The Southwestern Assemblies of God University

Date: Mar 07 2008
Major: Religion/Religious (This Major's Salary over time)
Although I attended SAGU via distance ed for one semester, I lived on campus (my wife was a full time student) for a little over 2 years all together, every member of my wife's family is an alumni, I worked at a place where over half the people my age were students, and going to A/G churches in Waxahachie for the last 7 years meant that I have been as immersed in SAGU culture as one can be without being a full time on-campus student. Here's the jest: this is NOT a thinking person's school. If you are the type to do what you're told, believe what you hear, and support your beliefs without doing your own research, than you'll be fine. Obviously, it's a religious school, and to get this far, you probably already have your beliefs figured out, however they came to be. If you are the type to act on principle, challenge common views NOT because you're a rebel but because you've thought them through, and consider yourself an autonomous adult, look elsewhere for your higher education. None of this is intended as insult, but this is a sheltered environment, and people here are younger than their age - not in maturity, but in experience. It's about 40 minutes away from anything significant, and you're pretty much surrounded on all sides by extensions of the school - a high concentration of A/G churches, SAGU alumni and drop-outs, and people that essentially think and act the same way as can be found at the school. Education wise, there is arguably a priority placed on the denomination of the A/G above that of the actual Bible - to major in anything at SAGU is to minor in Bible, which is good, but unless you major in Bible, you can only take one of OT or NT surveys, because A/G Doctrine and Polity has to be fit in - wouldn't it be more appropriate to emphasize survey of the entire Bible, then get to denominational specifics? Of course, there are entire courses on specific parts of the Bible - Acts and Corinthians, for just one example - that are required for a non-Bible degree that give the impression that these books may be a little more important than others in the Bible. Another point about education: all to often, the emphasis is on spiritual development over and above academics. Church is a good place for spiritual development - not to say that it can't be found elsewhere, but with a place for everything and everything in its place, I'm severely distracted from what I'm in class to learn when a professor decides to pursue a classroom revival instead of focusing on what we're supposed to be learning. God is a God of order, and he has things set in their place for good reason - the credibility of His people in the eyes of the thinking unsaved hinge on their command of their studies, which is hampered by classroom church sessions. We have chapel and, again, our chosen church for this.

One redeeming point: I took Bible Study with Dr. Bartel. I'll forever use some of the things I learned in that class - and not just in Bible study, but in my study of many social subjects as well. Very fond of his class - it was the most challenging, and it was the one that reminded me that I was in a place of higher learning.