By Maysie Krause | LTVN Reporter/Anchor
Some say faith and education go hand in hand.
You may think I’m talking about the religious aspect of education, but faith and religion are different. Everything needs faith to grow, and Baylor has it like no other university. It’s not just because Baylor is a Christian university or because the tuition we pay gives us a high-quality education. It’s something professors, like students, have to do: wake up every day to give something. That means they have faith in us.
Many know about “Dead Poets Society” — a movie enforcing the message of “carpe diem” or seizing the day. At Baylor, this can be seen when there is a faculty or staff member who loves what they do and wants to share it with students.
All students must take common core, major-based, lifetime fitness and elective classes at Baylor. I expected some of these to be boring, but they became a valuable part of my education. Who would have thought taking courses on the U.S. Constitution, the history of hunting and the French language would become a valuable part of my day?
A faith-based education is more critical now than ever. When professors live by their faith but don’t force it on students, they plant positive seeds. Rigorous and demanding liberal-leaning classes have been ingrained in me since transferring from a liberal arts college to Baylor. Now, I get a second chance at those classes that I hated so much — because deep down, I loved them but needed to have the attitude to learn.
John Keating, the professor in “Dead Poets Society,” says, “We don’t read and write poetry because it’s cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And medicine, law, business, engineering — these are noble pursuits necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love — these are what we stay alive for.”
It’s popular because it’s true.
Baylor has been around for 179 years, making it Texas’ oldest continuously operating university. This is the message Baylor promotes: “At Baylor, we celebrate our distinctive place of higher education where research, scholarship and faith guide the mind in understanding the complex diversity of God’s creation and prepare the whole person for service and leadership.”
Live out this message in your own college journey by taking a chance on professors like John Keating. They have faith in you. Take that as fuel to do your best, no matter which class it is.
