“Long Hair Freaky People Need not Apply.” Question: name a negative experience you took away from Bible College. Survey said, narrowmindedness, rules, rules, rules, gender struggles (patriarchal world view), connection with the real world (bubble), finances, too academic (or not academic enough), not spiritual enough (or too spiritual).
In 1975 the number one song on the Rock Billboard was Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen.[1] That was the year I left home for EPBC. It was probably not what Springsteen had in mind when he wrote Born to Run even if I felt like I was running with the wind at my back. I was going to Bible College. I was faithfully pursuing a calling and there was no turning back.
Less than a week after arriving in Peterborough, I received my first “deportment.” Apparently, someone (presumably a returning student) saw me in church on my first Sunday wearing a shirt and tie but no suit jacket. It was a wake-up call to a new culture. It was punishable by a fine and a lecture from the Dean of Students. It may have been my first week at college but there were no excuses, it was in the rule book which obviously I had not yet fully committed to memory or truth be told - looked at.
When asked to name a negative experience from Bible College, the rule book was probably the number one complaint. In my case it not only knocked the wind out of my sails it led me to change my wardrobe. I went shopping at a local Good Will store to find clothes that fit the rules but were horribly out of fashion (retro was not yet a thing). Rules of this type are like fishing nets, the finer the mesh the more holes that exist. And that also explained my first-year obsession with worn sneakers and bruised work boots. Nothing was in the rule book about foot apparel until my second year. Postscript three years later I did graduate with the trophy as best dressed member of my graduating class. That might have been a joke, but I have kept the trophy with pride.
Bible Colleges were part of the holiness low-church tradition. Pastors were expected to look and act different from all other people. Of course, perhaps ironically, the trend today towards authenticity has clergy dressing down to erase any distinction between clergy and their lay counterparts. Alas, now my anti-conformity impulse prefers to dress up for Sunday.[2]
Fun aside, and feel free to add your own best rule breaking adventure, the struggle with rules was closely tied with the complaint of living in an artificial “bubble” in as much as students were monitored as much living away from the college as they were inside the college. One student reported that he was expelled for a fall semester because he confessed to having a glass of wine at a summer wedding. He realized too late it was better to say nothing.
On this front, I can’t personally vouch that things are better today, but I suspect the atmosphere is a bit more generous perhaps to the chagrin of some of the saints of previous generations.
Student debt was the other repeated complaint mentioned. This is a multi-layered problem that is the bane of every Bible College. Bills and salaries need to be paid. And no one works at a Bible College to get wealthy. To compound the problem, while some Bible Colleges might get some public funding, most rely on student fees and private donations. And private donations for a typical Bible College are fraught with landmines. If a donor suddenly perceives the education is less than what they consider “orthodox”[3] or reliable[4] it can have a detrimental effect on their future participation. Perception is a “boogey-man” that every teacher in a Bible College faces.
However, it should also be acknowledged that when those surveyed were asked if they thought their Bible College education was worthwhile, the overwhelming response was positive despite many of the challenges that graduates raised.
In this regard, at the top of positive experiences were things such as: love for the Bible, a theological foundation, a deeper faith, an ability to think, analyze and wrestle with theology, great values, a call to ministry, but the number one response was probably life-long friends.
2000 was my final year teaching at EPBC. For four years I was the faculty advisor of the graduating class. Because of the multi-layered programs, 1 year, 2yrs 3yrs, and so forth, EPBC had given up on official class names but unofficially the class was known as the “Truckers.” We even had our own verse, “forgetting those things which are behind, I truck on toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. (Phil. 3:13-14). To this day I hang with pride, the “photo clock” of a tacky semi on my library wall that the class of 2000 presented to me as their advisor. They were a special class and I left with some cherished friends who continue to amaze and inspire me. They made my 5 years as a faculty member worthwhile. Having life-long friends is not a bad reward.
[1] I now have tickets to seem him in concert in Winnipeg this November. 😊 [2] As a side note, a number of years ago while teaching at Providence University College. I embarked on a class experiment and purposely “dressed up” as an instructor for class. I wondered how it would impact general classroom behavior. The change was so dramatic, I never looked back. I did not have to say anything, but student behavior was significantly better. [3]“Constituency” is a vast and faceless category. Faculty must always wrestle with being faithful to their study and the vagaries of an outside audience who in the spirit of the priesthood of all believers often seem to know best what should and should not be taught. Over the years I have had to write my share of letters to constituency individuals to assuage their concerns. Always a pleasure. 😊 [4] EPBC/Masters for the past generation has had the added burden since 2000 of rebuilding its public image for donors. Beginning in the year 2000 changes were made that fiscally and operationally were critically detrimental to the college moving forward. Twenty three years later they have never been acknowledged putting an impossible burden on the current administration to rebuild confidence in the constituency. And it is no secret confidence and donations go hand in hand.