The Secularist Blockade

From The San Diego Union Tribune, we’ve got a story of discrimination against Christians who send their kids to Christian School in the University of California Admissions process:

The college plans of six students at a Murietta school have sparked a lawsuit that could have implications for academia nationwide.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, contends that officials with the University of California system discriminated against students from Calvary Chapel Christian School in Murietta when they decided that some of the school’s religious-viewpoint courses – such as “Christianity’s Influence on American History” – do not meet the UC system’s admissions standards.

The complaint, pushed by the Association of Christian Schools International, alleges the university’s decision violates the First Amendment religious-practice rights of the students, including two who plan to attend UC San Diego…

Lawyers for the plaintiffs contend this dispute came up two years ago when UC admissions officials began closely examining Calvary Chapel’s courses and texts that emphasized Christianity. Among the rejected courses were biology classes with texts by A Beka Book and Bob Jones University Press, both conservative Christian publishers. Courses titled “Special Providence: American Government,” and “Christianity and Morality in American Literature,” were also rejected.

The lawsuit argues it is unfair these courses were nixed while others titled “Western Civilization: The Jewish Experience,” and “Intro to Buddhism,” were approved.

They hit the nail on the head here. What its really about, particularly with the history courses is the religious freedom of the school and the students. As long as the school is accredited, there shouldn’t be a problem with kids getting into college. Now, its true that they can take an SAT subject test. But I think that’s neither fair nor reasonable.

These kid’s parents, if they’ve sent through Private School for 12 years, have shelled out somewhere between $30,000-$50,000 for their kids education, while also paying school taxes for everybody else to get an education (or not get an education as the case might be) and now at the end of it all, they’ve got to study and fork over money and do a test that they should not have to do.

Consistently, private school kids outperform public school kids in tests and in actual perform, particularly some of the awful schools they have in the Los Angeles area. The outrage here is that these parents cared about their kids’ education, invested in, and now the kids are suffering. If they’d just sent them to a public school, ignored everything going on in their lives and education, they’d be fine. Now the kids are in a pickle.

Key points to consider in this. I think back to Brandi Swindell’s campaign for the City Council. One thing the Left attacked her on vociferously was that she hadn’t gone to college and therefore lacked a diversity of life experience. So, if you can find ways to block people’s access to college, you can find ways to block their advancement later in life. You already see a lot of that going on with a lot of the hostility that’s created on campus against people of faith.

Assuming this lawsuit doesn’t succeed, how do Christians deal with this? As this is the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, its a fair assumption that because of their allegience to the left, this case won’t go through:

1) Take the SAT Topic Tests.

An added expense and a royal pain, but if its what it takes to go on to the next level of education, it may very well be worth it.

2) Use the Community College Option

If you go to a Community College, oftentimes the admissions standards will be lesser. At my Community College, I was not even required to provide my SAT I tests. Oftentimes, you go to the Community College and then after two years, you can go to the State College without having to undergo their admissions requirements. This also can end up saving a families a bundle.

3) Skip Private School

This is what the secularists want. By making it harder for people with a Christian Education to go to college, by rejecting not just science classes (as has been talked about in most news stories), but also literature and history courses as well, they want parents to skip Private School as being expensive and a huge hassle.

4) Bolt

This would be the hardest option, but it may be necessary to do this. Rather than deal with a school system that doesn’t want you there, the best solution may be to start more general education Evangelical Schools with a lower price for students. One thing you could do is to have groups of Private Schools start private colleges and subsidize the colleges with increased tuition. Now, this would by no means be easy, but it may be the only option.

For civil society, it has the negative impact of turning Christian into seperatists, but it may be best to avoid going where you’re not wanted.

Calvary chapel