The spiritual campus is
the light in students’ faces
as they begin to see how
separate facts become
bodies of knowledge,
become understanding
– those “aha” moments
when something catches
fire. The spiritual campus
is the glimpses of wisdom
when knowing, loving
and doing come together.
rates.
Of 100 ninth graders in our
country, 70 will graduate high
school, 44 will go to college, and
20 will graduate in a timely way.
As a nation we are becoming less
educated, in comparison both to
other developed countries and to
our own demographic. For the first
time the younger generation in
America is less educated than the
older generation.
The problems are real.
We should be alarmed about
deterioration in the quality of
education, wherever it occurs,
at whatever level. The answer,
however, is not to launch criticism
indiscriminately but to support
those schools that are part of the solution – schools like Bryn Athyn College
that have low debt, high quality education, affordable tuition, practical skills,
strong liberal arts, career mentoring, strong employment record, and a
values-based education second to none.
[The banquet version of the talk transitioned here to a PowerPoint related
to the campus as a concept of physical, intellectual and social space, with 80
slides.]
Spiritual Campus
How do we talk about the spiritual dimension of Bryn Athyn College? It is
the most important part of what we do and the most difficult to quantify and
assess.
Many things contribute to the spiritual campus:
• It is the effort that faculty put in to teach their disciplines from New
Church perspectives.
• It is a curriculum and student life based in moral/civil/spiritual
perspectives and values.
• It is what students get out of courses, and assignments, and discussions.
• It is the connections they make as they study truth, handle it, turn it
this way and that to find its applications in their life (lik