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“As Church education moves forward in the 21st century, each of you needs to consider any changes you should make in the way you prepare to teach, how you teach and what you teach if you are to build unwavering faith in the lives of our precious youth,” Elder Ballard said. “Gone are the days when a student asked an honest question and a teacher responded, ‘Don’t worry about it!’ Gone are the days when a student raised a sincere concern and a teacher bore his or her testimony as a response intended to avoid the issue. Gone are the days when students were protected from people who attacked the Church.”
Fortunately, Elder Ballard taught, the Lord has provided timely and timeless counsel to teachers — to “seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom; seek learning, even by study and also by faith.”
In an increasingly secular world that is hostile to faith, family and gospel standards, religious instructors can help students by teaching them what it means to combine study and faith as they learn.
“Teach them by modeling this skill and approach in class,” Elder Ballard taught.
I think the anecdotal evidence we’ve been hearing has some hard numbers behind it. Many young people are not remaining active. My daughter works in SLC and in a business with a high number of exmormons as fellow employees. They are all under 30. My own son is currently struggling with his testimony (and I have to tread carefully with him given that my own set of beliefs are not entirely conventional). I had an interesting conversation with the daughter I mentioned above. She has been out of high school for awhile (and attended high school in our predominantly LDS area) and we discussed those young men who went on missions and those who did not. Most of those who went on missions had friends who went on missions and most of those who didn’t (many of whom are not currently active) did not. It’s the people you associate with that often determines what you believe and, more importantly, what you do. I don’t wish to discount the influence of good seminary and institute teachers, but it’s the peer group that has a significant impact. I see it in my own son who has no close friends that went on missions (and he probably won’t go either). This despite the fact that he had a seminary teacher that he really liked. But that relationship was fleeting and your peers are always around you. This is probably why the BYUs and the early mission age become so critical. It “pushes” young people into Mormon-based, faithful associations almost immediately after high school. Wow. There’s a lot that was said during that ‘Evening with a General Authority’ Elder Ballard wrote:Many of our young people are more familiar with Google than with the gospel, more attuned to the Internet than to inspiration and more involved with Facebook than with faith.
So why fight it? Instead of teaching people that the internet is the boogeyman why not teach our youth how to use the internet to look for inspiring things that will help them develop faith? Frankly, if church weren’t so uninspiring people wouldn’t have to look to google, the internet, and facebook. How do people get involved with faith? One way is to interact with other people. Facebook facilitates interaction. Maybe it isn’t as quality as face-to-face but if that’s where the youth are at that’s where they will be involved. Involvement isn’t spamming people with shares from lds.org, being involved with faith on social media can be as simple as inviting someone out to eat lunch, or leaving a comment to let people know that someone cares. Things that don’t explicitly mention the gospel in any way but are rooted in a gospel principle.
That’s beside the point, as I see the true worry being people discovering things on the internet that prompt them to get out of the boat. I’m sure leaders are all for teaching people to use a resource and we’d all say that learning when and where to be skeptical is an important thing.
Quote:Recognizing that wise people do not rely on the Internet to diagnose and treat emotional, mental and physical health challenges, especially life-threatening challenges, Elder Ballard said they would instead seek health experts trained and licensed by recognized medical and state boards.
“If that is the sensible course to take in finding answers for emotional, mental and physical health issues, it is even more so when eternal life is at stake,” he said.
What if I went to my doctor with abdomen pain, I told them all about it, and was met with silence? If all the doctors in town aren’t particularly good I may turn to the internet. The internet can be a “something is better than nothing” solution. Is that what the internet has become due to the silence in response to questions from leaders? Something that is better than nothing?
Quote:“Teach them about the challenges they face when relying upon the Internet to answer questions of eternal significance,” he said. “Remind them that James did not say, ‘If any of you lack wisdom, let him [ask] Google!’”
I’m sure that got a chuckle. If James had google I wonder if god would have required that James use it to study things out a bit before asking. James, you have not understood; you have supposed that I would give it unto you, when you took no thought save it was to ask me but, behold, I say unto you, that you must study it out in your mind… here’s a good link to get you started.
A few times the article references that the topics can be “misunderstood.” Misunderstood by whom? The youth, the CES teacher, the leader? I believe the topics can be misunderstood by everyone but I feel like they were pointing more toward the CES student. We all own this problem.
Granted there are
manygenuine cases where something is misunderstood but I get the impression that “misunderstood” often means “someone came away with a different conclusion than what I wanted them to arrive at, and that’s not good.” I feel like the church experience would be better overall if it was a place of instruction with no “enforced” (stronger word than my intent) conclusions. As it stands it often feels like “here is the information and here are the conclusions you should arrive at.” I don’t think the rising generations are going to go for that: 1) People are comfortable with looking at alternate sources of information. Obtaining information from multiple sources is almost instinctual for people that are born into the information age.
2) We’ve created a situation where alternate sources of information are sometimes more reliable or more current than the information that we want people to have.
3) There’s far to great of access to people with differing conclusions. Again, facebook. I bet everyone under 30 has at least one friend, possibly several, than have come across the forbidden fruit and decided to take an alternate path.
Elder Ballard wrote:Gone are the days when a student asked an honest question and a teacher responded, ‘Don’t worry about it!’ Gone are the days when a student raised a sincere concern and a teacher bore his or her testimony as a response intended to avoid the issue. Gone are the days when students were protected from people who attacked the Church.
I see this as a very good thing and it’s no small step for leaders to make. The problem is that “we’ll know when we die” and “‘I know’…this will get you to be quiet” are deeply rooted in our culture. It will take just as much effort to uproot as it took to plant and nurture all these decades. Still, the acknowledgement alone that we need to take a different approach is huge.
To that list I’d add, gone are the days where we should completely ignore people’s attacks on the church. If someone has a valid criticism why ignore it? If we’re doing something wrong and someone calls us on it, is it an attack?
I really liked the conclusion… Quote:Religious instructors should be among the first — outside a student’s family — to introduce authoritative sources on topics that may be less well-known or controversial.
“We give medical inoculations to our precious missionaries before sending them into the mission field so they will be protected against diseases that can harm or even kill them,” he said. “In a similar fashion, please, before you send them into the world, inoculate your students by providing faithful, thoughtful and accurate interpretation of gospel doctrine, the scriptures, our history and those topics that are sometimes misunderstood.”
Teachers must have an understanding of important topics. Elder Ballard shared the examples of polygamy, seer stones, different accounts of the First Vision, the process of translation of the Book of Mormon or the Book of Abraham, gender issues, race and the priesthood and Heavenly Mother.
“Church leaders today are fully conscious of the unlimited access to information and we are making extraordinary efforts to provide accurate context and understanding of the teachings of the Restoration,” he said.
Using the eleven Gospel Topics essays available on lds.org as an example, Elder Ballard said it is crucial that teachers “know the content in these essays like you know the back of your hand.”
“As you teachers pay the price to better understand our history, doctrine and practices — better than you do now — you will be prepared to provide thoughtful, careful and inspired answers to your students’ questions,” Elder Ballard said.
It is important to not pass along faith-promoting or unsubstantiated rumors or outdated understandings and explanations of the doctrines and practices of the past, he said. Drawing from the words of living prophets and apostles and keeping updated on current Church issues, in addition to doing the things that bring the Spirit into a person’s life, help teachers to teach clearly difficult doctrines and assist in answering questions and concerns.
nibbler wrote:A few times the article references that the topics can be “misunderstood.” Misunderstood by whom? The youth, the CES teacher, the leader? I believe the topics can be misunderstood by everyone but I feel like they were pointing more toward the CES student. We all own this problem.
Granted there are
manygenuine cases where something is misunderstood but I get the impression that “misunderstood” often means “someone came away with a different conclusion than what I wanted them to arrive at, and that’s not good.” I feel like the church experience would be better overall if it was a place of instruction with no “enforced” (stronger word than my intent) conclusions. As it stands it often feels like “here is the information and here are the conclusions you should arrive at.” I don’t think the rising generations are going to go for that….
I think this address is a step in the right direction, but we’re going to stall out real quick if we don’t get rid of the euphemistic “misunderstood.” Maybe we need a politically correct approach to the language here. People aren’t disabled, they’re differently-abled. I think the only hope of retaining the youth is to allow that they will differently understand. You simply must let them draw their own conclusions; otherwise why give them the information in the first place?The polygamy essays, to my mind, are full of pre-fab conclusions. I hope they change them before all the CES teachers learn them “like the back of their hands.”
(This is not a thread about polygamy….)
I agree–that polygamy essay sucks. It’s about a practice that disproportionately harmed and continues to harm women, and it’s written entirely from a male perspective. I also agree that it’s not wise for them to think they can dictate the conclusions people will arrive at, and yet I don’t doubt that many CES instructors believe that.
Also, Facebook is considered by my kids to be completely passe – a place for old people. Way to keep up, Elder B.
Quote:We give medical inoculations to our precious missionaries before sending them into the mission field so they will be protected against diseases that can harm or even kill them,” he said. “In a similar fashion, please, before you send them into the world, inoculate your students by providing faithful, thoughtful and accurate interpretation of gospel doctrine, the scriptures, our history and those topics that are sometimes misunderstood.”
I read so much about inoculation and how important it is to give “accurate interpretation” to misunderstood topics.
Could we also call it “spin”
I’m waiting for real and open discussion. Less spin. More honesty.
amateurparent wrote:Quote:We give medical inoculations to our precious missionaries before sending them into the mission field so they will be protected against diseases that can harm or even kill them,” he said. “In a similar fashion, please, before you send them into the world, inoculate your students by providing faithful, thoughtful and accurate interpretation of gospel doctrine, the scriptures, our history and those topics that are sometimes misunderstood.”
I read so much about inoculation and how important it is to give “accurate interpretation” to misunderstood topics.
Could we also call it “spin”
I’m waiting for real and open discussion. Less spin. More honesty.
Yep. When I see an apostle say, “I also find that bit of information damn hard to swallow” then we will really be in a different era.I keep hearing members are “misinformed” and I keep wanting to say, “no, they are now INFORMED and are struggling with what to do.”
Quote:Fortunately, Elder Ballard taught, the Lord has provided timely and timeless counsel to teachers — to “seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom; seek learning, even by study and also by faith.”…“We give medical inoculations to our precious missionaries before sending them into the mission field so they will be protected against diseases that can harm or even kill them,” he said. “In a similar fashion, please,
before you send them into the world, inoculate your students by providing faithful, thoughtful and accurate interpretation of gospel doctrine, the scriptures, our history and those topics that are sometimes misunderstood.” Teachers must have an understanding of important topics. Elder Ballard shared the examples of polygamy, seer stones, different accounts of the First Vision, the process of translation of the Book of Mormon or the Book of Abraham, gender issues, race and the priesthood and Heavenly Mother. “Church leaders today are fully conscious of the unlimited access to information and we are making extraordinary efforts to provide accurate context and understanding of the teachings of the Restoration,” he said.
Using the eleven Gospel Topics essays available on lds.org as an example, Elder Ballard said it is crucial that teachers “know the content in these essays like you know the back of your hand.” This is interesting because it is the first time I remember hearing an apostle actually talk about “inoculation” as a specific intentional strategy to try to respond to the trend of the internet causing a significant number of members to lose their testimonies and directly suggest reading the essays. Other than that, it seemed to me like he was basically telling CES teachers to figure out how to answer students’ questions mostly on their own. Does he really think that CES teachers will be able to come up with very good answers to prevent students (and themselves) from losing faith in the Church’s official story by studying the essays and “best books”?
To me it seems like other than a few hardcore apologists what typically happens is actually the opposite of what Ballard describes where the more familiar Church members become with these issues the harder it generally is to maintain a traditional LDS testimony and the best bet for effective “inoculation” would instead be for TBMs to gloss over this material and ignore many of the details while assuming that they already know what they need to know without really understanding some of the possible implications. And if Ballard is so confident that people are simply misunderstanding these controversial issues then why doesn’t he explain exactly what the supposed accurate interpretations should be and why these issues aren’t really a problem to at least try clear up any confusion and set the record straight himself instead of leaving it up to unnamed apologist historians and CES employees?
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