Joe R. Golowka JoeG at ieee.org Anarchist FAQ - http://www.anarchistfaq.org
"The State is a condition, a certain relationship between human beings, a
mode of human behavior; we destroy it by contracting other relationships, by
behaving differently" - Gustav Landauer
----- Original Message -----
> Founders Plan Virginia Campus To Train a Christian Vanguard: A College
for
> Home Schoolers
>
> By Hanna Rosin
> Washington Post Staff Writer
> Sunday, September 26, 1999; Page A03
>
> Earlier this month, construction crews broke ground in Purcellville,
Va., for
> a new experiment in Christian education: the first college designed
> specifically for home-schooled students.
>
> As the tractors whirred and crunched their way through the saplings, the
> school\'s founder, Michael Farris, laid out his vision of a future that
> sounded very much like the past. By the fall of 2000, when the first
> students arrive at Patrick Henry College, there will be two \"colonial
> Williamsburg-style dorms\" at opposite ends of the field, one for girls
and
> one for boys, explained Farris, 48, a founder of the national
home-school
> movement and a fixture on Virginia\'s religious right scene. Farris was
> Lieutenant Governor, with George Allen (son of former Washington
Redskins
> coach) as Governor, of Virginia, 1994 through 1998.
>
> Having been schooled at home by their Christian parents, students will
be
> comfortable with the college\'s benign authority and all it demands,
said
> Farris. They will dress modestly and go to chapel once a day. They
will not
> drink or do drugs or date, but instead will subscribe to Christian rules
of
> courtship, in which a boy asks the girl\'s parents for permission first
and
> declares his intentions quickly.
>
> To some, it looks like an Amish daydream, a sleepy place for home
schoolers
> to shut out the world and sustain their youthful innocence long past the
> natural time. \"Eighteen is the traditional age when we\'re expected to
go out
> into the big bad world and make our own decisions,\" said Mark Rozell, a
> professor at Catholic University who wrote a book about Virginia\'s
Christian
> right leaders, including Farris. \"The great danger is, at what point
do
> these people become integrated into the mainstream?\"
>
> But Farris does not envision the school as a plastic bubble protecting
> students from the outside world--far from it. As he imagines it, the
> secluded campus will act as a training ground for the future Christian
> vanguard. Just as the Highlander Folk School turned out civil rights
> activists like Rosa Parks in the 1960s, Patrick Henry will prepare the
next
> generation of young Christian agitators.
>
> This does not surprise me one bit. I\'ve been thinking that this is
really
> what the school voucher movement is about....tapping taxpayer money to
> strengthen the Christian Right\'s private schools so that they can
subject
> more young minds to their propaganda.
>
> Pamphlets lay out the school\'s mission bluntly: All the students will
be
> government majors, striving to \"transform America\" by finding
high-level
> staff positions in government as a preparation to run for office.
\"PHC
> graduates,\" one brochure boasts, \"will eventually hold some of the
highest
> offices in the land.\" Living in Virginia these last six years, I have
seen
> how the Christian Coalition people inside government have behaved.
There is
> a clear pattern of training kids in government and law (quite a few are
sent
> from Pat Robertson\'s Regent University to William and Mary Law School),
> putting them in government, law firms of the sort that do the most
lobbying,
> and public relations firms (the Right is really BIG on public
relations).
> They know exactly where the opinion making points are in society.
>
> Patrick Henry\'s emphasis on training future activists and politicians
will
> set it apart from other Christian colleges. The school plans to
resurrect an
> old apprenticeship model of teaching, where students work one on one
with
> teachers to learn practical real-world experience. Its student body
will be
> limited to 200, with at least 10 full-time teachers, each one a model of
> Christian living.
>
> \"It\'s more personal,\" said Jacob. \"Instead of just book knowledge,
we\'ll
> give them wisdom and experience so they\'ll be ready to hit the ground
> running, go into a job and do it from day one.\"
>
> For the father of home schooling, this educational experiment seems a
logical
> next step. Since the mid-1980s, when parents won the right to keep
their
> children out of what they saw as corrupting public schools, the number
of
> home-schooled children has shot up from a few hundred to 1.5 million--a
> cohort about the size of New Jersey\'s school system. Now those
children are
> coming of age and their parents want somewhere to send them. In a way,
this
> has similarities to utopian societies, but it\'s really not. This is
> brain-washing worthy of Stalin.
>
> \"Parents were constantly asking us, \'We\'ve done all this, we\'ve
raised our
> kids with our values and standards, now where do we send them?\' \" said
> Farris, who home-schooled all 10 of his children, the first of whom just
> graduated from college. \"There are really only a handful of places we
felt
> comfortable with, not even that many.\"
>
> The plan to build Patrick Henry now places Farris at the center of a
debate
> about the religious right in modern America: Is the college a symbol of
the
> movement\'s retreat into a parallel counterculture? Or does it
represent a
> new effort to transform secular society?
>
> For Farris and his co-founder, Bradley Jacob, the answer is clear.
\"This
> will not be a place for young people to hide from the world,\" said
Jacob, who
> will be the school\'s provost. \"We are not trying to shelter them from
> everything. We want them to leave college with strong values and be
able to
> function in any environment.\" In the debate over Christians\'
involvement in
> politics, he added, \"we are solidly in the camp that Christians should
be
> engaged, that they should be running for higher office.\" And you can
bet
> that they\'ll get a rich and thorough curriculum in how to win elections
and
> manipulate the media, etc. These people are NOT fools!
>
> Still, standing in the 43-acre sylvan glade that is the college\'s
future
> site, it is easy to imagine Patrick Henry as a secluded world, apart
from
> space and time. The 100 students expected to enroll for the first year
will
> pass through an oval driveway into a replica of Harvard in its early
days,
> protected from Route 287 by a thick grove of oaks and maples.
>
> For the main building, a library and four dorm units, the school needs
to
> raise $10 million by next year. So far $5 million has come from
Farris\'s
> Home School Legal Defense Association, and the school has raised an
> additional $1 million on its own, from home-schooling families and other
> sources. Farris said the school won\'t borrow money or take any
government
> funding. Of course not, then they couldn\'t discriminate. The school
will not
> be like some Christian colleges, where students drink and party, acting
no
> better than the unsaved, said Farris and Jacob. Instead of finding what
God
> has called them to do, some Christian students are focused on \"how can
I get
> the big bucks after I graduate,\" said Jacob. Other Christian schools
are
> \"too legalistic,\" said Farris, fixating on dress codes and rules
instead of
> the spirit.
>
> \"We\'re not looking for people who say, \'Sure I\'m a Christian, I went
to
> church a few times,\' \" said Jacob. \"I\'m reluctant to use
evangelical jargon,
> but we\'re looking for people who are born again, where being a serious
> Christian has made a difference in their life.\" The application will
ask:
> \"Please describe your personal relationship with Jesus Christ.\"
>
> Patrick Henry will foster a \"family-affirming culture,\" said Farris,
prepping
> kids for stable jobs and, just as important, stable marriages. The aim
is to
> splice out that period known as teenage rebellion, or youthful
> indiscretion--a stage of life Christian home schoolers consider a false
> construct of liberal education. \"We want to take people coming out of
strong
> families and equip them to build their own.\"
>
> Farris has called dating \"serial infidelity,\" and will not allow it at
> Patrick Henry. Instead students will follow the \"courtship model\"
preferred
> by conservative Christian families. A boy interested in a girl will
have to
> write, call or e-mail her parents. If they approve, the two can get to
know
> each other by going out in large groups. The aim is not just to \"have
a good
> time,\" said Farris, but to \"look at that person as a life partner.\"
>
> The strategy is already \"test marketed,\" he said. About a third of
the
> employees at his Home School Defense Association are home-schooled,
including
> the interns. So far, they\'ve celebrated several marriages among them
and
> suffered \"no pregnant interns.\"
>
> The school will apply for accreditation, both from the state and the
region.
> When that comes, Farris said, they\'ll start up the law school, which
they
> hope to get approved by the American Bar Association.
>
> The curriculum will be Bible-centered, meaning \"every subject will be
> analyzed from a Christian viewpoint,\" said Jacob. Science classes will
teach
> about evolution, said Farris, in order to \"explain why it\'s wrong.\"
All
> literature will be evaluated for whether it promotes Biblical values.
>
> Law and government classes will make up the school\'s core, and will
emphasize
> Christian political concerns such as Roe v. Wade and gay rights. No
theory
> here. Just concentration on hot-button issues. \"Few students will
know
> more about the political ramifications of reinforcing homosexuality
through
> special rights than ours,\" said Farris. Every evening students are
expected
> to gather for a town hall meeting modeled on colonial New England to
hone
> their government leadership skills. Actually, this school will probably
be
> quite effective. They obviously intend to give it all they\'ve got and
to
> work the kids hard.
>
> The inspiration for the school came not merely from eager parents but
from
> congressmen seeking \"sharp home schoolers\" to work in their D.C.
offices,
> said Farris. From what I\'ve seen, I\'d say these congressmen include
Tom
> Bliley, . The school brochures display a strong focus on placing
graduates in
> prominent government jobs; most students will be expected to earn part
of
> their credit by taking on substantive projects for national and local
> legislators.
>
> \"In the future, we believe that many of our graduates will join the
ranks of
> 84 former [congressional] staffers who are now members of Congress,\"
one
> brochure reads.
>
> The school\'s fixation on government seems partly a response to
Farris\'s own
> experience in running for office. When he ran for lieutenant governor
of
> Virginia in 1993, and again when he briefly considered challenging John
> Warner for the Senate in 1996, past extremism came back to haunt Farris.
> Opponents reminded voters of the times he called public schools a
\"godless
> monstrosity,\" or wrote that \"wives have a duty to be a loving and
submissive
> aid to their husbands.\"
>
> Farris now hopes to train students to be statesmen as well as agitators,
to
> fight from within while keeping their ideals intact. What this
undoubtedly
> means is training them to cover up their most abrasive and unacceptable
> intentions until they get in a position to make good on them. This is
the
> technique that the Christian Coalition has announced for its nationwide
> effort to take over the public school boards of the nation. Farris\'s
vision
> is a candidate who can \"travel through a political campaign with their
> Christian testimony intact,\" he said. Looking out at the newly mown
field
> where his college will stand, Farris imagined a day, many years from
now,
> when he will stop by to chat with a visiting guest speaker: President So
and
> So, alumnus of Patrick Henry College.
>
> © Copyright 1999 The Washington Post Company
>