On campus
14/06/14 04:21
The settlers who founded the community of Hastings, Nebraska, came to the area with ideas of what was needed to form a community. Many of the settlers came from other communities in the United States and knew the history of how some of the first settlers from Europe to the United States quickly formed educational institutions that trained leaders for the future of their communities. With those notions in their mind, they began the process of forming a college almost as soon as they got their town organized.
Some of those early settlers were graduates of church-related colleges and they decided that a Christian, liberal arts college would provide the best kind of well-rounded education for the young people of their community. They approached the Presbytery of Kearney and received support. The result was the founding of Hastings College, the only Presbyterian college in Nebraska.
These days Hastings College has a proud heritage of high-quality education. It has a high rate of placing students in graduate education programs, and among its alumni are an astronaut, a successful college football coach, a children’s author, and the mayor of a major US city. The college has received all kinds of awards and honors and CBS Moneywatch recently named Hastings College number 23 out of 600 colleges as having the best professors.
Small liberal arts colleges struggle these days. There has been a recent emphasis on considering college in terms of short term payoff. Colleges and universities are touting the starting salaries of their graduates as a selling point. “Measure the cost of tuition against potential earnings,” students and parents are told.
The problem is that education is about more than money. And education is a lifetime investment, not just about that first job out of college. In a world where few can sustain the same career throughout their working life, flexibility and the ability to continue education are skills that can make the difference between success and failure. Liberal arts colleges have more to offer than might appear on first glance.
Of course I am biased. I graduated from a church-related liberal arts college. So did our son. Our family has benefitted greatly from education that was focused on the process of learning rather than on a specific career field. Learning for the sake of learning instills a love of learning that continues throughout a lifetime. Throughout my life I have had more options than others because of the quality of my education. When I have reached turning points in my career I have had the skills to gain additional skills and learning to meet the needs of a changing profession in a changing world.
I don’t think it was possible, in the days when I was a college student, for me to accurately imagine the things that I would be doing 40 years down the road. I knew I wanted to be a minister, but in those days of typing my papers on a manual typewriter I didn’t realize how much time I would spend working with computers or how much I would need to be able to troubleshoot a computer network. I didn’t even imagine what a computer network would be. These days when we have computer problems that require hiring a technician, it frustrates me that the technician has to repeat work that I have already done because his or her training has provided only a set of repeatable steps that must be followed in sequence in order for anything to be done. It is so obvious to me that the technician will outlive his or her training. A few technological advances and the technician’s education becomes obsolete.
There is so much more to education than acquiring specific information or mastering specific skills. At the heart of education is the development of critical thinking skills, a style of problem-solving, and the ability to continue to engage in research and learning.
One of the results of my particular education is that it instilled in me a love of the process of teaching and learning. It strikes me as a bit silly, but I really enjoy being on a campus, if even for just a couple of days. I park my car on the edge of the campus just for the pleasure of walking across the campus to the classroom building where I am teaching. It is summer break and the campus doesn't have the students who were here a month ago when I was here, but the mood and the feel of the campus remains.
The founders of Hastings College might be impressed by the modern campus. The brick buildings are substantial and are built to coordinate with each other. The tall steepled chapel looks like it would fit into a New England community. The sprawling athletic complex is truly impressive. Most folks zipping across Nebraska on Interstate 80 never realize what is here just 25 miles from that freeway. Classrooms are equipped with computers and projectors and sound systems that make it easy to employ some of the most modern technologies in teaching and learning. I haven’t found any chalk boards, but the classrooms that I have used have had walls of white marker boards that allow a place for writing notes and references for students to follow.
Yesterday I arrived at my classroom early and took a few minutes to leaf through a few copies of the campus arts and literary magazine. The quality of the printing and binding far exceeds anything that we were able to do in my college years. Computer page layout, modern scanning devices and full color printing are things that we simply didn’t have. But I can remember the passion for art and poetry and storytelling that were a part of my college education. And I can see the promise in the talents and gifts of the students who contributed to these modern publications.
I am grateful that there are many different options for college education for students. I know some students for whom a very focused education is appropriate. But I am also grateful for the liberal arts colleges that teach about life and living as well as a specific career field.
Hastings College is about the same age as the church that I serve. Nearly a third of the way through its second century of service, it seems clear that the college will have an important roll and much to contribute in the centuries to come.
Some of those early settlers were graduates of church-related colleges and they decided that a Christian, liberal arts college would provide the best kind of well-rounded education for the young people of their community. They approached the Presbytery of Kearney and received support. The result was the founding of Hastings College, the only Presbyterian college in Nebraska.
These days Hastings College has a proud heritage of high-quality education. It has a high rate of placing students in graduate education programs, and among its alumni are an astronaut, a successful college football coach, a children’s author, and the mayor of a major US city. The college has received all kinds of awards and honors and CBS Moneywatch recently named Hastings College number 23 out of 600 colleges as having the best professors.
Small liberal arts colleges struggle these days. There has been a recent emphasis on considering college in terms of short term payoff. Colleges and universities are touting the starting salaries of their graduates as a selling point. “Measure the cost of tuition against potential earnings,” students and parents are told.
The problem is that education is about more than money. And education is a lifetime investment, not just about that first job out of college. In a world where few can sustain the same career throughout their working life, flexibility and the ability to continue education are skills that can make the difference between success and failure. Liberal arts colleges have more to offer than might appear on first glance.
Of course I am biased. I graduated from a church-related liberal arts college. So did our son. Our family has benefitted greatly from education that was focused on the process of learning rather than on a specific career field. Learning for the sake of learning instills a love of learning that continues throughout a lifetime. Throughout my life I have had more options than others because of the quality of my education. When I have reached turning points in my career I have had the skills to gain additional skills and learning to meet the needs of a changing profession in a changing world.
I don’t think it was possible, in the days when I was a college student, for me to accurately imagine the things that I would be doing 40 years down the road. I knew I wanted to be a minister, but in those days of typing my papers on a manual typewriter I didn’t realize how much time I would spend working with computers or how much I would need to be able to troubleshoot a computer network. I didn’t even imagine what a computer network would be. These days when we have computer problems that require hiring a technician, it frustrates me that the technician has to repeat work that I have already done because his or her training has provided only a set of repeatable steps that must be followed in sequence in order for anything to be done. It is so obvious to me that the technician will outlive his or her training. A few technological advances and the technician’s education becomes obsolete.
There is so much more to education than acquiring specific information or mastering specific skills. At the heart of education is the development of critical thinking skills, a style of problem-solving, and the ability to continue to engage in research and learning.
One of the results of my particular education is that it instilled in me a love of the process of teaching and learning. It strikes me as a bit silly, but I really enjoy being on a campus, if even for just a couple of days. I park my car on the edge of the campus just for the pleasure of walking across the campus to the classroom building where I am teaching. It is summer break and the campus doesn't have the students who were here a month ago when I was here, but the mood and the feel of the campus remains.
The founders of Hastings College might be impressed by the modern campus. The brick buildings are substantial and are built to coordinate with each other. The tall steepled chapel looks like it would fit into a New England community. The sprawling athletic complex is truly impressive. Most folks zipping across Nebraska on Interstate 80 never realize what is here just 25 miles from that freeway. Classrooms are equipped with computers and projectors and sound systems that make it easy to employ some of the most modern technologies in teaching and learning. I haven’t found any chalk boards, but the classrooms that I have used have had walls of white marker boards that allow a place for writing notes and references for students to follow.
Yesterday I arrived at my classroom early and took a few minutes to leaf through a few copies of the campus arts and literary magazine. The quality of the printing and binding far exceeds anything that we were able to do in my college years. Computer page layout, modern scanning devices and full color printing are things that we simply didn’t have. But I can remember the passion for art and poetry and storytelling that were a part of my college education. And I can see the promise in the talents and gifts of the students who contributed to these modern publications.
I am grateful that there are many different options for college education for students. I know some students for whom a very focused education is appropriate. But I am also grateful for the liberal arts colleges that teach about life and living as well as a specific career field.
Hastings College is about the same age as the church that I serve. Nearly a third of the way through its second century of service, it seems clear that the college will have an important roll and much to contribute in the centuries to come.