John Witherspoon College Christ Centered Education

Why Study at JWC?

The most important question you can ask is not “where am I going to college?” or “what’s my major going to be?” but “Why go to college at all?”

At JWC, we have an answer. God made you uniquely you, and He made you for Himself. He is calling you to love Him and serve Him with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength. Until the late 1800’s, what we call “classical” was called . . . well . . . just “college.” “Classical” education goes all the way back to the Hebrew Bible, ancient Greece, and ancient Rome. It was a vision for training in the “liberales artes”—the knowledge, skills, and wisdom to live and to lead as a “liber,” a free citizen rather than a slave. The great Christian universities of Europe refined that ancient vision of the “liberating arts.” They believed in education that prepares a person for a calling, not just a career. So do we.

In a way, a classical Christian college is all about you. Not by helping you settle for the path of least resistance, or waste your time on what sounds interesting at the moment, but by helping you become “a different kind of you”—ready to run the race God sets before you.

Let’s face it, college today is a lot like shopping at a yard sale. You’re looking for bargains and it’s all odds-and-ends. You pick and choose, pay, and take your treasures home. You pay a lot more for college, of course—but the principle is the same. You pick and choose interesting things until you fill up the cart, and take your degree home. JWC is a different kind of college, because we are convinced that

“A degree is not the same as an education.”

Okay, but what does that mean? Fair question. Here’s a small sample—at JWC . . .

  1. You begin with God! As C. S. Lewis put it, we believe in God as we believe in the sun, not because we can see it, but because by it we see everything else!
  2. You read great books. There’s a reason we call them “classics!”
  3. You deal with ideas. You can get facts in nanoseconds, but ideas shape cultures, start movements, change history.
  4. You learn to discern. Between the true and the false, the right and the wrong , the valid and the invalid, the worthwhile and the waste of time!
  5. You learn to say it right and say it well. Knowledge without communication is useless. Communication with passion and precision is powerful.
  6. You build knowledge, you don’t just pile it up. A wise builder begins with a strong foundation, and builds step by step.
  7. You learn your world and the rest of the world too. At JWC, you spend time out of your comfort zone to know it better!

This all sounds great, but we live in the real world, not dreamland. So, the big question is

“Can I get a job?”

Many people assume they need just the right major. Well, did you know . . .

That the college “major” is mostly a myth? Here’s the reality: Almost no one finishes a career in the field of his or her major! Almost half do not start in their major field! Almost one-third never work in it! Most people change jobs 7-10 times in a lifetime, and change careers 3-5 times!

That employers today are looking for a different kind of graduate? A recent study asked CEO’s how colleges should prepare students for the marketplace. Most said they should do a better job teaching research skills and “critical thinking,” “oral and written communication,” American culture and global culture, problem-solving, ethical decision-making, and more. To be blunt, employers today are looking for people like you from schools like JWC!

That the more things change, the more valuable a John Witherspoon degree becomes? It’s a fact—what looks “cutting edge” in college will likely be ancient history in ten years. The best preparation for an ever-changing marketplace is transferable—the knowledge and skills essential to success in every field. That’s what we mean by “a different kind of success.” Not “what you do,” but “what you can do.” As one CEO put it,

“We’re looking for liberal arts people who have a broad background and are not afraid to get up in front of a crowd of medical students at Yale or Harvard and tell them why they should buy [our] products.”

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