Now I know what's wrong with me. I went to college! And somehow slipped out of the male authority at the same time, too! And I wasn't properly trained for the job of being a housewife! And my sensibilities weren't protected, so I fell victim to all that shitty feminist indoctrination! So here I am now: half-snake, a minor divinity and a mess.
That's one way of looking at it, and the way a guest-poster called Susan takes on this blog:
I spent my years at college struggling to maintain a Biblical outlook on life. I was constantly attacked with every liberal "ism" known to modern man: feminism, humanism, relativism, evolutionism, etc. In my semester of student teaching alone, I felt that much of my purity was robbed from me as I was subject to horrifying discussions on unmentionable topics - often instigated by my mentor teacher! I survived 4 years in a secular university, but only by the grace of God. It was not an experience I would wish to repeat, though God certainly used that experience to teach me many, many lessons. If I could change one thing about my experience in college, though, it would not be to edit out all the crud or to delete my entire experience - though those would be close seconds! I spent much of my years in college bitter towards my parents and very judgmental of everyone and everything I encountered. If I could change one thing about my college experience, it would be my attitude. My first responsibility was to honor my parents and to glorify God in all circumstances, and I failed in that.
In general I would not recommend college to other women. I think, in general, that young women would make better use of their time and spiritual development by pursuing studies on their own and serving their family and their church during their years of singleness. There are many opportunities for home-based businesses that do not require a college degree or much initial capital. A typical college education is not good training for being a wife and mother, since it is normally coupled with feministic ideology and a focus away from home responsibilities. Women today are leaving college disillusioned as to their Biblical roles. In college they are masculinized by feminist teachings, and after 4 years spent focusing on training for a career, few women exit college still focused on being content and submissive keepers at home. I think there are valid reasons for women to attend college, but I think they are few and much farther between than is generally believed. Certainly a college education has some benefits, and I do not believe that every single woman is by default called to be a wife and mother. I do believe, though, that for the vast majority of young women - especially those who do feel called to serve God as a wife and mother - the negatives of college outweigh the benefits.
Put in a slightly shorter form, Susan tells us that going to college might open your home-schooled eyes and that is a no-no. Is the faith of these true believers so weak that they can't abide hearing the alternatives? Shouldn't battling with these questions make believers stronger? I guess not, if they are women. Women are really fragile and need to be under the authority of a man. Otherwise they will wilt or something. Though at the same time they are strong enough to have many, many children and to scrub floors on all fours.
It is an odd post, and it's not made clearer by a comment its author penned:
Living without her father or another appointed male authority figure, independently on a college campus, doesn't seem to properly keep with the notion of living under authority. When a girl is, say 500 miles away from her father, she can ask advice over the phone, but really, is that any different that chatting with her best friend for advice about a situation? In fact, I would guess the best friend's advice would be more often-sought and (in most cases) more readily taken, so it seems the girl would be more living under the authority of her friends than her father, if occasional long-distance advice suffices for authority.
And please let me make it clear that I am speaking of authority and headship in a positive sense, not in the domineering sense of a father with a power problem, who will not let allow his unmarried, adult daughter to purchase a new pair of socks without his permission. That is not Biblical headship; that is a power problem. I am talking of a positive father-daughter relationship where the father earnestly desires to lead his daughter and guide her in her every day life, and where the daugher earnestly desires her father's opinion and protection in her life on a regular basis, not just on major decisions like marriage. And I am the first to admit that I fail to properly display the daughter's side of the picture I just painted.
Or let me rephraze: The post is not odd at all if you believe that a) women are to be under male authority at all times (a common belief in early Christian times as well as one shared by many Muslims), b) women go bad or spoil very easily and must be protected from any chance of this happening (once again, not that different from what fundamentalist Islam believes) and c) a woman's proper place is at home, in subjection (fill in this parentheses; you know how by now).
I guess a college is frightening because it's a place where these assumptions are questioned.