Introducing God's new Harvard : Patrick Henry College

Matthew du Mee was one of more than 2 million college-bound students in 2001 to take the Scholastic Aptitude Test, or SAT.

Within weeks, the nation's most prestigious schools – Harvard, Yale, and Stanford among them – began courting him. Du Mee turned them all down, choosing instead a tiny new school with, at the time, fewer than 100 students, no accreditation and no name outside of homeschooling circles.

The school was Patrick Henry College, created as haven of sorts for the nation's brightest homeschooled students, and which has, in seven ensuing years, grown into a well-known and influential evangelical school purposed to train Christian leaders for high level service in the public square. Its rigorous academic programs, abundant Capitol Hill apprenticeships, and deep homeschooling ties led to its being dubbed "God's Harvard".

Located in the small town of Purcellville, Va., on the rural outskirts of Washington, D.C., Patrick Henry College is a classical Christian liberal arts college created for students seeking an academically demanding education at a school forged from America’s founding principles and powered by passionate Christian discipleship.

Its uncommon profile – Ivy League-caliber scholastics paired with a distinctly Christian worldview – has produced graduates who are both serving and impressing people at the highest levels of government, business, media, and even secular academic institutions.

The New Yorker reported in 2005 that Patrick Henry College students have taken between one and five of the White House internships in each of the past five years – "roughly the same as Georgetown." The college's disproportionate representation on Capitol Hill is simply proof, say officials for whom they serve, of the students’ disciplined work ethic, critical thinking skills, and, more importantly, an eager, plainspoken humility.

This is for the idiotic California courts to consider when they say that Home schooled kids need "credentialed" public school teacher to teach them in order to get a decent education.

Consider :

* Many PHC graduates have gone on to prestigious graduate schools, including Harvard Law, and presently hold positions in the 10th U.S. Circuit Court, the FBI, National Geographic, Fox News and throughout the intelligence community, to name a few.

* Ninety percent of our students come from homeschooling backgrounds, and are very motivated. Most students that come to PHC have a vision to go out into the public square and make an impact – make a difference.

* With a student body now exceeding 300 students, and formal accreditation in place from the Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools (TRACS), the college is solidifying master plans to expand both its campus and enrollment rolls. PHC's faculty presently consists of 20 full time professors, 19 of whom hold doctorates in their disciplines, and the college continues to attract high profile Christian academics.

* In recent months, it welcomed to its faculty Dr. John Warwick Montgomery, an internationally renowned Christian apologist, famed debater, and author of more than 40 books. He joins a faculty that already includes acclaimed author and cultural commentator, Dr. Gene Edward Veith, formerly World Magazine's culture editor and one of the nation's leading experts on classical learning. Also in residence is award-winning, former Time Magazine senior correspondent and best-selling author, Dr. David Aikman. In early 2006, the college also welcomed aboard as its new president Dr. Graham Walker, a highly regarded Christian scholar and longtime educator.

* Amid the many important changes and additions, one thing has remained constant: PHC continues to burnish its reputation as a "debaters' college." Its legal debate teams have not only beaten Oxford University twice, they've captured back-to-back national moot court championships (2005-2006), and for the past two years have earned more individual speaker and team trophies at moot court nationals than any other college.

* To protect itself from government regulations and thereby safeguard its liberty to teach from a distinctly Christian worldview, the College operates with a no-debt policy and accepts no government funding. Its operations and facilities are funded entirely through donations.

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I wonder what these idiotic California judges who made the parents of 166,000 students felons by one bang of a gavel would say to that ...

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