March (Web-only) 2004

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Patrick Henry College's plan is working, says The New York Times
About 7 percent of the White House interns this semester are from Patrick Henry College, reports The New York Times today. Not bad for an unaccredited school that launched less than four years ago and currently has only 240 or so students.

"The college's knack for political job placement testifies to the increasing influence that Christian home-schooling families are building within the conservative movement," says Times "conservative beat" writer David Kirkpatrick. He credits Patrick Henry president Michael Farris, who is also founder of the Home School Legal Defense Association.

"We are not home-schooling our kids just so they can read," Farris told the Times. "The most common thing I hear is parents telling me they want their kids to be on the Supreme Court. And if we put enough kids in the farm system, some may get to the major leagues."

Back in 2001, The Washington Post had a much more dramatic quote from Farris. "You guys have got to get into the United States Senate—that's the solution," he told his constitutional law class in that story. "Go take over. That's the answer." (A 2003 Post article on Patrick Henry College has disappeared from the Post website, but is reposted elsewhere.)

And so Patrick Henry College is a tech school of sorts. With a mission "to train Christian men and women who will lead our nation and shape our culture with timeless biblical values and fidelity to the spirit of the American founding," the school blends some aspects of classical liberal arts education with apprenticeship. It's department of government, in which about two thirds of its students study, aims "to promote practical application of biblical principles."

That's quite ...