When I was a senior in high school, I didn’t know much about going to college. I did apply and was accepted at three schools – BIOLA University in southern California, George Washington University in Washington, DC, and Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona. I had only visited one of those three schools. I really didn’t know much about going to college.
Now I encourage parents to start preparing their children for college long before they graduate from high school. I recommend they take their teens to the college fair on their high school campus and to various college campuses when they are freshman in high school. Find the library, eat in the cafeteria, walk across the quad and see a college campus personally. I also encourage prospective collegians to spend a weekend on a college campus open house and to attend a graduation at the school. When our children were in high school several of them attended the graduation ceremony of our youth pastor, his wife and some other friends. I think this planted a seed in their hearts and helped them see what it would be like to attend and graduate from that university.
I attended graduate school at Dallas Seminary. It was a four year program after college. One of the requirements for all students was to attend graduation every year. In fact students were fined if they did not come to the graduation ceremony. I think the real reason they required us to attend every graduation was to remind us why we were studying so hard. Keep the goal in sight.
In Bible times, the Jewish people were instructed to attend three holiday gatherings every year – Passover, Pentecost and Booths. This was to remind them of the roots of their faith and to encourage them to grow in their relationship with God (Deuteronomy 16:16).
I realize every student does not need to go to college. We need skilled men and women in many vocations, trades and technologies. But let me encourage you to plant some college seeds in the hearts of your children and teens. Take them to a college campus when they are starting high school not when they are almost finished. Let them see what it might be like to go to college. They will be glad you did and you will too.
Read more by the author in his book – Let Me Encourage You – 365 articles and stories (one for every day of the year). The New Year’s Sale price is two books for $30 plus postage. Order your copies at markh@efreedb.org.
Let Me Encourage You by Mark Hopper 