This week's Associated Press news story (Thursday, September 28, 2000) announces the liberals' most-dreaded nightmare:

PURCELLVILLE, Va. (AP) - The nation's first college for students who were schooled at home is not what you would call a party school.

The 90 students who will begin classes Monday at the new Patrick Henry College can expect coursework with a Christian perspective, mandatory morning chapel services and a requirement to show ``evidence of a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.'' Men and women won't be permitted in each other's dorm rooms.

``It'll be a refuge from sex, drugs and rock and roll. Well, at least sex and drugs,'' said founder Michael Farris.

Farris' home schooling association estimates more than 1.5 million children are taught at home by their parents, and the number increases by 15 percent a year.

According to Farris, the average combined SAT score at Patrick Henry is above 1,200 out of a possible 1,600, and students have turned down Georgetown, William and Mary and other top schools to come to the college, which is in Virginia's Loudoun County about 35 miles from Washington.

``The only thing different is you don't have to dumb down the vocabulary when you're teaching home-schooled kids,'' said Farris, a Republican nominee for lieutenant governor in 1993 and founder of the Home School Legal Defense Association.

Joanna Kurlowich of Columbia, S.C., said she chose Patrick Henry so that she won't have to spend her time defending her Christian beliefs to skeptical professors.

``If a professor had conflicting beliefs, I would be forced to spend a significant amount of time defending my own beliefs instead of learning,'' she said. ``I want to learn, come out strong and ready to stand up for my beliefs.''

But Farris does not envision the school as a plastic bubble protecting students from the outside world--far from it. As he imagines it, the secluded campus will act as a training ground for the future Christian vanguard. Just as the Highlander Folk School turned out civil rights activists like Rosa Parks in the 1960s, Patrick Henry will prepare the next generation of young Christian agitators.  [Christian agitators?  Well, I guess from the vantage point of this liberal journalist, Hanna Rosin, of the Washington Post]

Pamphlets lay out the school's mission bluntly: All the students will be government majors, striving to "transform America" by finding high-level staff positions in government as a preparation to run for office. "PHC graduates," one brochure boasts, "will eventually hold some of the highest offices in the land."

Patrick Henry's emphasis on training future activists and politicians will set it apart from other Christian colleges. The school plans to resurrect an old apprenticeship model of teaching, where students work one on one with teachers to learn practical real-world experience. Its student body will be limited to 200, with at least 10 full-time teachers, each one a model of Christian living.

"It's more personal," said Jacob. "Instead of just book knowledge, we'll give them wisdom and experience so they'll be ready to hit the ground running, go into a job and do it from day one."

In case you haven't noticed, liberals have been berating home schooling since it's most recent resurgence in the late 20th Century.  Certainly it's obvious why the liberals despise home schooling--because it's working to counteract the society that the liberals are trying to perpetuate.  The AP story says it this way: 

Many home-schooled youngsters are from fundamentalist Christian families who believe the [public] schools are not inculcating morals. Other parents -- some of them high academic achievers themselves -- cite dissatisfaction with the quality of public education and worries about violence and drugs.

That makes them [home schoolers] graduates of one of the most controversial movements in American education, one that gained steam in the 1980s amid a series of legal battles pitting parents against the government. Now that the first wave of the country's 1.5 million home-schooled children is reaching college age, there is a new debate: When, and how, should they be thrust into the "real world"?

Critics of home-schooling have long argued that children need exposure to the outside world and peers to grow into well-rounded adults. And home-schoolers freely admit their aim is to "let children be children" by sheltering them from the harsh realities and temptations of the modern world. But when do children stop being children? How do they make that transition? And what kind of adult lives will home-schooled children be prepared to lead?

This intertwining of politics and home-schooled students is bound to draw notice, especially since the home-schooling movement is so often depicted as antigovernment. In the last 19 years advocates for home schooling have filed hundreds of lawsuits in more than 40 states, according to the Home School Legal Defense Association. The purpose of the litigation, in most cases, has been to get government out of citizens' educational lives.

But to Farris and his colleagues, the vision is entirely consistent. Patrick Henry College will be a breeding ground for the next generation of crusaders -- who may abstain from partying with the rest of the world, but will still work to change it. The school's promotional material states the goal: "Eventually, these highly-qualified public servants will themselves begin to run for elective office and will have the opportunity to lead our nation back to its constitutional roots."

Those roots do not exclude religion, in Farris's view, and fundamentalist Christianity is clearly at the core of what the college hopes to stand for. Students will attend daily chapel. They must "show evidence of a personal relationship with Jesus Christ," the school pamphlet says, and must subscribe to a seven-point statement of faith that includes believing in the literal resurrection of Christ. Emblazoned on the blue-and-white folders being distributed to prospective students is a school motto: "For Christ & For Liberty."

. . . Patrick Henry College already has a few rules: Students will wear uniforms. They won't drink. They won't date unless their parents "are informed of the potential romance" and approve.

Farris's vision for student relationships also is closely tied to faith. He hopes to develop a "practice of courtship," in which students "engage in the activity of seriously looking for God's partner in life." Students who find themselves attracted to one another will be required to call their parents to discuss it. The role of parents, Farris said, is "to help them make a wise choice of whether they will marry."

However, just to demonstrate that even liberals should not make rash generalizations about those with whom they disagree, here are three "letters to the editor" response to the above Boston Globe article:

Dear Editor,

Your recent article, "New college eyeing political lives for the home-schooled" (12/14/99) wrongly implies that homeschoolers, in general, agree with Michael Farris' educational and political views. A large segment of today's homeschoolers choose home education not for religious or political reasons, but because homeschooling offers a rich and varied educational experience. Rather than hiding from reality, as you indicated, these families homeschool so that their children can experience more real world learning through internships, community service, travel and other activities that are limited within the confines of a school's four walls. In fact, many homeschool families facilitate their children's education by providing access to a multitude of people, perspectives and worldviews.

Dear Editor,

Anne Kornblut's sweeping generalizations about homeschoolers ("New College eyeing political lives for the home-schooled" p. 1, 12/14/99) shows sloppy research. All the issues she raises by unnamed critics, particularly that homeschoolers are deliberate isolationists, may apply to some, but hardly to all. The questions she asks, "How do they make that transition [into the world outside their home]? And what kind of adult lives will home-schooled children be prepared to lead?" have been answered by research and adults who were homeschooled themselves for some time now. Research, case histories, and anecdotal evidence exists for all the questions above, and lists of famous homeschoolers, grown-up homeschoolers willing to speak about being adults who were homeschooled, and colleges and universities that have accepted homeschoolers, are readily available. My company, which is nonsectarian and advocates homeschooling as a way to involve children in the world rather than isolate them in homes or schools, publishes such information, and has done so since 1977. These lists include scientists, athletes, artists, politicians, business people, etc., all of whom were homeschooled for all or part of their childhood. They are not social illiterates, nor are they all right-wing conservatives. Homeschoolers have been getting into Ivy League Universities and other colleges and we - and even the Boston Globe - report it (for instance, see the recent Globe article about the author Jedidiah Purdy, who was homeschooled ). Homeschoolers also find work worth doing without conventional high school or college degrees.

The Globe needs to be more aware of the history of homeschooling: while there are 1.5 million homeschooled children in America now, a large number of homeschooled children passed into adulthood in the eighties, making the nineties the "second wave," not the first wave as the article says, of homeschoolers to attend college and/or enter the workplace. Most importantly, homeschooling is a very diverse movement that includes far more people and attitudes than the Globe's article would lead a reader to believe.

Dear Editor:

Homeschooling provides the flexibility that allows students more exposure to the world than they have when they are in an institution for 30+ hours a week. In my experience, homeschoolers regularly interact with people of all ages and in all kinds of situations. Compare that to children in classrooms with one adult plus a room full of agemates.

Many homeschoolers belong to support groups which include families of different religions, cultures and ethnic backgrounds. They frequently participate in community activities including scouts, sports, and performing arts. Community involvement and family relationships allow homeschoolers to learn from adults in real settings and provide opportunities to develop relationships based on interests as well as age.

In conclusion, it is important to understand that there are many homeschoolers who interact just fine with the real world, who do not agree with the views and religious dictates expressed by Michael Farris and his colleagues, and who have no need or desire to be associated with a school like Patrick Henry College.

Because the school accepts no government aid and prohibits its students from doing the same, it has the right to discriminate on the basis of religion.

I find this particular excerpt from the Washington Post article telling of how the journalist views devout Christians who home school:

To some, [Patrick Henry College] looks like an Amish daydream, a sleepy place for home schoolers to shut out the world and sustain their youthful innocence long past the natural time. "Eighteen is the traditional age when we're expected to go out into the big bad world and make our own decisions," said Mark Rozell, a professor at Catholic University who wrote a book about Virginia's Christian right leaders, including Farris. "The great danger is, at what point do these people become integrated into the mainstream?"

The plan to build Patrick Henry now places Farris at the center of a debate about the religious right in modern America: Is the college a symbol of the movement's retreat into a parallel counterculture? Or does it represent a new effort to transform secular society?

For Farris and his co-founder, Bradley Jacob, the answer is clear. "This will not be a place for young people to hide from the world," said Jacob, who will be the school's provost. "We are not trying to shelter them from everything. We want them to leave college with strong values and be able to function in any environment."

In the debate over Christians' involvement in politics, he added, "we are solidly in the camp that Christians should be engaged, that they should be running for higher office."

Patrick Henry College, named after the Virginia patriot who himself had been home-schooled, will be built on 44 acres of land located in the Loudoun County town of Purcellville, Va. The town, populated by approximately 2,500, is located one hour from Washington. The college will begin with 100 students the first year and 200 the following year.

The founding organization of the new college is the Home School Legal Defense Association. Michael Farris, president of HSLDA and future president of the new college, said Patrick Henry College has been named as such because he and the HSLDA have patriotic purposes for the college.

"Our goal is to teach students to be effective government servants and leaders with the original intent of the Constitution as the primary focus of their instruction in government," Farris said. "We believe that is -- by design -- patriotic towards our country."

Emphasizing the college's patriotic endeavors, the only degree that will be offered during its first academic year, which is scheduled for fall 2000, will be a Bachelor of Arts in government. Promoting academic excellence in the field of government, however, is only one of the college's primary goals. The college will uphold a Christian worldview as well.

"We seek the unity and the breadth of being a non-denominational school while at the same time being very focused and very narrow on our strong commitment to the Christian faith," said Brad Jacobs, the provost of the college.

Commenting on the ground-breaking taking place today, Hager said, "As Virginia's newest private Christian college, Patrick Henry College soon will become an important part of a broad and diverse system of higher education that is alive, vibrant and thriving."

"We live in competitive, opportunity-filled times -- and we all know that in the new millennium, the best jobs and the best opportunities will go to the students who are the best prepared," added Hager. "I'm sure it won't be long until graduates of Patrick Henry College will be following in Patrick Henry's footsteps ... and leading Virginians forward into a new century --where the opportunity, hope, and promise that was Henry's dream becomes Virginia and America's reality."

Regarding the vision of Patrick Henry College, Farris said, "We believe that our long range freedom as a nation depends on developing leaders who believe in the principles of freedom and who have the skills to make America work in the way it was intended by people who wrote the Constitution. We want to train up those leaders."

Of course it's most ironic that this journalist would try to show the College negatively by these comments, as most devout Christians would find the following characteristics to be most attractive:

The school will not be like some Christian colleges, where students drink and party, acting no better than the unsaved, said Farris and Jacob. Instead of finding what God has called them to do, some Christian students are focused on "how can I get the big bucks after I graduate," said Jacob. Other Christian schools are "too legalistic," said Farris, fixating on dress codes and rules instead of the spirit.

"We're not looking for people who say, 'Sure I'm a Christian, I went to church a few times,' " said Jacob. "I'm reluctant to use evangelical jargon, but we're looking for people who are born again, where being a serious Christian has made a difference in their life." The application will ask: "Please describe your personal relationship with Jesus Christ."

Patrick Henry will foster a "family-affirming culture," said Farris, prepping kids for stable jobs and, just as important, stable marriages. The aim is to splice out that period known as teenage rebellion, or youthful indiscretion--a stage of life Christian home schoolers consider a false construct of liberal education. "We want to take people coming out of strong families and equip them to build their own."

Farris has called dating "serial infidelity," and will not allow it at Patrick Henry. Instead students will follow the "courtship model" preferred by conservative Christian families. A boy interested in a girl will have to write, call or e- mail her parents. If they approve, the two can get to know each other by going out in large groups. The aim is not just to "have a good time," said Farris, but to "look at that person as a life partner."

The strategy is already "test marketed," he said. About a third of the employees at his Home School Defense Association are home-schooled, including the interns. So far, they've celebrated several marriages among them and suffered "no pregnant interns."

The curriculum will be Bible-centered, meaning "every subject will be analyzed from a Christian viewpoint," said Jacob. Science classes will teach about evolution, said Farris, in order to "explain why it's wrong." All literature will be evaluated for whether it promotes Biblical values.

Law and government classes will make up the school's core, and will emphasize Christian political concerns such as Roe v. Wade and gay rights. "Few students will know more about the political ramifications of reinforcing homosexuality through special rights than ours," said Farris. Every evening students are expected to gather for a town hall meeting modeled on colonial New England to hone their government leadership skills.

The liberal objective has been showing through very clearly in recent years.  The supreme mission statement of liberal thinking is "we know better than you, how you should live, and we'll force you to live as we believe you should."  Through a benevolent dictatorial government, the liberals would decide how we should live, and this government would take care of each of us from cradle to grave, whether we like it or not!  In a nutshell, the government caretaker removes the baby from the parents through day care, at the earliest possible age, and this care continues by means of various mandates such as public pre-school, public elementary school, public high school, and public "higher" education.

Churches, home schooling, and now this Patrick Henry College really throw a wrench into the liberals' mission to control every citizen of the country.

As you know, the liberals have had a stranglehold on nearly every institute of "higher" education in our nation, and so to have a college that is firmly led by conservative Christians is seen as a huge threat to the liberal establishment.  Case in point (from the AP article):

Paul Houston, executive director of the American Association of School Administrators, which represents public-school superintendents, said he is concerned that students at Patrick Henry won't be exposed to people of different philosophies.

``When does this child learn to face the real world?'' he asked. ``They certainly have the right to do this. But I wouldn't want my kids in that cloistered environment.''