Fundie school

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A fundie school is a term used to describe a certain type of higher education institution established by fundamentalist Christian conservatives. Most (but not all) are unapproved by accreditation boards (such as those listed with the US Council for Higher Education Accreditation), which typically monitor colleges and universities to ensure basic standards of academic rigor. Some fundie schools have actual campuses and resemble secular universities, while others are shameless diploma mills which offer "degrees" to anyone who can sign a check. Most are located in the Bible belt. Fundie schools often place an especial focus on Bible study, and incorporate pseudoscience (especially young earth creationism and evolution denial) into their natural sciences curricula.

Many fundie schools enforce extremely restrictive codes of conduct for their students and faculty. Examples of prohibited conduct may include:

  • Playing video games
  • Listening to rock (including Christian rock, metal, pop, vocal jazz, CCM, new age, IDM/electronica (the list goes on forever…)
  • Visiting pubic libraries or movie theaters
  • Going on dates with members of the opposite sex
  • Going on dates with members of the same sex. (they will kick you out faster than you ever thought possible.)
  • Non-gender-conforming behavior
  • Visiting liberal church denominations such as the Unitarian Universalist Church (these schools teach you that to be a Christian, you must follow their strict, literal reading of the Bible)
  • Browsing the internet without strict monitoring (that means no RationalWiki!)
  • Having contact with the outside world in almost any manner
  • Reading banned literature (such as uncensored classic books or popular magazines)
  • Joining a counter-culture movement (i.e. become a goth, punk, etc.)
  • Exercising academic freedom, i.e. questioning higher ups or publishing anything contrary to official policy

Some of these strange policies have no basis in Christian teaching per se. Fundie schools tend to have an unhealthy obsession with gender segregation; they attempt to do their best to stop male and female students from interacting with each other off campus, and some even force their employees to avoid speaking or looking at each other too much. At Pensacola Christian College, female students are not allowed to wear pants, must wear skirts that cover up their knees, are restricted from leaving campus, and are not permitted to get off-campus jobs until age 25. Bob Jones University has banned dancing on campus.

Not content with the creepiness of restricting where students can go, fundie schools also spy on their prisoners students. Many students claim that faculty members have violated their right to privacy by searching their personal belongings and intercepting their letters from home. In addition, some students claim that when they are in stores near the school campus, they see school administration officials in the aisles watching them.

In general, fundie schools like having a lot of control over their young adult students, while offering them a crappy education and a little bit of good-ole-fashioned religious indoctrination. For prospective college students considering going to a fundie school, just don't do it. Youth is a terrible thing to waste.

The Hindu University of America, which offers degrees in pseudoscience like astrology and has links with Hindu nationalist organizations, can also be described as a fundie school.

[edit] (Dis)honor roll

[edit] "Real" schools

[edit] Diploma mills

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