It’s no big secret that college is the time for independence. It’s where many people discover who they are and separate themselves from the influence of their family.
In many respects, it is seen as a positive development. I mean, what parent wouldn’t be happy about their child going away and developing their own living skills, handling their own finances and learning to make decisions that have burdened their mother and father for years? This should be a parent’s dream.
Sadly, there is one area of independence that has some parents worried. Along with finding independence in adult responsibilities, students are said to also become independent from their traditional family beliefs. Because of this, parents have to trust that the morals and values they’ve spent years instilling in their children won’t be washed away by the four-year educational institution known as college. For religious parents, this uncertainty can of course be a nightmare — it is specifically worrisome for those whose children are attending the University of Wisconsin.
I come from a Christian family, and my parent’s concerns were no different. When I was embarking on my third semester at UW, my mother talked to me about faith in God and whether or not I was retaining my faith while being away at college.
For the longest time, it has been a popular belief that when students go away to college, their faith in God and religious values are in danger of going out the window. One would suspect that in a liberal city such as Madison, keeping up with religion and tradition would be hard to do. After all, this university has an infamous reputation for being one of the top “party schools” in the country.
Oddly enough, attending UW has shown me that this assumption is not quite true. For example, I’m starting to notice religion on every street corner … literally. Well, sort of. Religion can be seen on campus in the guy by the University Book Store who is handing out Gospel CDs and in the consistent promotion of Christian student communities. Organizations like InterVarsity, The Navigators and Badger Cru give students space to come together and practice their faith.
But that isn’t the only thing that seems to be strengthening student faith on campus. All the things that supposedly run contrary to religion are starting to prove positive for students in their search for faith. For example, there certainly are courses at this university that teach material which completely contradicts the religion and traditional beliefs of some students. There are also people everywhere to challenge your thinking and open up your mind to new opinions and knowledge.
But rather than steering students away from God and their traditional thinking, the diversity of opinions on this campus provides an opportunity for students to argue in favor of their own faith. As Oluwatofe Salako, a sophomore at UW and a member of Badger Cru, stated, “I don’t feel like I’ve maintained my faith. I feel like I’ve developed my faith on campus.”
Because students are faced with the challenge of arguing for themselves, they are able to sort out what they truly believe in and what is simply a regurgitation of their parents’ ideas and beliefs. Developing their own beliefs teaches students to invest more in what they say. It strengthens rather than weakening their faith.
While Madison may occasionally challenge one’s religious beliefs and faith, the new insight that comes with a knowledge of other people’s way of thinking definitely helps students in the long run.
Pamanisha Gross (pmgross
