2015 | Week of September 14 | #1115

This commentary is for everyone with a young loved one attending a secular university and for everyone in Wisconsin who pays taxes to support these schools.

Recently I received an email from a mother whose son is attending UW-LaCrosse. Something this son had said prompted this mother to look at some of the course offerings at this taxpayer-funded, state-sponsored university. What the mother found was more than a little disturbing. Admittedly, these were 300 and 400 level courses, which means they are designed to be taken, typically, during a student’s junior or senior year; and they were in just two departments—sociology and psychology.

I make that caveat because these are courses that students would generally not take as incoming freshmen, and they aren’t courses that would ordinarily be required general courses. But I could definitely see students being intrigued by the courses and taking them as electives if they weren’t sociology or psychology majors.

Here are some of the courses and the descriptions taken directly from the online catalog:

Sociology of Gender Explores the social construction, variation and consequences of gender categories across time and space. Examines how gender identities are developed and how gender structures our experiences in education, work, families, the media and other institutions.

Lesbian Studies  Examines the social construction of sexual orientation and its meaning for women and women’s equality. The course draws on a range of sources, including scientific research, history, literature, psychological theory, and popular culture.

Death, Grief, and Bereavement A study of the interaction of individuals and families coping with dying and death in various social settings including hospitals, care facilities, and hospices. Topics include psychosocial aspects of grief and mourning, sociological dimensions of bereavement, and various rituals of funeralization in the U.S. and other societies. Special attention is given to case studies and medical/ethical decision-making at the end of life, as well as other aspects of the social organization of death, dying, and bereavement.

Gender, Sexuality, and Social Change in Religion This course examines the various gender roles, norms, mobility, restrictions and empowerment that people experience within religious traditions…. Global case studies and engaging narratives focused on the intersections of gender, sexuality, race, and religion will be considered. Special attention will be paid to feminist laypersons and religious leaders who are reformulating traditional understandings and practices, and in turn, negotiating their agency within secular and spiritual spaces. 

Sociology of City Life This course explores the political, social, cultural, economic, and religious aspects of city life. The metropolis offers unique insight into highly fascinating and unusual social worlds where urban inhabitants explore their identities and push the boundaries of self exploration, transcendence, and identity formation.

So there’s a sampling of what your young family member could very easily encounter in a sociology or psychology course at a UW school. Imagine what the history or Social Studies courses offerings likely contain. Is your child or your grandchild prepared to handle courses such as these in environments such as a secular campus?

I know of only a few ways to defend against your loved one being sucked into this distorted, ungodly, wrong vortex. First, don’t send them to these schools; and secondly, do everything you can while they are growing up, but even now, to build into them a strong, reasoned biblical worldview.  Without that, they don’t have any filter for or defense against the dangerous and very wrong messages they are constantly hearing. And finally, pray for your college student. Faithfully, ardently cry out to God to protect him or her during these incredibly vulnerable and life-shaping years.

This is Julaine Appling for Wisconsin Family Council reminding you the prophet Hosea said, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.”