signed the Declaration of Independence.
So, in the twenty-first century are these universities continuing in their founding tradition? Would those Founding Fathers who studied in these universities be able today to replicate their writings that represented their personal worldviews that served as a foundation upon which our nation is build? If the answer is “No”, we need to examine our higher educational system just to determine how far we have strayed morally from our Founding Fathers and their educational achievements.
I wonder if the students in these universities today would protest any of these forefathers, and alumni, if they were to come speak to the student body? Would the student body today be seeking out counseling, and a safe place if any one of these forefathers would speak in an assembly in their respective alumni universities?
Jim Killebrew