From the Coach's Desk - September 2024

Now that school has begun, I wonder what is on the minds of typical college freshmen? A few years ago, an extensive survey conducted by the Higher Education Research Institute discovered that 85% of college freshman say their goal is getting rich. That’s a 43% increase over what the typical college freshman thought 50 years ago.

What about the question concerning developing a meaningful philosophy of life? Only 45% found that pursuit to be of any real worth. That’s a 29% drop. According to research collected by Pew Research for the MacNeil/Lehrer Productions’ Generation Next project, 18–25-year-olds listed the following as their top life goal:

Be rich—81%
Be famous—51%
Help people who need help—30%
Be leaders in their community—22%
Become more spiritual—10%

This last category can mean anything from Eastern Mystical Religions to a humanistic self-help approach to life. These figures illustrate the desperate need American high school and college students have for a real, genuine, relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Only Jesus can give ultimate meaning to life, no matter how young or old you are.

Therefore, preach the word and let them know that “all that thrills my soul is Jesus; He is more than life to me.”

David L. Allen