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Line 66: − ==External Links== − *[http://www.peacebyjesus.com/HARVARD_LAWES.HTML HARVARD LAWS of 1642]
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Harvard is one of the eight schools in the [[Ivy League]]. It is one of the four Ivy League schools to accept applications from [[homeschooling|homeschooled]] children.<ref>Christian Examiner, Sept. 2007, Vol 25, No 9, Pg. 12</ref>
Harvard is one of the eight schools in the [[Ivy League]]. It is one of the four Ivy League schools to accept applications from [[homeschooling|homeschooled]] children.<ref>Christian Examiner, Sept. 2007, Vol 25, No 9, Pg. 12</ref>
Rev. John Harvard was the son of a butcher whose family died when a plague swept England, leaving him an estate. Educated in [[England]], Rev. John Harvard was ordained, married and sailed for Massachusetts where he pastored the First Church of Charlestown. He then tragically died of tuberculosis at the mere age of 31. The College at Cambridge was then renamed in his honor him.
==History and Mission==
With some 17,000 Puritans migrating to New England by 1620, Harvard was founded by Puritan Calvinists who realized the need for training clergy for the new Bible commonwealth, a "church in the wilderness."
The college received the name ''Harvard'' from Rev. John Harvard, who was was the son of a butcher whose family died when a plague swept England, leaving him an estate. Educated in [[England]], Rev. John Harvard was ordained, married and sailed for Massachusetts where he pastored the First Church of Charlestown. He then tragically died of tuberculosis at the mere age of 31. The College at Cambridge was then renamed in his honor him.
In 1692, the Puritan preacher Increase Mather became President of Harvard. One of his acts was replacing Roman Classics with books by Christian authors in ethics classes, and maintaining a high standard of discipline. Both Harvard College Lawes of 1642 and Harvard College Laws of 1700 testify to its original high level of discipline.<ref>[http://www.peacebyjesus.com/HARVARD_LAWES.HTML Laws and Statutes for Students of Harvard College]</ref>
The school was highly religious in the 1600s. Among its graduates in that century, 50% were ministers. Prior to the Revolution, ten out of twelve of Harvard's presidents were also ministers. In the words of Harvard's founders:
The school was highly religious in the 1600s. Among its graduates in that century, 50% were ministers. Prior to the Revolution, ten out of twelve of Harvard's presidents were also ministers. In the words of Harvard's founders:
:"Let every Student be plainly instructed, and earnestly pressed to consider well, the main end of his life and studies is, to know God and Jesus Christ which is eternal life. John 17:3."
:"Let every Student be plainly instructed, and earnestly pressed to consider well, the main end of his life and studies is, to know God and Jesus Christ which is eternal life. John 17:3."
The departure of Increase Mather from the presidency in 1701 marked the beginning of a protracted struggle between orthodoxy and liberalism. The takeover of Harvard by the Unitarians in 1805 resulted in the secularization of the American university. Before the mid 1800's, Harvard would become what was basically described as the "Unitarian Vatican." <ref>[http://www.forerunner.com/forerunner/X0100_Christianity_in_U.S..html A Brief History of Christian Influence in U.S. Colleges]</ref>
==Expansion==
Over the years, Harvard has grown to include a number of major schools.<ref>[http://www.harvard.edu/academics/]</ref> They include:
Over the years, Harvard has grown to include a number of major schools.<ref>[http://www.harvard.edu/academics/]</ref> They include:
* Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study
* Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study
* Harvard School of Public Health
* Harvard School of Public Health
==Academic Decline==
In 2001, Harvard was focused upon as part of the controversy regarding ''meritocracy'', in which unwarranted high GPA's (Grade Point Averages) are awarded. While in 1940 C-minus was the most common GPA at Harvard, and in 1955 only 15 percent of undergraduates had a GPA of B-plus or higher, in the year 2000, 50% in of all the grades given were As or A-minuses, with just six percent being C-pluses or lower. More than 90 percent of the class of 2001 had earned grade-point averages of B-minus or higher.
In a Harvard Crimson article, noted conservative Harvard professor Harvey Mansfield contended that "Grade inflation got started … when professors raised the grades of students protesting the war in Vietnam..." "At that time, too, white professors, imbibing the spirit of the new policies of affirmative action, stopped giving low grades to black students, and to justify or conceal this, also stopped giving low grades to white students." The problem was essentially seen as the predominance of the notion of self-esteem, "in which the purpose of education is to make students feel capable and 'empowered,' and professors should hesitate to pass judgment on what students have learned." Such assertions resulted in no small controversy.
Harvard alumni and author Ross Douthat attributed this problem partly to socioeconomic differences, and noted that "Harvard students are creatively lazy, gifted at working smarter rather than harder", being brilliant largely in their tactics "to achieve a maximal GPA in return for minimal effort."<ref>"The Truth About Harvard," by Ross Douthat, March 2005 The Atlantic Monthly; adapted from his book, Privilege: Harvard and the Education of the Ruling Class</ref>
==References==
==References==
*[[Harvard Law Review]]
*[[Harvard Law Review]]
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==Notable Attendants==
==Notable Attendants==