So you will have a daughter going to college soon?
Can I ask if this is something you have encouraged her to do?
If so, allow me to suggest a reason to reconsider your support.
I COULD SAY THIS, BUT I WON’T
Perhaps you are expecting me to say that you ought to steer your precious daughter away from any college campus, due to the prevalence of immoral sexual behavior found there.
Although this is true for the majority of college campuses, it would seem, this is not the occasion of sin I am referring to.
Or maybe you are expecting me to highlight the fact that it is unlikely she will land a job in the field of study she studied to get her degree. This seems likely to play out, and may seem to be a waste of money, but I am not underlining that.
I WILL ALSO NOT SAY THIS
Unless you are paying for her education, your daughter going to college will likely rack up some serious debt. Whether or not she graduates with a piece of paper with calligraphy on it, she will be steeped debt.
From here I could talk about how the debt hampers any possible religious vocation she may have.
Religious orders of nuns require their members to take vows of poverty, among other vows. Imagine a young woman owing tens of thousands of dollars to a bank or the federal government for her student loans. She may be prevented from entering the convent, or at least think she ought not apply.
I could speak on that topic further about how vocations to the religious life are lost. But I will not.
WHAT I WILL POINT OUT IS THIS
Going back to the debt your daughter going to college will likely accumulate… Let’s fast forward to when she gets married.
That debt will loom large within the marriage, almost certainly.
Not wanting to waste her degree, she will likely feel the urge to work outside the home.
But what about raising a family? Any married couple with a mountain of debt may see the debt as an excuse to delay having children. Thus, college debt can serve as an occasion of sin.
The sin in question would be to contracept.
Society would expect them to establish themselves in their careers. But at what cost?
Many couples feel pressured to have the college debt paid down or paid off before entertaining the thought of introducing a little one into the family.
Is this what you would want for your daughter?
As I have discussed on this blog before, women feel most fulfilled when they practice “the feminine genius,” as Pope Saint John Paul II put it. That is, when they get to make use of their God-given nurturing talents.
Working the 9 to 5 in a corporate or similar setting doesn’t prepare them well for parenthood or provide the best training for being a wife.
As Catholic author G.K. Chesterton once famously said, “It [feminism] is mixed up with a muddled idea that women are free when they serve their employers but slaves when they help their husbands.”
Rather than serve their bosses, they would likely find joy in serving their husbands and caring for their own children instead.
YOUR TURN
Do you see what I am saying about this danger of your daughter going to college?
Is it worth it to encourage her to pursue a college degree anyway?
Please share your thoughts here.
