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Does anybody know about or participate in this Pathways program? First I want to say sure, this seems like a great idea, encouragement and opportunity for many. We just had a pep talk from a stake visitor about how important education is and even it being commandment. Thru Pathways there is a cost savings for gaining a BA degree thru the program, examples of a graduate who can now get a different job where she doesn’t have to work Sundays etc etc etc. and many more reasons to make this “gospel centered” commitment no matter your stage of life. I have to say it was really hard for me to not ask the question why is it ok for the church to determine when and how to become self reliant and to compel us to follow the commandments. This used to really hurt to hear this kind of stuff but now it makes me furious. Why would it you ask? This cuts deep and very personal. Even though I worked most of my career as an engineer in aerospace I have always been held back because I never obtained a degree. In anything. It’s been embarrassing at times and a constant reminder of the misdirection and mistakes of my youth.
Bottom line, several years ago I reached a point in my life where spiritual progress was really on a roll. Then I started taking night and weekend classes to earn my degree in commercial aviation. This was to be a game changer for my future and a personal reinvention. I was well on my way when I was called to a calling that was one of the more time consuming in the church. At first I turned it down knowing I wouldn’t be able get thru my three nights a week at the local JC after work but was asked again with the promise that it would all work out. Well it didn’t. I missed so much school that it just died on the vine. I lost the opportunity, I lost the money, I lost the time invested. Now I’m constantly reminded by local leaders and the brethren how important education is, how we should always be engaged in learning and reading good books. It all sounds so good and inspiring except they look see through to me. I hate coming home with these feelings and it really is more often than not. I wish I could just end the complicated relationship as I see it. It’s a constant battle to wind my way thru the sage brush and is just not worth it.
My take on it, is that the advice Church gives us, just like with most advice in general, isn’t a guarantee. It’s playing the odds. Chances are, you’ll get a better job and earn more if you get a college degree. The first step in getting a college degree, is enrolling in college classes, but the high barrier to entry makes this difficult for some. The pathways program is meant to fix this, allowing low-paid full-time workers to persue a college degree. “It’s a commandment” is a very strong argument for many members of the Church. I’m not a fan of it, mostly because I hear it as “God told me you should do it”. Not only is that a very unprovable, yet un-disprovable claim, but it also leads to the wrong kind of expectations from members. You can pay your tithing, and still have your house burned down. You can keep the WoW, and still have a heart attack pre-40. You can keep the law of Chastity, and still have your spouse walk out on you. You can be in “the depths of dispair” either because you are a wicked person, or because your brain chemistry is off balance.
Life is grossly unfair. The best you can do, is try to put the odds in your favor, and try to accept things sometimes won’t go your way. In fact, I’d go so far as to say learning to accept disappointment and misfortune is one of the hallmarks of a happy life. Maybe that’s one of the greatest lessons your college experience could’ve given you.
I have worked in higher education for most of the last 9 years. The Parhwyas program is wonderful. It makes a college degree affordable for people who want one. I’m not sure any other institution could do it, since it requires a commitment to affordable degrees by a church that is willing to subsidize the effort significantly. It is not a guarantee of future success, and it is not a commandment. It isn’t even available in a lot of majors. I have NEVER heard it described as either a guarantee or a commandment – locally or by the top leadership. However, it doesn’t surprise me that someone would frame it that way. Traditionalist gonna tradition.
I had a brother that was able to get the degree that he needed and it was the most affordable program – especially if you were going to pay tithing regardless. Kipper wrote:
Does anybody know about or participate in this Pathways program?
I am finishing up my last trimester of the program.
PROS:- Dirt cheap tuition
- Helped my spouse accept my faith transition easier – I was “doing what I should be doing” but still experiencing cognitive dissonance.
- Personal Tribe Expansion
- Some thoughts that may have been or were kin to revelation.
- The program got me off my butt and back to school. I don’t know that I would have had the confidence/momentum any other way.
CONS:- Limited programs – plus, the home office pulled the 2 B.S. programs I was interested in at the start of this trimester. They theoretically instituted them for the next 2 years or something to allow current Pathways students to finish them in the next few years.
- Cognitive Dissonance increased.
- Personal Tribe Expansion Rejection Feedback Loop – I am not sure that the friends I made will stay friends with me if I stop attending church
Kipper wrote:
First I want to say sure, this seems like a great idea, encouragement and opportunity for many. We just had a pep talk from a stake visitor about how important education is and even it being commandment. Thru Pathways there is a cost savings for gaining a BA degree thru the program, examples of a graduate who can now get a different job where she doesn’t have to work Sundays etc etc etc. and many more reasons to make this “gospel centered” commitment no matter your stage of life. I have to say it was really hard for me to not ask the question why is it ok for the church to determine when and how to become self reliant and to compel us to follow the commandments.
Pathways occupies a niche where it is a social endeavor (heavily sponsored by the church), and a personal growth endeavor – either for more career or personal skills. I think the that church justifies suggesting the “when” and “how” to become more self-reliant as part of their marketing strategy. It is operating under word-of-mouth marketing (for the most part), because it has a niche market of people in the church or closely associated with the church who are going back to school (or should go back to school). One of its key target audiences are those females who are becoming liberated from childcare responsibilities and need the increased salary – to launch the remaining children. Another target audience is the 50+ family history crowd who want the certificate. And it works. The family finds the resources to send “Mom” (something like 60+% are female, and in my class of 12, 10 of them are female, 7 of them have children at home) back to school – because it isn’t just a couple of classes, it’s “church-sanctioned” and “affordable”.
Kipper wrote:
This used to really hurt to hear this kind of stuff but now it makes me furious. Why would it you ask? This cuts deep and very personal. Even though I worked most of my career as an engineer in aerospace I have always been held back because I never obtained a degree. In anything. It’s been embarrassing at times and a constant reminder of the misdirection and mistakes of my youth.Bottom line, several years ago I reached a point in my life where spiritual progress was really on a roll. Then I started taking night and weekend classes to earn my degree in commercial aviation. This was to be a game changer for my future and a personal reinvention. I was well on my way when I was called to a calling that was one of the more time consuming in the church. At first I turned it down knowing I wouldn’t be able get thru my three nights a week at the local JC after work but was asked again with the promise that it would all work out. Well it didn’t. I missed so much school that it just died on the vine. I lost the opportunity, I lost the money, I lost the time invested. Now I’m constantly reminded by local leaders and the brethren how important education is, how we should always be engaged in learning and reading good books. It all sounds so good and inspiring except they look see through to me. I hate coming home with these feelings and it really is more often than not. I wish I could just end the complicated relationship as I see it. It’s a constant battle to wind my way thru the sage brush and is just not worth it.
I mourn with you regarding the tough choices available to you at the time, and the loss of schooling/momentum.
AmyJ wrote:Kipper wrote:
This used to really hurt to hear this kind of stuff but now it makes me furious. Why would it you ask? This cuts deep and very personal. Even though I worked most of my career as an engineer in aerospace I have always been held back because I never obtained a degree. In anything. It’s been embarrassing at times and a constant reminder of the misdirection and mistakes of my youth.Bottom line, several years ago I reached a point in my life where spiritual progress was really on a roll. Then I started taking night and weekend classes to earn my degree in commercial aviation. This was to be a game changer for my future and a personal reinvention. I was well on my way when I was called to a calling that was one of the more time consuming in the church. At first I turned it down knowing I wouldn’t be able get thru my three nights a week at the local JC after work but was asked again with the promise that it would all work out. Well it didn’t. I missed so much school that it just died on the vine. I lost the opportunity, I lost the money, I lost the time invested. Now I’m constantly reminded by local leaders and the brethren how important education is, how we should always be engaged in learning and reading good books. It all sounds so good and inspiring except they look see through to me. I hate coming home with these feelings and it really is more often than not. I wish I could just end the complicated relationship as I see it. It’s a constant battle to wind my way thru the sage brush and is just not worth it.
I mourn with you regarding the tough choices available to you at the time, and the loss of schooling/momentum.
AmyJ thank you for your acknowledgement. For everyone else, I didn’t mean to criticize a well conceived program and opportunity to many. It could have been beneficial to me as well if the timing were right. The timing was right for me several years ago and I had a lot of time and resources invested but the church had other things that I was supposed to do and leveraged their request with their own revelation and reasoning and pulled the rug out from under me. Now I get a pep talk about how I should be continuing my education and here is a program to help you and learning is a commandment. Well it’s literally too late now. I can’t live my life being directed by an institution, or I should say I shouldn’t have let my life been directed that way. I can’t even finish this, it is ridiculously aggravating.
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