# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1950_S215
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

224 SEMINARIES AND COLLEGES

Kingdom through Christian education.” The responsibility.
of providing sons and daughters for service in the Chureh
is one which these congregations should also recognize ang
assume willingly. Therefore no subsidy from Synod shall be
claimed by a Lutheran high school for the preparation of
acceptable candidates for admission at the freshman college
level of our synodically controlled colleges.

5. A standard program for college entrance shall include be.
sides courses in religion for each year enrolled —
3 or 4 units of English
3 units of social science
2 units of mathematics (algebra, plane geometry)
2 units of science
1 unit of fine arts or practical arts
1 unit of physical education and health
2 units of foreign language (for ministerial students
German or Latin)
2 units of electives (for ministerial students German or
Latin)
This standard program will meet entrance requirements for
any college in the N.C. A.

6. Latin III, German III, and Greek shall be eliminated as
required courses for matriculation at the freshman college
level for ministerial candidates. These courses are too spe-
cialized and costly to be included in a defensible program
of general education.

It should be remembered that the specialized pre-professional
curricula which are now demanded at a synodical high school are |
really not justified by the educational philosophy of the Lutheran
parochial high schools. Since these schools are and ought to be
committed to a program of general education at the secondary
level for all the youth of the Church, it would not be proper to
demand that they provide specialties for the relatively few stu-
dents whom they prepare for specific professions.

Most educators agree that specialization in languages at the
expense of basic courses in science, mathematics, fine arts, and
practical arts at the secondary level cannot be justified. Also for
ministerial and teacher training students, the broader training
offered by the general education subjects is essential as a basic
background for the development of effective leadership. For this
reason Synod ought not to require the Lutheran high schools to
begin the specialty training of pre-ministerial students at the high
school level. It is indicated, for the same reasons, that correspond: ’
ing adjustments should eventually be made in the high school de-
partments of all synodical colleges, since the college departments

SEMINARIES AND COLLEGES 225

will be expanded to include senior college years and, therefore, an
additional opportunity for language study.

The scholarship payments proposed in these recommendations
are simple and direct. It is felt that such an arrangement should
encourage & large number of competent students to enroll in our
colleges after they have attended Lutheran high schools.

If this plan could be applied at all synodical colleges, a great
saving would accrue to Synod because of the fact that Synod would
no longer have the expense of training large numbers of students
for one or two years and then losing them. The Board’s studies
show that over a period of ten years the average annual loss
sustained when classes moved from the freshman to the sophomore
year is 20%; from the sophomore to the junior year 15%; from the
junior to the senior year 8%; and from the senior year to the
freshman college year 30%. (These are not net decreases in class
enrollments, since advanced standing registrations annually replace

some of the losses.) Under the plan proposed here, Synod would .

pay only for those students who actually matriculate in the college
department and would then pay only on a year-by-year basis for
students who actually progress from class to class. Very consid-
erable savings should result from such an arrangement.

This recommendation also has the advantage of avoiding every
connotation of “indigency” with reference to the students who re-
ceive the. refunds. There is no condition attached to the subsidy
except that the student enroll in the professional college and that
he make satisfactory academic, cultural, and spiritual progress to
merit readmission annually at the next higher level.

The effect upon the enrollment of the Lutheran high schools
should be quite satisfactory. It will be a distinct advantage for the
student who has the ministerial or teaching profession in mind to
enroll in a Lutheran high school rather than in a public high school.
Although he could secure the same course content in a public high
school, with the exception of the religion courses, it would be to
the student’s advantage to choose a Lutheran high school because
he would receive no tuition grant at the synodical college if he is
graduated from a secular high school. At the same time the high
school has not postponed payment of the fees and’ is not placed in
the embarrassing position of attempting to collect “back tuition”
if the student finds it impossible to continue his enrollment as a
pre-professional student.

Finally, the plan proposed is also entirely equitable, since. it
compensates approximately for tuition costs paid by the student
While attending a Christian secondary school preparatory to enter-
ing the teaching or preaching ministry. Such costs are not in-