The American Revolution Was Led by Young People

The American Revolution was led by young people. Alexander Hamilton was 21. James Monroe was 18, for example. Thomas Jefferson was only 33 and James Madison just 25. Young people have an innate sense of freedom, or they should. Masked Nazis, sometimes they're very young. And there was the Hitler Youth. How do we inspire a new generation to love freedom? Ryan, the average Liberty University student, or the ideal Liberty University student, they're different from the average college student. Tell us about that. I would say so. I think one of the things that students and their parents are in pursuit of is a free education, free of radical indoctrination. Not free, financially free. Right, that's right. Free of, meaning that there is an educational freedom, and there is an educational philosophy that is still classic in the sense of going back to the old way of doing things, that is not motivated by radical subjectivism that you see so often in college campuses, where there are speech codes, and if you're in violation of the speech codes. I mean, that's so backwards compared to UC Berkeley, which was the home of free speech, they claimed, and now they're clamping down. You can't have an idea different from what the world says, or you get in trouble. That's right. Shocker, liberals are rather illiberal when they're in charge, right? So I would say that in context, the average Liberty student is in search of a Christian education. We're unapologetically Christian, have been since 1971, and we're largely politically incorrect when you think about where the cultural winds are. We have a compass, not a weather vane. Our compass points to true north, which is Jesus Christ, not whatever the winds of culture, which is constantly shifting and changing. 18 months ago, the orthodoxy, whether it be about mask mandates or critical race theory, which people said doesn't exist in schools, to today, oh, no, no, no, we don't want critical race theory in schools. That's terrible, it's horrible, we have to acknowledge it exists. Oh, and the masks are highly unpopular. Liberty never changed over that time. That's true. And that's comforting to know people want courage, they're looking for courage, people are looking for conviction, and it's not about just providing an education, it's about standing on principles. So when you think about the average Liberty student who's coming, they want a religious-based education, they want an education where they can be a practitioner in the field, where it's actually going to make sense, fully accredited, where it's gonna make sense, I'm gonna get this degree from a not-for-profit institution whose loan default rate is half the national average, by the way, so when you think about schools these days, and you're looking at what's going around, including UC Berkeley, a lot of people are getting education, you know, the classic underwater basket weaving, or whatever, actually, it's more like queer gender studies, and they still end up working at a barista somewhere, or they're making a great sandwich for you. But with these massive student loans. Massive student loans and in debt. So students are in search of a Christian education, but they're also in search of one that makes sense for their plan in life, and the conversation that they're gonna have with their parents. Son, what are you gonna do, right? What are you gonna do with your life? So I think that's what differentiates us from our competition. Well, I'll tell you, I've been on campus, I've been to the ski slope, I've been in the classrooms, I've seen the food options, I've seen the dorms, I've had the full tour, the library's phenomenal. I mean, you give everything that every other first-rate college provides, it's provided at Liberty. But you go beyond that, you use technology in new ways, because you've got this challenge. The world is telling, mind-numbing, the devices, social media is telling you, you know, think this way, and if you think any other way, you get punished. You're telling people, teaching people, to think for themselves, God-given liberty, but using technology. Tell us about how Liberty educates students. Well, I would just say that when you look at the classroom, we are practitioners, you know, in every field, whether it be law, whether it be business, whether it be engineering, whether it be the nursing school, school of engineering, I said school of engineering, but osteopathic medicine, education, behavioral sciences, and even divinity. By the way, we originally had a divinity school, but we have all those other things as well. And so when we're providing that education, yes, it is competitive, it is fully accredited, but what is behind all of that is a Christian worldview.