“On my second day of college, Harvard taught us how to drink.”

Apparently, America’s best and brightest have such a hard time exercising self-control that one of the nation’s top schools feels compelled to take time to teach them how not to get drunk.

According to Harvard student Isabel Kaplan, learning to differentiate 12 ounces of beer from 1.5 ounces of hard alcohol is just one thing that Harvard instructs students about on their second day of school.

Harvard also makes sure that all freshmen fully understand that the college now has an alcohol amnesty program. Students are told that “no matter what, no matter how drunk or sick we got, if we called an ambulance, were picked up by Harvard University Police, were taken to the … infirmary … or hospital, we would not get in trouble,” writes Kaplan. “Neither would our parents be notified. This is Harvard’s amnesty policy” (emphasis mine throughout).

As Kaplan recounts, one boy raised his hand and asked, “Are there any loopholes?” The answer: an emphatic “No.”

Yes, this is the state of education in America today. You can get so drunk that you pass out on 52 out of 52 Fridays out of the year, and as far as Harvard is concerned, it doesn’t really matter.

As one Harvard representative said, “We realize that we’re in a college environment and that people are going to abuse these things, and so we’re here to basically reduce the harm.” According to school officials, by eliminating the penalties for consuming alcohol, students that get plastered will more likely seek medical attention (and their friends will also be more willing to call for help), thus reducing the risk of student drinking-related deaths. Meanwhile, 30,000 students per year across the country are treated at hospitals for over-consumption of alcohol each year, and the number of students who seek medical attention for alcohol-related sickness at Harvard is up 43 percent since the implementation of the amnesty policy.

This kind of reasoning is dangerously flawed, but America’s colleges just can’t seem to do the math.

Some colleges have now even implemented amnesty policies for drug use. At the College of William and Mary, if you go to a hospital due to a drug overdose, as far as your academic career, and your standing at the college is concerned, it is like it never even happened. Student Assembly Vice President Ryan Ruzic believes that drug amnesty makes sense for the same reason as alcohol amnesty: student safety.

But do alcohol and drug amnesty programs really make students safer?

An emphatic no!

Intoxicated students may be more likely to be admitted into an emergency ward and thus have less chance of choking on their own vomit, and stoners may be less likely to die trying to crawl down Alice’s rabbit hole, but amnesty policies do nothing to make the rest of the student body safer. In fact, it makes them a whole lot less safe.

By removing the deterrents—academic probation, suspension, expulsion, etc.—Harvard has unwittingly opened the door to more abuse. If you are spending $80,000 per year or more on your education, then knowing that you could lose your spot on the college rolls if you got drunk is a pretty good reason to follow school policy.

What universities across the country should be asking themselves is: What about all the students that alcohol and drug prohibitions have saved from getting drunk each night? How many students has it prevented from becoming alcoholics, drug addicts, or prevented from being injured because they are so intoxicated that they can’t control themselves? How many accidental pregnancies has it prevented? Or needle-transmitted diseases? What about those it has saved from drunk driving?

How many lives have those policies protected? These are the questions Harvard, Yale and other elite universities need to be asking. Is a drunk or doped-up college student’s life more important than the lives of the other students?

Additionally, these selfish amnesty policies are character-destroying policies.

The argument that students are going to get drunk and are going to do drugs anyway, and that there is nothing that can be done to stop them, is a fallacy.

The reality is that nobody needs drugs and nobody needs to get drunk. Many college students go through their four years without getting so plastered they need to go to the hospital. In fact, many students make it through their four years without ever getting drunk or taking drugs.

How far America’s schools—even its most prestigious schools—have fallen.

Here at Herbert W. Armstrong College, we try to provide students with an education that goes far beyond just preparing them for a career. Armstrong College endeavors to teach students how to live truly successful lives.

That is what separates Armstrong College from the rest. Armstrong College understands that there is an unbreakable and undeniable link between character and true success. You cannot attain true happiness and success without the development of moral character.

For students at Armstrong College, that means they must comply with the college’s policy on alcohol and drugs. Illegal drug usage is not permitted, and alcohol is not allowed in student housing without the prior approval of the Dean’s Office. And if a student were to drink so much as to become intoxicated, there would be academic repercussions.

Armstrong College is concerned for each and every one of its students. And its policies are designed to not only protect but foster the growth and development of the whole student body.

“At Armstrong College, the emphasis is on character building, developing a sound mind, becoming emotionally mature and socially balanced, building a well-rounded, service-oriented personality and learning to appreciate the finer things in life,” wrote Armstrong College Dean of Students Stephen Flurry in 2008. “There is no other college like Herbert W. Armstrong College—unaccredited by men and unshackled from the ever tightening grip that is squeezing the life out of higher education: gross materialism, political correctness run amok and immoral, unregulated human behavior.”

As Stephen Flurry pointed out, our college’s namesake, Herbert W. Armstrong, learned more than 60 years ago that true success is not reserved for those with superior ability, but for individuals—any individuals—willing to abide by a definite set of laws God set in motion that will guarantee successful results.

It is that set of laws that provides the foundation and standard for everything taught at Herbert W. Armstrong College.

If you want to learn more about the uniqueness of Armstrong College, read the booklet named after our college motto: Education With Vision.