An In-Depth Analysis of Communism at Patrick Henry College

Socialism. Communism.

Words with incredibly negative connotations. What ungodly events we associate with these words. What a terrible belief, a way of living. Certainly we would never find ourselves cleaving to the nasty parameters of Communism.

Right?

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you. The intensely analytical study of Patrick Henry College as a communist organization.

“Communism is a distinct socio-political philosophy that is willing to use violent means to attain its goal of a classless society. If capitalism is defined as a social system based on individual rights (and individual wealth), then communism is its direct opposite. Communism believes in equality through force. In its system, individual rights are ground to powder and used to build its idol of absolute government control.”

Absolute government control? Sound familiar? That’s right folks, we’re living under it. Communist principles are found all over PHC. Though most of us religiously claim to hold to the principles of freedom and small government, the cold hard truth is that the administration of PHC doesn’t practice what it preaches. For four years of our lives, we live under a large, intrusive government that regulates everything from what brand of shoes we wear to the religion that we practice.

Communism in Education: Are we being brainwashed at PHC?

Communist education:

Now let’s pick apart those two words. Communist. Education. We’ve already given you a definition for that. Anti-class, controlling equality, massive government. Now we have education. You could go on forever trying to figure out with a specific definition of education. Plenty of people have put forth their two sense of how young people should be educated. Whether it be by a village, a government, a parent, a professor—all day, or only a few hours, for free or for money, covered by taxes or donors—education is something that most everyone comes in contact to at one time or another.

But we don’t want to talk about all different kinds of education. We want to talk about Patrick Henry College. The statement of PHC claims “For Christ and for Liberty.” But do we really have liberty here? Are we not all taught the same thing in hopes of crafting us in to particular types of people? We are enforced with a dress code, so that all look the same. Nothing unusual, or designed to attract attention is allowed. That’s not even getting down to the education though. We are taught ‘critical thinking.’ But what is TRULY being taught is the SAME exact thing to each person: be what we want, say what we want, do what we want, influence the government how we want, go into business how we want, write what we want, walk like we want, live your life how we want. They encourage students to ‘lead our nation and shape our culture.’ They are conditioning us, and we are willing.

Now, I’m sure not a single student enrolled at PHC thinking that they were submitting themselves to a communist organization. And I’m even MORE sure that the administration would not admit to being communistic. The facts are laid out.

Communism in Religion: Why mandatory chapel is counterproductive.

Should a government be allowed to regulate the religion of its citizens? Most conservatives tremble at the thought. Unless, of course, it’s PHC (that’s totally okay). Homeschool parents can regularly be heard complaining about the secular colleges or public schools forcing agendas, but PHC does this unashamedly and provokes no such criticism. When it comes down to it, there is no difference between the two.

The problem with forced religion is that it is not real religion. Well, I mean, if you believe that religion consists of external behaviors, of course it can be forced. But if you believe that it is an internal matter, of the heart, there is absolutely nothing that an authority can do to force it. PHC doesn’t claim that chapel attendance will guarantee salvation, but it is “mandatory” for all students. Why? That’s a good question. The truth is; making chapel attendance mandatory actually does more harm than good.

If chapel attendance were optional, I would probably be there 80-90% of the time. Simply because I honestly value the opportunity to worship with others. And I would be there specifically for that purpose: worshipping, not checking facebook. But when something becomes, forced, mandatory, it immediately changes the entire substance of that activity. When we choose to participate in an activity, we have a personal investment in that activity. We’ve chosen to spend our time there, for the purpose of actually doing that activity. However, when an activity is forced, students are robbed of the opportunity to invest themselves in it. Without a personal investment, students lose nothing by checking facebook, texting, or being otherwise distracted.

PHC, if you truly want electronic distractions during chapel to stop, make chapel optional. Give us the option of being there because we want to be there. Let us invest our time and ourselves in our religion, instead of trying to force it onto us.

Communism in Everyday Life: Christians: blending in, or making statements?

Be not conformed to this world. Most of us Christian kids were told growing up that we were supposed to stand up and be different from the culture and our peers. To stand up for what we believe, and not be afraid of being different. Going against the grain is more than okay, our Sunday school teachers told us, it’s what we should be doing. And yet, at PHC, students are regularly forced into a mold. Cookie cutter Christians, we call them: people who are each exactly alike. From the way we think, the way we look, and the occupations that we are expected to pursue, PHC crams its students into its idea of what we should be.

One of the best demonstrations of PHC’s attempts at creating cookie-cutter followers is in the way they require them to look. There is much to be said about the benefits of a business casual dress code that encourages students to prepare for the way they will one day have to dress in their profession. However, when describing the code of how students are to wear/style their hair, the specific wording used in the Student Life Manual says students must avoid “unusual styles designed to attract attention.” The clear and blatant command to NOT be different, NOT have personal style, NOT do anything that takes away from the conformist image that PHC wishes all of its students to have. While PHC claims to promote ‘critical thinking’ and the ability to make a difference in the world today, what they REALLY promote is followers that cannot be told apart amongst themselves. 

A quick word about free speech: I’m not huge on most of PHC’s rules, but I can generally live under them in peaceful disagreement. There’s really only one that I can think of that I have a huge issue with. In the “Biblical Standards” section of the Student Handbook, rule number 9 states: “Students will not advocate non-Biblical sexual practices, such as extra-marital sex, homosexuality or homosexual ‘marriage.’” The reasons to support or oppose gay marriage could fill an entire blog, but the point here is that apparently the administration of PHC is allowed to dictate what we’re allowed to believe and say. If PHC was truly training leaders, who could think critically for themselves, we would be allowed to consider all options. Unfortunately, PHC doesn’t have that kind of faith in its students, feeding them only properly approved information.

Is PHC training leaders? Or is it training robots?