Should Christian parents send their kids to Harvard?

By Richard D. Land, Christian Post Executive Editor Friday, August 28, 2026

Earlier this week, I felt a rush of memories come flooding back into my consciousness as I read about Sean Duffy, Trump's Secretary of Transportation, and Rachel Campos-Duffy, a Fox News host, discussing with their daughter, Paloma, whether she should go to college at Harvard if she was accepted. It reminded me so much of similar conversations I had as a high school senior with my parents.

The Duffys' conversation took place on Duffy's reality TV talk show. "The Great American Road Trip".  Paloma shares that she has applied to Harvard and how enticing it would be if she were accepted. Her dad immediately expressed concern, explaining that they have raised Paloma with strong conservative (Catholic) values and that he felt that Harvard has "professionalized figuring out how they can take young girls like you" and "I think corrupt their minds."

Duffy immediately added that Paloma doesn't have to agree with his beliefs, but he thinks Harvard does not provide a balanced education. His wife added that "Catholicism is everything to us" and said sending Paloma to Harvard would "undermine" that — a prospect of great concern to her.

Paloma, their daughter, replied, "But I went to an extremely conservative school to high school … and I'm part of an extremely conservative family, and then if I go to a liberal setting, that's a way more well-rounded education than if I go to a conservative high school and then go to a conservative college."

Before proceeding further, it should be noted that the Duffys' concerns about Harvard are valid. The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) grades Harvard with an F rating for free speech, ranking it 245th out of 257 colleges and universities.

There are so many places in this conversation that echo conversations I had decades ago with my parents and other authority figures as I attempted to decide where to attend college.

Born in late 1946, I grew up in a working-class, blue-collar family in Houston, Texas. My father was a welder and my mother was a homemaker. They were both high school graduates who encouraged me from my earliest memories to go to college.

Growing up in the home of a U.S. Navy World War II veteran, in a neighborhood where almost all the homes were financed on G.I. Bill loans, where the streets were named: Ardennes, Bastogne, Calais, Dunkirk, Eisenhower, Forestal, Guadalcanal, Hurtgen Forest, Iwo Jima, etc., the influence of the military and the Cold War environment was powerful.

In my neighborhood, you didn't ask, "What's your dad do?" You asked, "What was your dad in?" because virtually all of the dads had served in World War II.

Also, with a working-class neighborhood and the military draft, a significant portion of the young men in the neighborhood enlisted in the armed services after high school.

Partially as a result of these influences, I felt called to go to West Point in my early adolescence and was prepping for that when God called me into full-time Christian service as a Baptist minister. God had called me to serve in a different service, His Army!

I adjusted my college search accordingly, in the middle of my sophomore year. Given our family's financial circumstances, my parents and I figured that with me working and saving money (I have had a job every day of my life since I was 10 years old with a paper route), we could afford for me to attend the University of Texas with in-state tuition.

Then in my junior year, after I had taken the SAT, my high school guidance counselor called me in and asked me where I was planning on going to college. I told her Texas. She said, "We think you can do better." My thought was, "Better? What can be better than U.T.?"

My guidance counselor, Miss Caroline Ivy, said, "Yes. There are better schools." She would not let me leave her office without a handful of catalogues to read from prospective schools.

Miss Ivy and I engaged in an extended process where I ended up applying to two very different schools, Wheaton College in Illinois and Princeton University in New Jersey. When I drew Miss Ivy's attention to the fact that the tuition and room and board at both schools was well beyond my parents' means, she assured me that given my SAT and class rank (I graduated summa cum laude), a scholarship would not be a problem.

Then the exciting news came that I had been admitted to both schools with sufficient financial aid to cover the costs!

Then the heavy discussions commenced. Like the Duffys, I was part of a very religious family. My parents, my younger brother, and I were all devout Southern Baptists who were very active in our local church, where my father was a deacon, and my mother and father both were Sunday school teachers. We were regular attendees Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night. It was in that Southern Baptist church where I was converted, discipled, nurtured in the faith, and called to preach.

What reminded me so much of the Duffys' experience is that the Wheaton (Billy Graham's alma mater) vs. Princeton decision caused fairly active division among all the authority figures in my life. My mother wanted me to go to Wheaton, as did my pastor. My father wanted me to go to Princeton, as did my high school teachers, Miss Ivy and my high school principal.

The basic debate was, you can't go into a "spiritual hot house" like Wheaton and come out and face the cold wintry blasts of the world vs. "you can't go into a spiritual deep freeze like Princeton and come out spiritually warm!"

I struggled and prayed for a month and finally came up to the last day, where I had to make a decision or lose all my financial aid. After staying up all night praying about it, I decided God wanted me to go to Princeton.

Where my family differed from the Duffys is that while my family was devout religiously, my mother (who was from Boston) and my father (from East Texas) disagreed politically. My mother was a Republican and my father was a Democrat. Until the day he died (at 92), he believed FDR was the greatest American who ever lived, much more than just the greatest president. My mother grew up in a home where no one voted for him.

My parents canceled out each other's vote in every election until well after I left home. The first time my father admitted to voting for a Republican was 1984, when he admitted to voting for Reagan. So I was exposed to differing views at home on a regular basis.

Did I make the right decision in going to Princeton? I think so. It was a wonderful education. It was biased toward liberalism politically and theologically. Everything I believed was challenged, and by the time I left, graduating magna cum laude, I knew why I believed everything I believed. I must confess that even now, more than half a century after my graduation on June 14, 1969, not a week goes by that I am not reminded of what a great education it was. It more than well prepared me for seminary and then to earn a Doctor of Philosophy degree from Oxford University.

So where should the Duffys send their daughter Paloma? As an Ivy League graduate, I am often asked by religious parents about whether they should send their child to an Ivy League college. My reply to the Duffys would be the same I give to the parents who have, and do, ask.

It depends on the child. If your child is an independent thinker who is not overly influenced by peers or whatever the reigning zeitgeist may be, send them and do your best to make sure they have a support group, like Catholic ministries evidently are providing for Catholic students at Harvard.

I have three children (two daughters and a son). One has a doctorate and the other two have master's degrees. All three attended overtly Christian prep schools K-12 and Christian higher education institutions, with the exception of the two-year period my son was on a football scholarship at a public university.

All three have maintained the faith my wife (who has a Ph.D.) and I instilled in them at home.

We sent our children to Christian schools because all three are "joiners" who are much influenced by peers. All three are uncomfortable being in social or educational situations where they are in a decided minority. It drives both their parents to distraction, because we are both "contrarians," who really don't mind if nobody agrees with us if we believe we are right.

You know your child better than anybody else does. Is he or she unduly influenced by peer pressure? If they are, I would hesitate to send them to an extremely liberal school. If they are not, then at least consider it.

And my wife and I are both more grateful than we can say that all three of our children are involved in ministry or Christian education, are well matched in their marriages, and are active in their local churches.

God has indeed blessed us and we are profoundly grateful for His watchful care and guidance.