<p>Do you think it's the best Christian college in the u.S.? Where would you rank it about overall?</p>
<p>I live fairly close to Wheaton College. I have a Wheaton grad who works for me (who is excellent, one of my star performers); her spouse, also a Wheaton grad, attended a top 14 law school and is a first-year associate at a “name” law firm.</p>
<p>I would say that the perception of it is that for being an evangelical / conservative school, there is still the attention to real scholarship, and their grads are able to work in the “real world”. The students appear to be those who otherwise would have gone to decent secular schools but wanted the religious aspect to their college education. Having said that, the woman who works for me who is from there drinks socially, has been known to utter a swear word, etc. – she is not a “saint” nor does she come across that way. </p>
<p>I would take a Wheaton College education seriously at a level above what I’d take a Bob Jones or Liberty U education. There is a difference between good education delivered in a Christian context, and an evangelical Christian context biasing what is being learned in the classroom.</p>
<p>Wheaton’s published “Educational Purpose” states: “Committed to the principle that truth is revealed by God through Christ “in Whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge,” Wheaton College seeks to relate Christian liberal arts education to the needs of contemporary society. The curricular approach is designed to combine faith and learning in order to produce a biblical perspective needed to relate Christian experience to the demands of those needs.”</p>
<p>In other words, Wheaton embraces inquiry and discovery, but only insofar as it conforms to pre-determined boundaries and limitations that the institution has chosen. This isn’t higher education. Is it religious training? Yes. A caring community of believers? Very likely. But higher education is about whether one is truly open to learning, objectively reassessing, and if necessary, adapting one’s point of view. Being a successful and well-educated person in the 21st century requires that ability, and that’s not what Wheaton offers.</p>
<p>I don’t know - does Wheaton teach things like Greek mythology (in the context of understanding literature)? What does it teach with respect to science?</p>
<p>I can’t link to the blog, but take out the *** and here’s a discussion of biology at Wheaton. </p>
<p><a href=“http://scienceblogs.com/***evolutionblog***/2010/02/evolution_at_wheaton.php[/url]”>http://scienceblogs.com/***evolutionblog***/2010/02/evolution_at_wheaton.php</a></p>
<p>Here’s an excerpt from the blog by Jason Rosenhouse that Pizzagirl references above. It’s a good example of the “pre-determined boundaries” that I was citing above. IMO, ranking a school within this genre of institution doesn’t have any value - these schools are just not dealing with the same criteria for truth and academic freedom as are reputable colleges and universities:</p>
<p>"[In the book] Believers: A Journey into Evangelical America by Jeffery Sheler, there is a chapter about Wheaton College in Illinois, which is generally considered one of the best, if not the best, evangelical college in the nation. Sheler recounts part of a conversation he had with Dorothy Chappell, dean of natural and social sciences.</p>
<p>“Our students are recognized as among the best,” she said. “That must say something about our program. We don’t teach Christian science here. We teach science, period. It’s the same science as the University of Illinois teaches, or the University of Chicago.”
Sounds good, but things soon start getting weird.</p>
<p>Skipping ahead a bit we find this:</p>
<p>“We do believe that God created the universe, and that Adam and Eve were the first humans,” Chappell said. “But we are agnostic as to how God did it.” In practical terms, that means the school doesn’t push what Chappell called “young earth creationism”–a view drawn from a literal interpretation of Genesis that asserts that God created the universe in six twenty-four hour days just a few thousand years ago. Sheler now cites the familiar Gallup polling data that shows widespread public support for YEC. Then comes this:</p>
<p>At the same time, she said, Wheaton’s acceptance of evolutionary theory is limited to changes within a species rather than the widely held view that humans evolved from apes. “There is no assent given here to the vew that Adam and Eve descended from hominids.”</p>
<p>So what happens when the two sources of data – revealed truth and natural truth – seem to be in conflict? “It means we haven’t interpreted the data correctly,” Chappell said, “Either we’ve missed something in our science or we are failing to understand the scriptures correctly. We’re not afraid here of exploring truth. That’s what scientific research is all about. That’s what life is about.</p>
<p>If Wheaton is teaching that evolution only occurs within a species, or that there was a time when there were exactly two human beings on the planet and that they appeared without the benefit of an evolutionary history, then they are manifestly not teaching the same science as the University of Illinois or the University of Chicago. What Chappell describes here is old-earth creationism, and it is tantamount to rejecting evolution."</p>
<p>Fair enough. I should note that the young woman who works for me doesn’t need to know any science to work for me, so whether she believes in God or the Flying Spaghetti Monster doesn’t impact me in any way :-).</p>
<p>very conservative. Great if that’s what you are looking for.</p>
<p>which wheaton are you talking about? the one in IL or MA. well i dont know anything about the one in MA but i do know a little about the one in IL.
i dont have a good opinion of it but that is more based of who i know that went there, and it was his dream school i guess. the reason that he is very closed minded, too conservative, and kinda full of himself. the other person was the congressmen from my area, and although i dont know him personally, he wasnt a good representative in my opinion and i have heard some pretty negative things about him. when he spoke at a graduation i was very unimpressed because his speech sounded like he made it up that day</p>
<p>What is your opinion of Wheaton College? </p>
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<p>Do you think it’s the best Christian college in the u.S.? Where would you rank it about overall?
I think the best Christian College in the US would probably be Georgetown or Notre Dame.</p>
<p>Don’t you know? Many “Evangelicals” believe that only “Evangelicals” are Real Christians. Catholics and main line Protestants don’t count.</p>
<p>2bizee,you must be Catholic, Protestant and Catholic are very different. You must be 2bizee to know that Catholics call themselves Catholic not Christian. Most Catholics don’t even know they are Christian!
As for Wheaton College it is a very good college. One would get a very high quality education from Wheaton. Even Fiskars mentions that Wheaton College overlaps with Harvard…</p>
<p>Wheaton bears no resemblance to Harvard. It IS a clear cut above Liberty and BJ, which are horrible.<br>
Georgetown and ND are not in this grouping.</p>
<p>coldad1
"Most Catholics don’t even know they are Christian! "
That is the stupidest generalization I have ever heard.
I am a cradle Catholic and we all know that we are christian. In fact we were the first Christians before protestantism even existed. Perhaps Catholic cuniversities are not fundy bastions of faith but they all have Christ in their mission statements.</p>
<p>"Most Catholics don’t even know they are Christian! "</p>
<p>Emphasis on “Most” not all</p>
<p>wheaton is the harvard of evangelical colleges maybe, but thats not rly saying much. </p>
<p>"Most Catholics don’t even know they are Christian! "</p>
<p>i am catholic and that is one of stupidest misconceptions from a protestant. all i have to say about is thats just not true, most real catholics know. its surprising how much some protestants misunderstand catholicism and catholics. catholics dont call themselves christian because of how many different kinds of christians exist.</p>
<p>cross0328,its surprising how much some protestants misunderstand catholicism and catholics. catholics dont call themselves christian because of how many different kinds of christians exist. well you said it yourself. </p>
<p>There is only one kind of Christian. We don’t make the rules GOD does! When you start changing what you think the idea of being a christian is then you think you make the rules. one example is, can’t eat meat on friday where is that in the bible! enough said about Christianity.</p>
<p>The bottom line is WHEATON COLLEGE is a EXCELLENT school. I don’t go there or never have, but it is a quality education for sure.</p>
<p>^i think you misunderstood what i meant by catholics dont call themselves christian because of how many different kinds of christians exist. catholics consider themselves christians, just when someone asks what is your religon they’re not gonna say christian, and many protestants i know would either. maybe i misunderstood your post, but what i said still isnt what you said.</p>
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<p>That’s good, because I want a quality math education. However, I hold a deep conviction that there are no integers below 100 or greater than 10,000, and I’m quite certain that trigonometry is blatantly false. Now please help me to become a fully-functioning mathematician within those predetermined limitations.</p>
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<p>Actually, the vast majority of what we consider to be Christian doctrine isn’t in the Bible. The concept of the Holy Trinity? Nope, that was created by a legislative vote at the Council of Nicaea in 325. There was opposition to the concept, but it was alleged that power brokers on the pro-Trinity side managed to schedule the Council at a time when they knew certain opponents would be unable to attend. The creeds that state what we believe? All manmade - determined by political votes, just like the Declaration of Independence. Even the inclusion or exclusion of books in the Bible itself was determined by men. Now it may be true that they prayed for Divine guidance before casting their votes and drafting their doctrines. But to then declare that God’s will was done because they won the vote would be the ultimate example of making the rules in place of God.</p>
<p>Wow, are you confused! You must be a scientist.</p>