Another case in point: I understand that the students applying to Thomas Aquinas College could be admitted to just about any school of their choosing, given their high SAT scores and their excellent high school grades. They choose, though, to go somewhere when their faith will be strengthened, not destroyed.

What's more, I've heard that the philosophy graduate schools around the country to which some of these students go after graduating from TAC have found them to be their best educated and most promising students.

I see the exodus of intellegent students from the Ivy League, Berkeley (my alma mater), Stanford, etc. to be a very good trend, both for education as well as for the salvation of the souls.
Noah Nehm | 04.26.06 - 12:01 pm | #

Sometimes I think that if I found myself with no responsibilities at all, I would get another baccalaureate from Aquinas just for fun.
Ed the Roman | 04.26.06 - 1:17 pm | #

Noah,
How sad is it that Notre Dame, Boston College, and Georgetown aren't in the mix among the same students?

Somewhat related, I read that Ave Maria College's law school graduates pass the Michigan bar at a higher rate than any other school there, which is pretty impressive considering the academic reputation of the school on the other end of town.
Filius Prodigus | Homepage | 04.26.06 - 5:54 pm | #

Say a prayer for the kids who decide to attend the blue-state schools, and stand against the tide. Some of my proudest moments as a parent have come from my own older kids bearding the lion in his den, so to speak, by arguing back to professors who misrepresent history and theology. It's not an easy choice to speak up; far easier to sit quietly and parrot the prof's preferred answers. I know there are other kids besides my own in other college classrooms speaking back to other professors. I'd love to be able to give each one a hug and say, "Well done!"
cehwiedel | Homepage | 04.26.06 - 9:42 pm | #

My only concern is this: we want exactly those kinds of really solid, Catholic or Christian kids, to graduate and become leaders in their respective fields. While it's probably possible to become such a leader in the humanities with a degree from a "non-blue-state school," in many of the technical fields it is much more difficult.

Frankly, if only we'd had the fields of embryology and genetics and neurology and such packed with such young, solid Catholics, starting about twenty years ago, we might not be having a debate over embryonic stem cell research right now. It would simply never have made it onto the blackboard as a possible avenue of research.

I don't know if our kids can make it to the tops of those fields with degrees from Steubie or TAC. And, bear in mind, it is entirely possible to attend "godless" top tier schools without losing the Faith. Heck, I re-found the Faith at MIT...
Margaret | 04.27.06 - 4:02 pm | #