G-ASHelen Orientations

By Wole Soyinka for thehighereducation.com A few years ago, I had reached the stage of despair over the deterioration of the university system in my own country, Nigeria, under successive regimes of both civilian and military orders. Even the basic, campus social life had broken down, a condition that I tried to summarise in the title of a public lecture that went: “Descent of barbarism and end of the collegial”. Educational standards had plummeted so low that the word “illiteracy” had become current within – not only outside – the ivory towers, leading Unesco to classify Nigeria as one of the nine countries that together accounted for 70 per cent of the globe’s illiterate population. We do not need to be reminded that primary and secondary education form the base material for the intellectual quality of intakes into the tertiary institution. When deterioration in those two tiers is compounded by the fact that those tertiaries indulged in any excuse to foment strikes by facul...

By John Piper of Desiring God This is such a good question. I wish every high school graduate who’s heading off to college or university would be thinking this way and asking this question. Let me say a word to Sharon and to all of them in the hope of being of some service to this generation of younger Christians who are heading off to school. I’ll limit myself to five words of counsel which, of course, will leave many specifics unanswered. I think these five have the effect of enabling students, if they accept them, to answer the other specifics as they arise. Prepare for War First, students, recognize that maintaining a Christian faith is war. First Timothy 6:12 reads, “Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life” Ephesians 6:11 reminds us, “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.” First Peter 5:8 declares, “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, s...