Looking For a Nice Safe Community with a Fairly Conservative College

12.07.02 | mlmr

[mlmr]

I am looking for a safe, conservative community for my family. I live in the middle of liberal La-la land and homeschool my children. There are some changes in our lives and I now have to work and the children need to be in schools. They are not going to be quite as supervised or protected as before and I need to provide a safe community for them. I have a gifted and talented daughter who could take college courses. I have three younger children who I need to place in good public or Christian schools. Safety and conservative culture are two major factors here. Any input from Freepers would be gratefully received.

[mlmr]

Sounds very nice. I have acquaintences down that way. I will have to look into it further. I have two beautiful girls who want to be done with college by 20.

[lewislynn]

My children are bi-racial, black...

Then forget Texas.

[mlmr]

Every Texan I have met has been sweet(except Illbay, teehee!!).

[native texan]

Haven't read all the responses to see if this is already suggested, but Bryan/College Station, Texas, is the spot. We have Texas A&M (very conservative), great churches, a wonderful Christian based school (private) and the College Station school system is one of the best in the state. The landscape is beautiful; we are the "crape myrtle capitol of the world", the bluebonnets are the prettiest around the state. We have the George Bush Presidential Library. Good luck in your decision...it is important.

[mlmr]

Thank you.

[native texan]

By the way, I forgot to mention, we have the lowest unemployment rate in the state. Also have a junior college, Blinn, which is a great alternate for students and they work hand in glove with Texas A&M. The hospital facilities are first class with some of the best cancer and heart physicians around.

[Viva Le Dissention]

I don't know of the qualifications of your children attending University, but if they are top notch, they may want to consider Washington and Lee University in VA.

Founded in 1749 as Liberty University, the name was later changed to Washington University, after former President of the University, George Washington. That guy happened to be the first President of the United States, too, but that's listed second on his resume behind W&L.

After the Civil War, the school invited General Robert E. Lee to take over as President of the school. After his death, the name of the school was changed to Washington and Lee University, which it has been ever since.

Washington and Lee University is also nationally recongized as a liberal arts school--unlike places like Hillsdale or Valpo--a W&L degree will open doors like you wouldn't believe; it was recently ranked 15th by US News, tied with Vassar and Harvey Mudd. The enrollment in the school is around 3000.

You want conservative? Not a problem at W&L; the President of the College Republicans is listed above the Student Body President in the school's heirarchy.

Perhaps the most distinctive part of W&L is its honor system. Each student is required to be "on his honor" at all times. As a result, students have the luxury of scheduling their own final exams, they take most exams unproctored, many exams are take home, closed book exams. It's not at all uncommon, either, to walk around and see books and laptops sitting out unattended. Theft is simply not a problem at W&L, due a large part to the honor system. The kicker is that any honor violation (which is subjectively determined by a panel of students) results in dismissal from the university. A recent decision that sparked some controversy was a student who was out drinking and lied to a policeman about whether she was drinking. This was deemed and honor violation and she was dismissed from the University. Strict, I suppose, but it achieves its results. About half a dozen kids are dismissed every year, usually for cheating on papers or things like that.

There is some "bad" news for you; good news for the rest of us. The admissions standards are W&L are extremely rigorous, and tuition is not at all cheap.

It is located in scenic Lexington, VA, at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains. If you are interested in playing army, VMI (home of George Patton and George Marshall) is also located in the same town. The town has approximately 7000 people.

If you are interested, the website is http://admissions.wlu.edu/

If you are interested in admission for next fall, you had better hurry.

Good luck, and if you have any questions on the community at W&L, I'll be happy to answer.

[crystalk]

Well, that says a mouthful. All these recommendations of Texas and Oklahoma are out the window then, aren't they?

And you want a lot of house for a little money...

And conservative and safe.

As long as you don't mean POLITICALLY conservative, but just old-timey, quiet, and safe, either the Northwest or the Southern Appalachian regions would seem to be your choice. There are some nice little colleges in West Virginia, just look at the map. Kentucky we have already mentioned and seen mentioned, but summers can be warm there. Maybe the early recommend of Virginia Tech/VSU/VPI at Blacksburg, Va. could be mentioned again. You would probably love Wytheville, Va. but it has only an [excellent] community college...but it is cool and breezy in Summer, with lots of Freeways to quickly travel anywhere including the hot south and Florida.

[mlmr]

Thank you. I am going to followup every recommendation on this thread. I think it is a great goldmine for my family!!

[Dog Gone]

My brother-in-law is a professor at Southern Adventist University. It is very highly-rated. I think in the last US News & WR ranking, it is #1 in small universities. And you don't have to be an Adventist to attend.

Pacific Union College is a similar university, and it's hard to beat the Napa Valley region for climate.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

Siloam Springs, Arkansas. (John Brown University)

Tulsa, OK. or surrounding towns.(Several very good colleges and universities there)

Portales, N M.

Roswell, N M.

Fayetteville, Arkansas.

[MHGinTN]

University of North Alabama, in Florence, AL. Go there and visit the prettiest conservative community in America! The university is good, also.

[ampat]

UNC Asheville, in Asheville, NC.

[TejasRose]

Every Texan I have met has been sweet(except Illbay, teehee!!).

Well, thank you! Honestly, not all Texans are sweet. Unfortunately, there are a few ole soreheads!! :-)

[thesharkboy]

I second your motion for Danville, KY, and for Centre College. I lived there and taught at Centre for a year, and I highly recommend both the small-town atmosphere, collegiality, and conservative nature of the college.

[Robert A Cook PE]

If okay with you, I'll have my daughter freemail you (them, via you.)

[Diddle E. Squat]

Abilene, TX has 3 Christian colleges, Baptist, Church of Christ, and Methodist. I know at least 2 of the 3 are conservative, as is the town. Because the schools and military(Dyes Air Force Base) are so dominant in the town, race is not a problem. Friendly town that is small, but not too small(a little over 100,000), with DFW only 2.5 hours to the east, so plenty of cultural amenities available for day field trips(great museums in Fort Worth). Austin and San Antonio are about 4 hours away. The universities bring in a surprisingly good selection of artistry, and the town is doing a good job of restoring its downtown.

Can get cold and hot, but its a bit drier than the big cities so not unbearable. Cost of living is excellent, plenty of good housing. On the plains and not incredibly scenic, but there are several nearby ridges of scrub forest(such as Buffalo Gap) that provide variety and good hiking, climbing, and camping. Plenty of similar scenic surprises and lakes within a couple of hours drive. If I were in a field that allowed me to live in Abilene, it would be very high on my list of places to settle.

[Diddle E. Squat]

Not funny, you obviously have no clue about Texas, or did you have an anecdotal bad experience? Do you know how many minority Freepers are happily living in Texas?

[NativeTxn]

Baylor University may be a conservative University because it is Baptist, but I guarantee that most of the students there are not conservative. They may have come from Christian homes but the students are extremely wild and drink a lot. I know what I am talking about because I have had friends that sent their kids there thinking it is a christian school and it is anything but. It is also not friendly to homeschoolers. Lots of college students party but just don't be fooled into thinking Baylor is a Christian school.

[lewislynn]

Do you know how many minority Freepers are happily living in Texas?

No, I don't think of anyone as a "minority"