Over on UUA Trustee Linda Laskowski's blog she asks some questions such as "Would we prefer more or fewer of our UU ministerial candidates to be attending non-UU schools, basically 'out-sourcing' most of the training of our ministers?"
Hard to argue with that question.
Is there anyone who would argue for outsourcing all UU ministers?
To me, the question is "why dont more of our potential ministers want to attend our schools?"
Is it distance? too expensive? or something about the school? All things can be fixed - distance learning through computers is easy - getting money less so, changing the schools even less so. But still all possible - if we know why folks aren't going. I would assume that someone has done a study on this - haven't we? What was the results? why do our potential ministers pick other schools?
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I don't know what studies have been done on this, but I can offer a few reflections having gone to a non-UU theological school in Boston.
In Boston, there are several schools that attract UU seminarians, including Harvard, Andover Newton, and Boston University. There is a strong UU community at Harvard, which students from BU and Andover Newton are active in. Furthermore, with the UUA so close by, and with so many UU congregations in the area, there are many worthwhile job and internship possibilities. For people living near Boston, there are good reasons to stay in town and go to a non-UU school.
I also think there is also value in learning with professors and students of other faiths.
I thought about both UU seminaries for exactly one minute each. And on the surface, either one would have been a good match; I have family and friends in Chicago and I absolutely love northern California.
But then it got down to the bare fact; niether school teaches their own Bible classes. If you are a student at Meadville you're expected to take your required Bible classes at the U of C Divinity School. If you are a student at Starr King, you can take your required Bible classes at any of the other GTU schools. These are the foundational courses for an M.Div. and yet UUs have farmed them out.
So the question for me became why go to a UU school when my foundational classes have to be taken somewhere else. Why have the UU middleman? Why not just apply to a school where you can take everything at that school?
The only thing that would be missing at first glance would be UU History and Polity. But, depending on which seminary one chooses (like Andover and Harvard), they offer those classes on a regular basis. And even for the schools that don't have as much UU representation, you can take those classes in different formats through the UU seminaries.
So for me it was simple; where would I best be served? Luckily I found a wonderful seminary where I will be starting in January that seems to fit me in every way.
People in the Divinity School Business say that most schools are recognizing that Divinity Schools are a regional market. People go to school where they live, because of the changes in who goes to Divinity School, their family situations and their life-stage. It's not surprising that two schools will attract only a minority of the continent-wide body of customers for a divinity school education. Nothing particular about Unitarian Universalism going on here.
People want the community experience of Divinity school, so distance learning and online learning is not that attractive to most folks.
I agree with LT that seminary is much more a regional business than it used to be. Fewer can (or want to) move at the drop of a call.
But, another reason the UU schools possibly don't get more students is that many other Divinity Schools are much more open to UU students than once was thought. As I was told at Eden Seminary when I went there for Prospective Students Days, "it's good that you're here. Unitarians keep us honest."
I do think it would be an interesting study as to what went into the decision of where to go to seminary, no matte whether it was M-L/SKSM or somewhere else.
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