College Credit for Sunday School?

Enroll in our Sunday school and become a college graduate.”

Preposterous. Maybe. Then again, maybe not.

Nontraditional ways to acquire college credits or a degree are growing in number and variety. The most familiar ones are extension, correspondence, and evening courses. Some newer developments, though, suggest the possibility of providing college-level training through Sunday school and other church organizations.

• Every year colleges grant credit or degrees to thousands of adults who make satisfactory scores on the College-Level Examination Program (CLEP) tests. Where, when, and how recipients acquired their knowledge is not a consideration.

• Courses for credit are offered in such unusual off-campus settings as railroad commuter cars, office buildings, factories, and union halls.

• Many colleges cooperate with social institutions, business and industry, government agencies, and the armed forces in tailoring degree programs to the special needs of these groups.

Participants in nontraditional college programs are primarily adults who are unable or unwilling to attend fulltime on-campus courses because of other responsibilities. The likeliest participants are those with some previous college experience. In 1971, 12 million persons over the age of twenty-two had one to three years of college education. Each year a greater percentage of high school graduates enter college. Generally, fewer than half of those who enter graduate with their entering class. Most of those who drop out would like to finish college someday.

Another group of potential participants in nontraditional education are the 15 million college graduates over twenty-five. Many are interested in continuing their education, to earn other credentials or just for intellectual development.

Then there are countless people who have always felt deprived because they did not go to college and who long to make it up to themselves by going someday.

Not only older learners but also college-bound teenagers can use nontraditional programs. High school students can begin their college studies early.

Christians who want nontraditional college programs often must turn to secular institutions. Christian colleges and local churches could cooperate to meet their needs.

The purposes of church and college are different, it’s true. However, their purposes often overlap.

The purpose of attending Sunday school is generally agreed to be to acquire “heart” knowledge as well as “head” knowledge. Well, educators too recognize the benefit of this kind of learning, which they call “affective learning.” It is considered to be a valid component of liberal arts education.

An important purpose of general or liberal arts education is to develop the ability to think critically and communicate effectively. Certainly, Christians need that ability. They need it in order to witness effectively and to discern and counter false doctrine and false religious, social, economic, and political propaganda. Sunday school and other church educational experiences should help develop the ability to think and communicate well.

Degree requirements in general education, especially in the humanities, could be accommodated by a modified church education and training program. For example, history, art, music, biblical studies, and comparative religion would readily fit in.

College-church joint programs might lead to the common associate of arts or bachelor of arts degrees. Or a new degree (or major) might be created to reflect special preparation, as, say, a Christian lay counselor or other lay worker.

Nontraditional education does not have to conform to traditional patterns of requirements, core courses, distribution of credits, and academic disciplines to be sound. Some colleges shape their requirements in terms of an individual learning “contract.” Others recast requirements to build on specific demonstrated competencies.

Faculty in some nontraditional programs work more as resource persons, advisors, and mentors than as instructors. They help learners find their best learning styles and the best methods for reaching their learning goals. In college-church joint programs, aspects of this new “facilitator” role might be performed by a lay or paraprofessional person. Campus ministers interested in expanding the scope of their ministry might serve in this capacity also. Of course, regular college faculty too could fill this role.

In some nontraditional programs, no period of “residency” is required. In others, residential periods might be just a three-day weekend each semester, or two Saturdays a month, or a week or two during vacations. Other colleges redefine residency to mean continuous enrollment and “keeping in touch.” Contact with instructors in these various programs may be through audio cassettes, telephone, mail, radio, television, and systems that use computers.

Few Christian colleges have the resources to help churches set up complete degree programs. Many, however, are able and willing to cooperate in developing some courses. Credits obtained in these courses could help adults enrolled in degree programs elsewhere.

A consortium of colleges or a denominational board of higher education would be more likely to be able to help churches create total degree programs. Degrees might then be awarded in the name of the consortium, the board, or possibly the churches. There is some precedent for this approach. Degree-granting authority and regional accreditation has been extended to some groups that are not teaching institutions. These include the Union for Experimenting Colleges and Universities, an Ohio-based consortium; education coordinating bodies in New York, New Jersey, and Illinois; and a Connecticut agency created for the express purpose of granting degrees and other academic awards.

Nontraditional college-level programs do not necessarily set aside educational standards. Accrediting bodies have devised new procedures for evaluating nontraditional programs. And steps are being taken to set up state regulations that would guard against certain pitfalls. Christian efforts in offering nontraditional education through church programs would need to avoid academic shoddiness, inflated promises that raise false hopes, and fiscal naivete or irresponsibility.

Christian colleges stand to gain from cooperating with churches in college-level programs. The supply of new high school graduates to recruit from is leveling off and due to decline. Many colleges need to seek new audiences and find new ways to serve them if they are to survive. Persons who become involved in a Sunday school-based college course are also likely to enroll for other courses sponsored by the college—on or off campus. Increased enrollment means increased tuition income. And participation and involvement also stimulate giving.

Meanwhile, the churches’ adult programs could be revitalized by this cooperation process. Adult Christians, capable of accelerating intellectual and spiritual growth, could be helped to “put away childish things” and move on to Christian maturity.

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