- This topic is empty.
-
Posts
-
Tonight my daughter asked me “What should I do about early morning seminary in a year?”. She will have to get up at 5 am and doesnt’ want to. I never took Seminary, and my wife lived in a remote area, so she did it remotely. Frankly, I don’t see the benefits of putting everyone through all the travel as well as the early morning awakening for the parents (my wife WILL NOT help with this one, I’m sure). But I’m open to the positives if anyone has any comments on why we should do it. I also wonder if you can do an online program for families that aren’t into the early morning thing. Or will the church force this on us by making it unavailable for Wards that have a face to face program?
I graduated from Seminary in 2009, so maybe my recent experience will be a helpful insight. I hated the first two years, but the next two years were so pleasant that I spent half of the year after I graduated visiting the class. The negatives:
* WAYYYYY too early. Getting up at 5 (or 4:30 in my case) is too early for growing bodies that need sleep almost as much as newborns. Additionally, at the school I went to, it was not uncommon to come home with 5hrs worth of homework, which leaves you little time for anything else, and certainly not enough time for sleep. That was very stressful.
* The teachers. Not all seminary teachers are good teachers. My sophomore teacher said “um” 167 times in a single 50 min class period once. She also taught that latin americans received lighter pigmentation in their skin after converting to the gospel.
The positives:
* Doctrinal education. Regardless of personal testimony or lack thereof, it’s helpful to know exactly what the church teaches. During the time I went to Seminary, I developed a sense of responsibility for my own spirituality.
* Socialization with peer group.
* The teachers. Some Seminary teachers are really good. My junior and senior year, I started going to the early bird class (met half hour earlier to accommodate kids in the jazz band). The teacher was awesome. He didn’t follow the lesson manual, and he frequently brought in material from outside sources, like the RLDS Inspired Version of the bible, sacred writings from Japan, scholarly articles, FARMS stuff, Nibley, it was great. We also had Doctrinal Discussion Mondays, where we’d spend the whole 50 min asking tough questions about women and the priesthood, JS and polygamy, the virgin birth, etc. He was very nom-ish.
Of course, your daughter’s individual experience will be completely different than mine was. Maybe she could meet her potential teachers, or look at the Seminary textbooks and decide if it is important to her to learn that way. My parents made Seminary mandatory, but I knew many LDS youth who did not attend. These youth were generally perceived as somewhat astray however.
I feel like I’m rambling now. I hope this helps in some way.
Thanks…they’ve tapped me to teach Seminary before (as ‘reward’ for my last stint as a HPGL) and I said no way. I was surprised they even suggested it! Don’t know about this one. I would rather she did it online at her own convenience but who knows…it seems like another one of these hardship things the Church puts on us with little Return on Investment, which is a boundary for me now. That’s why I’m seeking benefits. It depends on the kid. My daughter loves it. I take her every morning and then wait to take her to school when she’s done. I taught seminary for three years and typically had good experiences, but found that there were some kids that just didn’t want to be there. It’s funny how these things work. My best friend, who is way more invested in the programs than I am, has kids who just would rather not do the seminary thing, so we’re both left scratching our heads a little bit. There is a home study option, but I assume it’s the local leaders have some say in who can participate in that.
I’ve taught Seminary three times, in three states, and loved it – for the most part. As long as the teacher is honest and willing to ask for and answer real questions, it can be wonderful. I know it also can be torture for some kids with some teachers, as my older kids had that experience with one teacher who was a wonderful person but a . . . hardcore, conservative, dogmatic, by-guilt-motivating . . . teacher. The home study option is being phased out in favor of the online version – which, actually, is quite good for online instruction. I was over it as the stake supervisor last year, so I know more about it than most.
Generally speaking, the online version is used when someones’ situation makes it difficult to attend traditional early-morning seminary. There are exceptions for exceptional circumstances (like youth with conditions that would be difficult to manage in an early-morning or group setting), but the expected “norm” is early-morning attendance. We live 35-50 minutes from the church, and it would be impossible for our girls to attend the regular early-morning class – so we hold ours in our own home, this year with just two students. If that wasn’t an option for my wife and me, being the only “qualified” adults in the town where we live, they would do the online program.
If she doesn’t want to / won’t attend early-morning seminary, I would talk with someone you trust who you think will understand and say, “I really want my daughter to experience Seminary, but I know she won’t go to the early morning class. I hear there is a really good online program, and I would love to have her participate in that program. How can I arrange for her to do Seminary online?” Then shut up and wait for an answer – or make the person tell you it won’t be allowed in your stake. (Just to be clear, Seminary now is under the supervision of the stake, and Seminary Teacher now is a Stake calling – so your request would have to be approved by the Stake leadership, probably with input from your Bishop.)
I liked seminary well enough when it was release time seminary in Utah. I really didn’t like early morning seminary. Too early…and yes, this and some other things gave me a slacker label at church.
I LOVED institute – So I guess my advice is that if seminary is not for your daughter, she may get a second bite at the apple with institute.
I’d leave it up to your daughter and her excitement level. If she is not 100% on board and willing to sacrifice her sleep and time, she is probably not going to get much out of it. Why is it expected that you physicaly go somewhere at an ungodly hour for four years causing so much more hardship for the families? Why not give a choice? In our case, we only live 10 minutes from the chapel, but the getting up, waiting around is an issue. It also means that we will not be able to use the school bus to get her to school afterwards, we will have to arrange a ride there which means gas and time again, as the school is quite a way away. My wife works, and has to take my son to a different school herself, so when I think of that aspect of it, the utility declines when the same results could be achieved in an online format.
I just throw that out there as a question. My daughter really doesn’t want to do it for that reason. She loves the Church and the gospel though, and would do it if it was online without a hitch.
SilentDawning wrote:Why is it expected that you physicaly go somewhere at an ungodly hour for four years causing so much more hardship for the families?
2 ideas:
1) Perhaps Seminary evolved out of the early Utah school system where religion was intermingled with other subjects. As the schools became more and more secular, perhaps the religion classes were moved off campus (but still receiving school credit). By the time I was attending Seminary in Utah you could no longer get school credit for the class. So maybe it’s partly tradition and the evolution of the program.
2) Perhaps the physical presence thing is on purpose to provide bonding experiences and solidarity with other strong LDS youth.
I graduated from early morning seminary (way back in 1987…). I don’t remember disliking it. But wow … I really remember how bad it was on my need for sleep. I used to set my alarm clock for 2am in the morning so I would wake up and have to reset it. Otherwise, I slept too deep and suddenly it was 5am in the morning. I felt like I had maybe laid down for 15 minutes. I don’t think it’s good for teenagers to be up that early. Sorry to disappoint. Maybe if they actually went to bed when the sun went down or some kind of old fashioned farm thing like that it would be fine. They would still get 8 hours of sleep or more. But now days, schedules just don’t work like that. The kids have lots of homework. Heaven forbid they also want to do any other type of after-school activity to enrich their lives like sports or music. Parents don’t come home until later. There’s a family dinner, etc. etc.
I like the idea of kids getting a religious and cultural education in Mormonism. That’s how a heritage gets passed down. It’s a good thing. I think it’s cool to take as a class in school, sort of how they get away with it in Utah. My kids all dropped out of early morning seminary though once they had a free choice. They liked seminary and being with the other kids. It wasn’t worth the cost to them ultimately in time and sleep as an addition to all the other things they had to do.
I gave both my daughters some lee-way to choose if they can keep up with school and their life and wake up at that time. If it was going to add so much stress that they couldn’t keep up with grades or needed medication to keep up with life…I was open to letting them not go. Both went, my oldest graduated…and both told me that when they skip, there is something missing in their day. They both have a testimony their days were better, not worse, even though having to wake up at 4:30 each morning.
Having said that, my son is supposed to go next year. He doesn’t wake up at 6:30 for school now without me using water or feather-ticklers under his nose to wake him up. I can’t leave the option to him, because he won’t even try to know if he’s missing or not.
So it depends on the kids and the way you parent…but there is clearly something to be said for being committed to studying spiritual documents each day to arm your kids for a day when they’ll hear R-rated talk all day at school.
Ultimately, we are responsible for our children’s understanding of the gospel. I had a friend (who wasnt really active but was raised in an active family) who didnt even know that Nephi was a BOM prophet. Seminary clearly didnt do her any good either. Me, I loved seminary for the most part, but think that I wouldve been ok without it, because I was one of those teens that paid attention in Church and went to all the firesides and youth conference and read my scriptures, etc. etc. I had learned a lot on my own and wouldve been ok with a self-directed study. My parents had taught me well. It really is one of those cost benefit things. My dad drove me 10 min to seminary and went straight to work. I carpooled to school with friends. It was convenient for us. You just have to do whats best for your situation.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.