I don't think I could agree more.  It is a timely post, too; I had this same discussion with a colleague just two days ago.  He was lamenting the same things and I was trying to assure him that there were alternatives--i.e., homeschooling and eschewing college altogether in favour of vocational school or some sort of apprenticeship that would allow the child to grow in that area where interest intersects with talent (with a bit of utility mixed in for good measure).  More to the point is the antagonism modern education has towards Christianity.  As Luther wrote, our children's education cannot be divorced from our Christianity and, as Dabney wrote, the government school system was bound to work against us by virtue of its professed 'neutrality.'  As Rev. Dabney noted, there is no neutrality with Christ--you are either for Him or you are against Him.  I am bound and determined to educate my children properly, but also to protect them, as well.

All of that being said, I also appreciate a good treatise summarised in Five Points.

As someone who has been in college for almost nine years now, I can say that my experience resonates with a lot of what Baucham has to say.

I think his point #1 isn't very strong, since it is only one study, and the result are probably quite different for college graduates who have grown up in healthy homes as opposed to unhealthy ones.

Point #2 is spot-on.  I didn't need four years of undergrad, and though my five years of graduate school have been better, I could have done better to spend it in a library with a good reading list and a couple of intelligent compadres.

Point #3 focuses mostly upon $, but the time aspect is the real killer.  If you think the peer pressures of high school are intense, college only adds fuel to the fire.  And this isn't just in terms of "nastier" temptations like drugs and sex, but the more insidious (because less taboo to many "Christians") temptations toward sloth, frivolity, and indiscipline.

Point #4 should be obvious, but college has become a rite of passage--a kind of last freedom to self-indulge before the "responsibilities" of adulthood set in.  I was homeschooled for over half of my education prior to college, and although I grew more in knowledge, I missed out on learning trade skills that would have been profitable.  If I could go back I would have spent more of my time learning from neighbors and chuch members whose livelihood included things like electrician, plumber, mechanic, contractor, roofer, carpenter, engineer, businessman, etc.  Not only does it teach a valuable lesson in skills, but also helps us to appreciate taking care of the things around us, not to mention that it provides a good bit of humility to work with your hands.

Point #5 has been the most vividly true of my graduate experience.  Few have been openly hostile to Christianity, but 100% have bought into a pluralistic secular humanism that is the antithesis of honoring God with the glory He is due.  Not only is it hostile to Christianity, but because of its rejection, it has been steadily losing its intellectual depth.  The more behaviorism that creeps into lower education, the farther higher education has to stoop in order to pick up the slack.  Not only do many students and professors hate God, but they do so in the most unintelligent manner (even if they happen to be somewhat intelligent).

I think that there are several ways in which Christians can use their money, time, and talents in a better way than in going to college:

1) Invest in their Church and community.  Learning from books is wonderful, but working in the world provides concrete ways to put such knowledge to work.  Again, I'm speaking from the lack in my own life a bit here, which may lead me a bit overboard, but I think it would be valuable for every Christian young person to spend a year or two working with tradesmen in their churches and in their local community--and they should do it without expecting payment.  If parents are willing to pay for college, they could keep the kids at home one more year while they learn and invest in these ways.  Or, the children could get a job and learn trade skills in their off hours.

2) Invest in missionary work.  One would hope that #1 would provide opportunities for this, but I am also thinking of something more involving, like spending a year or two with foreign missionaries, or in working with a local, state, or nationwide missions program.  Week long mission trips are great, but if we really want to get a good idea of what such work is like, a year or two will be a better measurement for our evaluation.  Plus it provides workers for the harvest and mercy needs, and the money to fund it could be taken from the money that would have gone to colleges whose work is far less concerned, if at all concerned, with the work of Christ's Kingdom.

3) Invest in directed exploration.  What is it that interests your child?  Do they want to know more about ocean creatures?  Do they long to be a part of the history of Elizabethan England?  Do they want to preach the Word?  Why not take a couple of months and plan out a year or two long intensive exploration of the chief interest of your child?  The problem with colleges is that they have to meet the needs of so many different people.  Such a demand makes the learning so general and abstract that it is hard for the student to really figure out how to use the information.  Granted, an engineer, a biologist, or a doctor is going to have his college path paved out pretty strictly, but even so, it might benefit the student to spend a year shadowing a doctor, or being a lab assistant for a research biologist, or tagging along on an archaeological dig, or planning to visit England, to study its history by visiting the places where events occurred during the Elizabethan period.

Smart parents are going to be able to create a curriculum and activities that give their child a vast improvement over the generalized information they will get from many of their college courses (I'd wager about 95% of those "liberal arts" and "core prerequisite" courses you could do better than).  Plus, it is your chance to continue investing in your child's learning in a way that college doesn't afford.  It is high time Christians starting thinking about how to counter and provide healthy alternatives to the failing institutions and structures around them.  The wisdom of "redeeming" or "reclaiming" these places instead of coming up with something better is on the same level of wisdom as the current economic plans of our Federal government.  It is like trying to change behaviors instead of changing the thinking and willing.

I’ve given a lot of thought to this topic since reading this post. I think the most important thing to keep in mind here is the individual leading of the Holy Spirit. Does God call some Christians to choose paths as adults that do not include college? Yes. Are those who go to college “less spiritual?” No.  This is a lesson I learned well during my graduate school years. In fact, I gave a title to my life during part of my graduate school experience (as I like to do). It is the “abolition of the sacred/secular dichotomy.” There were two junctures at which I thought of pursuing missionary work or seminary training, but God led me otherwise. College was a wonderful period in my life. I was exposed to so many things and ideas that I did not understand previously, but these challenges strengthened my faith rather than harming it. I remember my first semester as an undergraduate at the University of Florida walking through campus and seeing the Hari Krishnas dancing and feeding whomever would come on a weekly basis. I remember seeing the fire and brimstone preachers carrying crosses and banners and yelling out particular sins and talking about hell. I remember walking around thinking, how in the world am I to minister to the people around me?  What does it mean to see a false religion feeding the hungry and looking joyful? How do the “plaza preachers” influence this campus’ view of Christianity? (I ended up writing a letter to the school newspaper on this topic, but it was not published…)  It was a time of prayer and learning how to look for opportunities to talk to varied people about God. It was so good for me to be around people who were not just like me…to know that the world is big, that God is sovereign over all things and all people and to find my place in that. I was able to find Christians on campus and to participate in mission work in Gainesville itself, Brazil, Georgia, and Spain. My experience there was very different than my experience in grad school at Mississippi State, which was much more conservative. I have such tender memories of that transition and how God called me to Starkville to learn so much more about His character and to befriend people from around the world living in a small town in MS. I know as a parent we think about the particular leadings of our children. I just fear that a mindset that college is a wrong choice in general leads us to influence our children to look down on people whom God does call to go and to feel superior about a different calling. This lesson has been very clear to me in another area of life recently, so that may be why I see its application here, as well. There is one last consideration here, and that is “careers” and utility. God does call Christians to participate in a variety of careers that require schooling. God does not call all women to marry. He has given us a mind to use, yes, to pursue Him and spiritual matters, but also to exercise in ways that benefit the world He created.