I began teaching at the college level nearly thirteen years ago; it has been a learning experience for me. Not only have I learned a lot about my faith but I have also learned some important lessons about how to prepare my child for life on the college campus. There are real spiritual battles on the American college campus and far too many parents and pastors send college students off to face those battles unprepared for what awaits them and where they can go to get help. It isn’t because pastors and parents are not concerned about their college student, but because many are simply unaware of what is actually on the college campus.
College students are bombarded by worldly temptation
A few years back while attending Townsend Bible Church in Newburg, Indiana, I actually had a parent ask me if all the college movies geared towards the older teen and young adult crowd were as bad as what it was like on campus. She even quoted me a very popular proverb that every pastor and almost every parent knows by heart, Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it (Proverbs 22:6). As she waited for my answer, she told me of another verse that often came to mind as she was raising her children, As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth (Psalms 127:4). She bragged about how since her children were young babies, she raised them in church, they attended Christian school, and the amount of time she spent training her future college student what the Bible said. At this point, I had been teaching college for about five years and asked her one question that brought her to tears: “what have you done to warn them about the giants they will face?”
I’ve seen even strong Christian college students fall into temptation and not have the strength to resist what the flesh desires. I cannot say enough about the hidden danger of peer pressure. Most parents and pastors only consider peer pressure and its effects on young and middle teenagers. Just because your child is now a college student does not mean the peer pressure has ended; in fact, it will be even stronger than it was during junior high and high school. No one ever wants to feel like an outsider looking in; no one ever wants to be treated as an outcast. Understanding this simple fact will help to understand the enormous strain placed on today’s college student, even if they are Christian and come from a strong Christian home. Not only will they face temptations but they will have real spiritual pressure and emotional pressure to give in.
Most parents spend their time talking and teaching their child about sex, but they do not go far enough. It is not enough to tell them that God intends for them to stay sexually pure until marriage, but it is important to tell them from a practical and spiritual viewpoint why this is so important. Each semester I see the same cycle repeat itself: 1) young people equate sex and love, as the world has taught, 2) they are not emotionally, spiritually, or financially ready to handle the results of sex (not just potential pregnancy either), and 3) young people set out on a series of bad relationships centered around sex trying to find the “one” person they are supposed to be with. While this is the typical pattern for the lost, even the Christian college student will go through a similar cycle, but with a different one added to the mix: 3) the Christian feels dirty, tainted, and either repents of this destructive behavior, or 3) Christian feels dirty but is convinced that it is because they were “used” and need to find the right person who appreciates them. Those that chose the latter will often repeat this cycle until they are almost indistinguishable from the lost. Sadly, they do not repent until they experience a prodigal son moment.
Yes, sex is that prevalent on the college campus; it will become even more so as many colleges are now adopting a co-ed approach dormitories. Each college has its activists handing out free condoms and guides to safe sex. Some colleges offer health seminars where alternative sexual health issues are taught. College fraternities and sororities have programs where although sexual experimentation is not formally promoted, the environment to allow for such creativity is very present. Campus entertainment, such as various international films shown as a means for teaching cultural awareness, often features lots of sex scenes and full frontal nudity. Anyone that stands up in protest is immediately labeled as being prudish and often become the target for ridicule by both college student and willing faculty members.
The use of drugs is also prevalent on most college campuses. A college student may not use marijuana, alcohol, or other drugs, but the probably know at least three to five students that do and may even know one person where they could get a hold of alcohol or drugs if they wanted to. Although many parents have done a good job of warning their children about the dangers of drugs and alcohol, they often neglect to teach them the spiritual aspect about why God does not want them to use mind-altering substances. When I first started my graduate assistant teaching, I had a young man in my class that came to me during office hours. He told me that he knew I was a Christian because he felt a certain peace when he was around me. He then proceeded to tell me that his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather had all been preachers within the Episcopal Methodist church. He then told me that he needed help getting off the illegal drugs he was using, but wanted to know if the Bible taught anything against drug usage because he had been told that God didn’t forbid it in the Bible.
