Traditionally, the Brethren felt that a “common school” education, the basic education provided by most states during the nineteenth century, supplied the children of Brethren parents with the necessary skills of reading, writing, and arithmetic.  As stated by the Annual Meetings of 1831, 1852, 1853, and 1857, all higher education, which was considered high school and college, was to be avoided because it was considered a worldly endeavor that could lead youth astray from the faith and inculcate a spirit of pride.  Henry Kurtz took this position in the first article to appear on the subject in the Gospel Visitor in 1854.  However, in 1856, his associate at the paper, James Quinter came out in favor of establishing a Brethren school that could train Brethren young people for teaching in the public schools.  Many of the older Brethren school teachers could no longer meet the stricter requirements being established by the states for teaching in the public schools.  If a new generation of Brethren could meet these stricter standards through higher education, they could ensure that moral and religious training could continue to be a part of the children’s education.  Kurtz was swayed by Quinter’s arguments.

Opposition to the growing sentiment for higher education came quickly in the pages of the Gospel Visitor.  A pseudonymous “Rufus” argued later in 1856 that such a Brethren school could lead that institution to a worldly concern for fame and renown.  Even more serious for the writer and many others in the church was the very real danger that the founding of a Brethren school might lead to pressure for an educated ministry.

Nevertheless, the arguments of Quinter and Kurtz were swaying church sentiment.  Though Annual Meeting continued its customary opposition to higher education in 1857, the 1858 Annual Meeting made a significant change: “Concerning the proposed school in the Gospel Visitor, we think we have no right to interfere with an individual enterprise, so long as there is no departure from gospel principles.”  This was exactly the same rationale that had ensured the continuation of Kurtz’s Gospel Visitor earlier in the decade.

Over the next several decades a number of attempts were made to establish high schools or colleges.  All failed, mainly because of poor financial backing, until Juniata College, in Juniata, Pennsylvania, was founded in 1876, which originally was called Huntingdon Normal School and Collegiate Institute.  The next successful venture was Ashland College, established in Ashland, Ohio, in 1878, followed by Mount Morris Seminary and Collegiate Institute (1879), which was organized at Mount Morris, Illinois, and merged with Manchester College in North Manchester, Indiana, in 1932.  Ashland College came into the hands of the Progressive Brethren and the Brethren Church at the time of the division, while the other colleges mentioned were German Baptist Brethren/Church of the Brethren institutions.  The photo with this post is the earliest view of Ashland College.

The Brethren Church has consistently viewed higher education as an important means of affording our young people the skills and training needed for meeting employment expectations in the modern world.  Ashland College remained the school of choice for many Brethren throughout much of the twentieth century, though this is less true today.  It is also the case that the school no longer describes itself as a Christian college, though it continues to maintain its commitment to its Christian moorings and heritage.