Students and parents hear quite a bit nowadays about the importance of getting into and attending college.  As the current seniors at Bloomfield Christian School know, the college application process can be an exciting, busy, and stressful time for students.  During that process, it can be easy to lose sight of some of the important, big picture questions, like “why should I go to college?” and “will my high school education prepare me to be successful there?”

What is the value of a liberal arts education in 2018?

We’re often told that students need to attend college so that they have the necessary job training to make it in the professional world, or that they need to go to college to discover themselves.  While there is some truth in these ideas, they can seem like an inadequate justification for the amount of time, energy, and money that parents and students put into both the application process and the college years themselves.  

At BCS, many of our students apply to Christian liberal arts colleges like Grove City College, Wheaton College, The King’s College, and Hillsdale College.  These schools and others like them demonstrate in their missions, mottos, curricula, and communities a much higher purpose for a college education, namely to discipline the mind through the study of the liberal arts, to engage students with the truths handed down to them through the Western tradition, and to grow each person’s faith in God and understanding of the Christian tradition.  These sorts of ends can make a college education truly life-changing and worthwhile.

To attend a college like the ones described above is, in many ways, a deepening and culmination of the education that a BCS student receives.  We too exist to “teach children Biblical truths and classical academics from a Christian worldview so they may serve as bold and obedient ambassadors for Jesus Christ.”  Our students graduate from BCS already literate in the basic ideas and thinkers of the Western tradition.  They will have already been introduced to the literature and philosophers that they will study at a deeper level in college.  They will have a fuller, richer understanding of language, music, and mathematics than many of their peers.  This will in turn enable them to engage in quality conversations with their professors and classmates.

What if a student is not interested in attending a liberal arts college?

Now, not every student may want to attend a Christian liberal arts college, nor do all of our students go on to study at institutions like the ones described above.  However, a BCS education prepares our students for a college experience at a research university or technical school as well.  It equips them to stand firm in their faith and to give a reasoned account for their beliefs.  And it helps them to stand out among their peers by teaching them to ask the right questions, to engage in civil conversation, and to lead well.  

At BCS, we strive to give students an introduction to the liberal arts.  Whether they go on to a liberal arts college or pursue a different path, we firmly believe that this foundation will serve them well in any vocation.