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Q. As a high school student looking forward to college, I wonder: What do you think of the way movies (like College) and TV shows (like Greek) make higher ed look?

A. You've brought up an excellent point about how college is portrayed on TV and in movies. I can think of three college movie/TV plots: A) Students party, get drunk, and have a lot of sex. It's a comedy! B) Students go to high-pressure, dog-eat-dog academic school to become lawyers as the setting for a conspiracy thriller. C) Students develop elaborate schemes to cheat. It's another comedy!

The common theme is that college looks downright scary. It seems like college is either so hard you may not survive or it's one big party of sinfulness. The truth is in the middle. Some students do party their college years away. But what those shows and movies don't reveal is the emotional and physical aftermath that always comes with giving yourself over to sinful choices. Some classes are very hard, but these shows and movies don't show the caring community there to help—especially at a Christian school. And while these shows and movies do accurately show the deep friendships built in college, they rarely show friends having great times together without alcohol, drugs or sex.

The bottom line: To make college more interesting, funny or thrilling, typical traits are exaggerated. Let's face it, a film about average-looking students spending 30 to 50 hours a week sitting in class, studying, and doing extra-curriculars and another 10 to 30 hours at a part-time job would not make for a very fun film. But it would be closer to the truth for the vast majority of college students.

Mark is the founder of WisdomWorks Ministries. You can learn about his conferences, read movie and music reviews, and more at planetwisdom.com.

Copyright © 2008 by the author or Christianity Today International/Ignite Your Faith magazine.
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