| Editor: David E Marlett Th.D. | |
| July 28, 2001 | Vol II, #29 |
Home-school advocates are challenging an apparent bait and switch by Baylor University, saying it "smacks of discrimination."
After accepting, and even awarding scholarships, to home-school graduates, the Waco, Texas, university is now telling them they must be 18 years of age or get a GED certificate in order to be enrolled this fall. The ill-timed policy reversal comes too late for some to make other plans, leaving them in limbo.
"I think there's been a mistake," Connie Miller tells WorldNetDaily. "I'm disappointed on Jennifer's behalf. She's wanted to go to Baylor since age six. She's pretty disappointed."
The Texas parent has home-schooled her daughter, Jennifer, for the last nine years. Jennifer was admitted to Baylor this spring.
"We paid the deposit for enrollment, registered for orientation week and she has already been assigned a roommate." But according to Miller, Baylor contacted her in May, explaining that school administrators were "putting new members into the computer, and the computer spit Jennifer out because she's aged 16."
Miller was then told that Jennifer must take the General Education Development test in order to attend the university in the fall. Texas, however, requires GED testers to be 17 years of age. After exchanging letters with Baylor, the Millers have decided to wait and enroll Jennifer in the spring semester after she turns 17.
Guy Woloszyn isn't taking Baylor's bait and switch as lightly: "You've already admitted him, how can you revoke him?" he asked the admission official who contacted him weeks after their son's acceptance to inform the family of the age and GED requirement. Like Jennifer, 17-year-old Alec Woloszyn is too young to be able to take the GED, according to Wisconsin law.
After earning acceptance to Baylor, Alec declined acceptance – and even a scholarship – to three other colleges and quit his job at a radio station to prepare for his fall enrollment. He currently is on a mission in Russia and is unaware that his Baylor admission has effectively been revoked. It is too late to apply to other schools.
"I feel this is a greed issue and a money issue," Guy Woloszyn tells WorldNetDaily, "Their ethics smell. And their Christian principles aren't worth the paper they're printed on."
Baylor bills itself as "the largest Baptist university in the world" with a vision of becoming "the foremost university in the world committed to excellence in Christian higher education," according to the school's website.
"We're a Baptist school with a Christian heritage but we follow Caesar's rules; we render unto Caesar," says Charlie Beckenhauer, associate general counsel for Baylor. "We're applying federal law. This isn't Baylor's policy."
According to Beckenhauer, Baylor is merely trying to adhere to federal regulations and state law in accordance with Title IV of the Higher Education Act and its amendments. A statement released by Baylor lists the federal criteria:
"Under these federal laws, Baylor may admit as regular students only those persons who:
"have a high-school diploma, or
"have the equivalent of a high-school diploma, or
"are beyond the age of compulsory school attendance in the state in which the institution is physically located."
Beckenhauer explains that in the absence of a high-school diploma, as is the case with home-school graduates, state laws kick in. But with states that don't recognize home-school graduates, as is the case with Texas and Wisconsin, Baylor now requires a GED.
Beckenhauer believes the university risks losing its institutional eligibility for federal funding, and possible administrative penalties, if it fails to strictly adhere to these criteria. "We're not rejecting the quality of private and home-schooled graduates; it's simply a documentation and age issue," says Beckenhauer.
Title IV, Higher Education Act was adopted in 1965. And, according to Baylor's statement, "over the past five years, Baylor has admitted more than 30 home-schooled students to the university and continues to do so. …"
When asked why the reinterpretation of Title IV was happening now, Beckenhauer explained that financial-aid auditors had warned them to "be careful" in applying the rule. Beckenhauer is seeking clarification from the U.S. Department of Education, the Texas Education Agency and the Texas attorney general on the matter.
Tim Lambert, president of the Texas Home School Coalition, contends Baylor's policy reversal ahead of this clarification is "premature" and calls Baylor's belated age and GED requirements an "artificial bureaucratic hurdle."
"It's strange to the casual observer that while the trend is towards liberalizing standards to accommodate home-schoolers, Baylor is bucking the trend. It smacks of discrimination," says Lambert, who points out that Rice University recently changed its policy to better accommodate home-school graduates.
"It's the law that discriminates. We're just enforcing the law," responds Beckenhauer.
Baylor's rejection of home-schoolers contrasts with other private universities in Texas, such as Dallas Baptist and Texas Christian University.
It also comes despite the exemplary performance of home-schoolers on standard achievement tests and in academic competitions. In the 2000 Scripps-Howard national spelling bee, home-educated students took first, second and third place. Home-schoolers also placed first and second in the 1999 and 2000 National Geographic Society geography bees, respectively.
Home-school students have scored highest on the ACT for three years in a row. While the average composite score of American high-school students taking the American College Testing Program exam was 21, home-schooled teens scored 22.8 on the scale of 36.
"What you can say about the home-schoolers from that average composite score is that this group of home-schooled kids are well-prepared, or reasonably well-prepared, for college," Kelley Hayden, a spokesman for ACT, told WorldNetDaily.
Research shows that high achievement on the ACT strongly indicates a "greater likelihood of success in college," according to ACT officials. Success on the ACT test also reveals that the courses taken by high-school students to prepare for college have been effective.
"Home educators and students should be proud of their accomplishments, and they should be encouraged by [this] recognition. ..." stated Rep. Bob Schaffer, R-Colo., in announcing a U.S. House of Representatives resolution honoring home-school families last fall.
Lambert has contacted congressional representatives to lobby for their intervention.
Meanwhile, Woloszyn continues to negotiate with Baylor to try to get his son admitted for the fall, but he fears Baylor has dug its heels in on the matter. Woloszyn says Beckenhauer has told him, "We've weighed the ramifications and the downside. We are determined to follow the law."
"We're concerned [Alec] will be jaundiced about it and bitter," worries Woloszyn. "The message you're sending to my son is Christians don't practice what they preach. That's a dangerous message to send young people these days."
Oprah Winfrey is one of the most popular entertainers in America, and she has built a near cult-like following among women through her message of self-esteem. In June she went on a four-city tour called "Live Your Best Life." The thousands of tickets, which cost $185, sold out the first day. The price of admission included a workbook journal with subject titles such as "You Are Cocreating Your Life" and "You Become What You Believe." Her message--a combination of Christianity, New Age, mysticism, and self esteem--attracts an apostate generation. She teaches women to believe in themselves and in a vague god of their own imagination. She speaks of the miracle of life and the blessing of salvation, but it is a salvation through self will apart from repentance and faith in the blood of Christ. She speaks of faith, but it is a faith in self not a faith in the Christ of Calvary. She teaches women to follow their hearts, but fails to warn them that "the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked" (Jer. 17:9). She preaches moralism, but it is not the absolute divine morality as taught in the Scriptures. Oprah told the crowds, "The universe is speaking to you right now, in the voice of Oprah Winfrey." [ Friday Church News Notes, July 27, 2001 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061-0368, fbns@wayoflife.org) ]
The Christian Broadcasting Network's (CBN) "700 Club" program has a new home with Walt Disney, reports Charisma News. Ironically, Disney's welcoming of "Gay Days" celebrants at its Orlando, Fla., theme park has in the past been criticized by CBN founder Pat Robertson.
The unlikely arrangement follows Disney's $5.3 billion purchase of the Fox Family Channel, which will be called "ABC Family." Disney inherited the agreement to continue to broadcast the "700 Club" and other CBN shows from Fox, when it bought the Family Channel from CBN in 1997.
Disney chairman Michael Eisner said that CBN founder Pat Robertson had "never been in the group that's criticized us for our policies about insurance to all employees," referring to Disney's same-sex partners' coverage.
But Eisner "forgot" that Robertson had been a signatory to a full-page trade paper ad attacking the Disney-produced sitcom "Ellen" for its homosexual character, and once warned that Orlando would be visited by earthquakes and terrorist bombs because Disney World hosted a "Gay Days" event.
According to the Associated Press, Eisner said he spoke last weekend with Robertson, who said that he supported the transaction. "He believes that Disney and what we stand for is not inconsistent with what he stands for." [ Crosswalk.com News Channel ]
*** Editor's Comment: If you are in the ministry as an entertainer or simply for a business venture, the bottom line ($$$) is what directs your message.
In what will certainly be a much-cited case in the debate over charitable choice legislation, a federal judge in Louisville, Kentucky, ruled that Kentucky Baptist Homes for Children (KBHC) was allowed to fire a lesbian social worker—even though KBHC receives state funds. Alicia Pedreira brought suit against the agency, alleging religious discrimination. But Judge Charles R. Simpson III said that because KBHC cares about actions, not beliefs, her complaint was moot. "The code of conduct, although requiring behavior which is consistent with KBHC's values, leaves the religious freedoms of employees and potential employees unfettered," he wrote. "The civil rights statutes protect religious freedom, not personal lifestyle choices. There is no religious discrimination in an employment policy which does not require and does not inhibit the practice of or belief in any faith."
Another part of Pedreira's lawsuit, focusing on whether government funds to KBHC violate the First Amendment, was allowed to continue. More than half of KBHC's $19 million annual budget reportedly comes from the state.
The ACLU, which represented Pedreira, is furious. "There can now be no question that if the Bush initiative is passed, the result will be government-funded discrimination," said legislative counsel Christopher E. Anders. "While we strongly disagree with its finding, the court has confirmed our worst fears."
As Weblog was writing this morning, KBHC still hadn't updated its Web site, but Bill Smithwick, the agency's president, told The Boston Globe he was pleased with the decision. "We base our whole ministry and services on traditional family values," he said, "and we are uncompromising that we are going to be who we are and have been since 1869."
[ Weblog ]
SUMMARY: Two members of Congress who are normally pro-life advocates have come out in favor of using tax dollars to fund embryonic stem-cell research.
Some scientists contend that embryonic stem-cell research could result in new treatments for disease. Sen. Bill Frist, R-Tenn., has joined them. While the physician-turned-senator is normally considered a pro- life advocate he recently called embryonic stem-cell research an "evolving science with tremendous potential for good and harm." Frist now supports embryonic research, within parameters -- "If the cells that are used for research are cells that would otherwise be discarded or disposed of or thrown away," he said.
Another abortion opponent who supports the research compared stem cells with the dust of the earth mentioned in Genesis. Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., said cells give form to man but not the "breath of life."
"I believe that life begins in a mother's womb, not in a scientist's laboratory," Smith said.
But the overwhelming majority of pro-life groups see the experiments -- which destroy embryos to harvest stem cells -- as murder. And Focus on the Family Bioethics Analyst Carrie Gordon Earll calls Sen. Smith's claim "ridiculous."
"There is absolutely no scriptural, biological or rational basis for this type of statement," Earll said. "There is no biological difference between an embryo whose life is created in a fallopian tube or an embryo that is created in a Petri dish."
Earll points out that God is the Creator of all life, regardless of how that life is conceived.
"A prime example of this is our Lord, Jesus Christ," Earll said. "He was not conceived through traditional sexual intercourse but that did not make Him any less of a human being."
Richard Doerflinger, of the U.S. Catholic Conference/National Conference of Catholic Bishops, said it is "absurd" to think that the womb conveys the "breath of life" to an embryo.
The president is on record opposing federal funding of embryonic stem-cell research but is said to be
reevaluating the position.
[ CitizenLink ]
(David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061-0368, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org) -- In the mid-17th century, the Baptist churches of Ireland agreed together to meet on the first Wednesday of each month to fast and pray for spiritual revival. On June 1, 1653, they sent the following letter to the Baptist churches of England, listing the sins that they acknowledged before God. It must be remembered that these churches, by today's standards, were very zealous for the things of Christ and very separated from the world. They had a great zeal for church discipline. Many of the saints in these congregations had been bitterly persecuted for Jesus' sake. Yet they confessed before God their backslidden condition. We would do well to follow their example in these times of increased apostasy and moral depravity:
____________________
The churches of Christ in Ireland, walking in the faith and order of the gospel, do agree together, through divine assistance, to set apart the first fourth day, called Wednesday, in every month, solemnly to seek the face of our God; and by fasting and prayer humbly to mourn before him for the things following; which is also recommended to our dear friends in England, and scattered brethren in several places, who have obtained like precious faith with us.
1. Our little knowledge of, and less trusting in the name of our God in Christ, so as to set him for ever before our eyes, that we may glorify him both in our bodies and souls, which are his, 1 Cor. 6:20; Heb. 5:12.
2. Our little sincere love to the Lord and his people, and our little knowledge of the office and proper place of each member, as God hath set him in the body of Christ; to the end that every particular member may be now effectually improved, for the mutual edification of the whole, 1 Cor. 12:19,20,21, &c. Eph. 4:16.
3. Our little serious searching into the word of God, and not substantially acquainting ourselves with the foundation truths revealed therein, 2 Tim. 3:15; 1 Pet. 2:2; Rom. 1:16,17.
4. Our little faith in the great and precious promises of the Lord, which are to be fulfilled in the last days, Luke 18:8; 2 Pet. 1:4.
5. Our little pressing toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus: and our inordinate affections after earthly things, Luke 10:40,41; Phil. 3:14; Col. 3:1,2.
6. Our little praying and praising frame of heart; in particular, for faithful labourers in the Lord's vineyard: and for all whom he hath put in authority over us, under whom we have had much opportunity to practise the truth we profess, Mat. 9:37,38; John 15:4; Psalm 22:3; 1 Cor. 2:4; 1 Tim. 2:2; 1 Pet. 2:14; Isaiah 9:7.
7. Our little concern for the sufferings of the people of God, Luke 18:7; Rev. 17:6.
8. Our great aptness to forget the things God hath done for us, and to abuse the many precious mercies God hath multiplied upon us.
9. Our little laying to heart the great breaches the Lord hath made among us, by removing many righteous ones from us.
10. Our want of spiritual wisdom to reprove sin plainly in all without respect of persons, and to exhort faithfully, so as to stop the mouths of gainsayers, and give no just offence to any.
11. Our little mourning for sin, both in ourselves and in others, Ezek. 9:4; Hos. 4:12.
12. Our great ignorance of the deceitfulness of our own hearts, Jeremiah 17:9,10.
These things, among many others, ought to be sufficient grounds of our lying low before the Lord, that he may lift us up in due time, and supply all our wants according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus, James 4:3,9,10; Phil. 4:19. [ Thomas's Hist. of Welch Association, cited by Joseph Ivimey, A History of the English Baptists, 1811, vol. I, pp. 248-250 ]
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