Religion and Higher Education: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.

Précis written by Diego Feijoó

Adapted from Darren. E. Sherkat homonymous work.

Mahatma Ghandi once stated that “…religious education must be the sole concern of
religious associations”. In this work, Sherkat exposes Religion and Education
convergence, and how they have strongly struggled about to what extents they can
render a person achieve educational success.

Multiculturalism inside universities converge religions in spite of their cultural

differences. For this, the limitations between religions create tension among them,
because the majority belongs to conservative Christian groups.

In the past, the amount of people raised in a religious environment changed into
different groups of varied religions. Every religion own people who possess
fundamentalist beliefs in different proportions. Thus, conservative religions are prone to
be more fundamentalist than non-conservative religions.

Nowadays, more people go to university. To complement that statement, it is important

to mention fertility rates among religious groups. As a result of fertility in sectarian
groups and Catholics, the sum of students from high schools is bigger. This fact can be
exemplified by how they use to have many children.

Sherkat also notes that African American women are getting more degrees. Likewise,
many universities have more women seeking degrees than men. In other words, African
American and women are more religious than men and Anglo-Americans at the same
time. Now, part of the bond that student religiosity and academic success have, is
feasibly caused by gender differences. Namely, older and settled relationships that have
children are even more likely to be active members of a religious group.

In the one hand, young women with academic promise tend to be diligent and studious,
and women who have modest potential are doubtfully to ignore her academic
responsibilities. In the other hand, endowed young men are often irregular in their
performance. Less skilful young men are prone to be irresponsible regarding their
assignments, attendance, and other tasks that might be essential for their success.

Other notable fact is that older students are typically paying their own education.
Moreover, take responsibility of their families, which makes a great difference with
non-traditional religious students because they do not have the same kind of
responsibilities.
The Good

According to Sherkat, being a religious person and also an active member of a religious
community gives you the necessary elements and environment for succeeding in your
studies.

Also, people who form part of religious groups are considered as students that have
healthy behaviours and are more responsible because of their costumes inside the sect.
In a way, religious commitment keeps you busy, so Sherkat states that there is no time
for depression and drugs.

Finally, thanks to religious people, many social causes have been successfully carried
out because of their commitment with helping people in need

The Bad

As the title suggest, there are also “bad” or negative aspects in religion regarding
education. Religious connection and biblical fundamentalism have a particular influence
on the educational achievement of women. In a curious way, Sherkat explains that exist
a kind of rivalry between sectarian and fundamentalist Christianity towards secular
education.

Protestant and biblical fundamentalists are less likely to complete college because they
use to have children at a young age and strong sectarian norms against female labour
obstruct conservative Christians’ educational achievement.

A prominent datum regarding education affects heavily to large Christian families. Most
of them cannot afford the education of their children, and are also the ones with higher
levels of debt related to payment of education.

An additional significant element is that educational attainment isn’t influenced by

sectarian for African American women. The gender gap varies from one ethnic group to
the other. Sadly, if you study in a religion oriented university, the chances of succeeding
are limited to the prestige of the establishment.

The Ugly

Tolerance is an important factor to consider when we talk about the relationship that
education and religion hold. Sherkat argues that religious conservatives are not quite
mentally prepared to tolerate opinions or ideas that differ com their beliefs or set of
values. This circumstance can be explained by the fact that most of conservative
families simply do not talk or discuss about topics that they consider taboos. Sexuality,
drug abuse, other religions, and others are listed as topics that commonly form part of
the conflicts that these people might have.
The author depicts how the segregation and antipathy that conservative Christians tend
to hold produce considerable preconceptions against ethnic, religious and sexual
minorities. Following that line, according to Sherkat, sectarian Christians say asseverate
that racism, sexism and homophobia are less of a problem than discrimination against
sectarian and fundamentalist Christians.

For this, young fundamentalists are convinced that they know the “Truth”, and this can
led to unpleasant exchanges, particularly when those students do not understand that
their faith is not relevant for the coursework. Hence, their fanaticism difficults the
learning process.

Retrospect and Prospect

As the expansion of higher education occurs, we see how unique magnitudes of

conservative Christians enter universities or institutes. Thanks to the way they think,
social causes are prone to be successful due to their commitment with helping others.

In spite of their positive aspects, their behaviour towards education raises serious
questions regarding their academic future. Sherkat states that we know very little about
such persons and if they will integrally fit in a complex and multicultural society, the
society in which we all live.

Finally, Sherkat infers that the last mission is to determine how other religions -Hindu,
Islam, Buddhism, etc. - impact on the educational achievement of their members.

Reference

Sherkat, D. (2007) Religion in Higher Education: The Good, the Bad, and the
Ugly. Sociology Department. Southern Illinois University.

3197 total words

Divided into four, equals 799.25 words.

With a leeway of 100 words, I wrote 899 words without considering titles and
reference.