Is Utah's Undergraduate Education Stagnant Or Improving In Meeting Educational Objectives?

I just finished reading an interesting assessment of American higher education. It was written by Derek Bok, former president of Harvard University. In the late 1980s and early 1990s a spate of books came out critical of various aspects of higher education in America led by Allan Bloom’s, The Closing of the American Mind: How Higher Education Has Failed Democracy and Impoverished the Souls of Today’s Students (1987). Others were critical of liberals and intellectuals dominating and misdirecting the educational pursuit for personal and political ends. Dinesh D’Souza’s Illiberal Education had the subtitle of The Politics of Race and Sex on Campus (1991). Bok’s book is also critical of the education establishment but for much different reasons.  

Bok looked at the traditional or historical and a few contemporary purposes of undergraduate liberal education and asked how the academy is doing in its efforts to meet these objectives. Those purposes were outlined in chapter 3 and subsequent chapters dealt with each one in detail. They included “learning to communicate,” learning to think critically, “building character,” “preparation for citizenship,” “living with diversity,” “preparing for a global society,” “acquiring broader interests,” and “preparing for a career.”

Bok argues that in virtually every case the colleges and universities of our land are not doing well in any of these categories. In some cases, such as character, the purpose was abandoned for a long time, but is now making a slow comeback. In relation to the others there is often apathy on the part of administration and faculty, or there is contention over the meaning, purpose, relevance, importance, as well as implementation of the these objectives. The result has been little movement and almost no internal assessment by the institutions themselves to see how well they are doing in meeting these societal expectations of undergraduate education. And when programs are in place there is almost no evaluation of the effectiveness of the teaching taking place. Administrators and faculty alike are abominably ignorant of the large number of studies that not only challenge the effectiveness of the traditional lecture method, but have also found a number of student-participatory and involvement strategies that are very effective.  So reform is slow if not non-existent.

Bok has two constant refrains, both having to do with research that has taken place the last 6 decades or more which has produced literally thousands of studies about the (in)effectiveness of universities, colleges, and departments showing that effective teaching can indeed influence each one. The maddening thing for the reader is that universities who are expert in evaluating almost every other institution in our society and recommending procedures for their improvement, are the very institutions which show the least interest in using or applying the findings to improve their own teaching and programs designed to meet the objectives of undergraduate education!  All of this, of course, raises serious doubts about the quality of undergraduate education America's young are receiving.

The mixture of apathy and pride lead to this failure to confront the issues or do much about them. Yet Bok believes in the genuine good intent of most American educators and that the problems can be fixed, despite the autonomy of most university faculties and departments. His recommendations, it seems to me, are sensible and practical. He suggests that state governments, accrediting agencies, and local school boards can have a significant impact on change and improvement, without being heavy handed.  Here are some of his arguments:

"A better role for government officials (and accrediting agencies) would be to examine what colleges are doing to assess their own performance and how they make use of what they find to attempt improvements. For example, does the institution participate in NSSE, and, if so, how vigorously does it act on the results? What steps does it take to examine its own teaching programs, identify significant weaknesses, and experiment with new methods? What efforts does it make to identify promising innovations in other institutions? Are there serious programs to train new teachers? Does the college make effective use of teaching evaluations and, if so, how well are they constructed? How much account is taken of teaching in making faculty appointments and promotions? Are funds regularly made available to faculty for trying and assessing new methods of instruction? 

...  If state agencies and accreditors began to concentrate on each institution’s processes for self-scrutiny and reform, college officials and their faculties would have to pay more attention to developing the procedures most likely to bring about educational progress. ... 

Government agencies and foundations could give further impetus for change by funding exemplary efforts by colleges to install a systematic process for evaluating educational programs, identifying problems, and experimenting with potential improvements.   ... Instead of financing specific innovations, public agencies and foundations would contribute to the creation of a continuing process to improve the quality of undergraduate teaching and learning. 

... 

Another useful step that foundations and funding agencies could take would be to support promising efforts to develop better ways of measuring and analyzing the progress colleges are making toward important learning objectives, such as improved critical thinking, moral and quantitative reasoning, writing, oral communication, and intercultural competence.   

...

Finally boards of trustees could give an added boost to reform by making a point of inquiring regularly into efforts by their colleges to become more of a learning organization."(1)

In this regard it would be interesting to survey Utah’s university and college presidents and boards, as well as those in our government charged with oversight of those institutions, to see how well our schools do with self-evaluation of both their success in meeting the objectives of undergraduate education and of the effectiveness of teaching in reaching these goals. I would like to know if Utah undergraduate institutions are guilty of the same problems which beset most of American universities, or if we are doing anything positive to bring about assessment, innovation, reform, and improvement?

Let’s think together again, soon.

Notes:

1. Derek Bok,  Our Underachieving Colleges: A Candid Look at How Much Students Learn and Why They Should Be Learning More (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2006), pp. 331-333.

One Hundred-Seventy Five Books That Have Changed My Life

ONE HUNDRED-SEVENTY FIVE BOOKS THAT HAVE CHANGED MY LIFE©
(Every book I've read has changed my life in some way.)
Danel W. Bachman
Updated: 9 November 2019

Samuel Smiles wrote, “While books are among the best companions of old age, they are often the best inspirers of youth.  The first book that makes a deep impression on a young man’s mind often constitutes an epoch in his life.  It may fire the heart, simulate the enthusiasm, and, by directing his efforts into unexpected channels, permanently influence his character.  The new book, in which we form an intimacy with a new friend, whose mind is wiser and riper than our own, may thus form an important starting-point in the history of a life.  It may sometimes almost be regarded in the light of a new birth.” [Samuel Smiles, Character (New York: A. L. Burt Co., ca. 1913), p. 295.]  Orhan Pamuk observed, "I read a book one day and my whole life was changed." Pat Williams explains further, "We are changed by what we read. Close that book, and you are not the same person anymore. Because of what you just read, your worldview--your understanding, your compassion for others, your ability to engage intelligently with others--has expanded a little. Books help us grow...." 

1. The Book of Mormon, stimulated a question and answered a spiritual quest which, at age 17, changed the course of my life more than any other single book.

2. Nephi Anderson, Added Upon, a love story that taught me the skeleton of the plan of salvation.

3. Manachem Begin, The Revolt, one man's revolt and resistance is another man's terrorism.

4. Daniel Boorstin, The Americans: The National Experience, showed me even the history of ice harvesting in New England can be interesting if the story is told right.

5. Mark Twain, Life on the Mississippi, at a fairly young age, my first real experience with the joy of having my imagination stimulated through reading.

6. Alfred Edersheim, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, one of the 10 best books I've read. Edersheim was a profound thinker, sensitive believer, and passionate writer.

7. Eugen Kogon, Theory and Practice of Hell, brought me face-to-face with the horrors of the Nazi concentration camps.

8. Paul de Kruif, Microbe Hunters, a great early encounter with the fascinating world of scientific discovery.

9. George Buttrick, The Parables of Jesus, the wisdom and eloquence of a thinking man, which began for me a life-long love affair with the parables.

10. Edward Gibbon, The Autobiography of Edward Gibbon, an early foray into the life of the mind, feeding my own interest in the same.

11. C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, began my acquaintance with one of the best Christian thinkers. He has been a life-long favorite. The Screwtape Letters, showed me the psychology of temptation and the motivations of evil–with humor.

12. Helen Keller, Teacher, the magnificent struggle of a blind girl guided by a gifted teacher.

13. Jack London, The Call of the Wild, also piqued my imagination; for many years I thought I wanted to live in the Alaskan wilds. I eventually grew out of it.

14. Sterling McMurrin, The Theological Foundations of the Mormon Religion, my first exposure to two important things–Mormon philosophy and B. H. Roberts.

15. Truman Madsen, Eternal Man, a brief introduction to several classic philosophical issues from a Mormon perspective. Introduced me to a man who later became a respected friend.

16. Viktor Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning, the profound lessons and philosophy of life growing out of surviving the suffering of three grim years in Auschwitz and other prisons.

17. Irving Stone, Agony and Ecstasy, of being Michelangelo--the commitment and pain required to be the world's greatest artist.

18. Booker T. Washington, Up From Slavery, awakened an awareness of the evils of slavery and racism and the thrill of seeing one rise above his circumstances and limitations through optimism, perseverance and education.

19. B. H. Roberts, The Gospel and Man's Relationship to Deity, a grand systematic treatment of Mormonism. His style captivated me for life. He is one of Mormonism's greatest thinkers and most articulate (and passionate) writers.

20. Anne Morrow Lindbergh, Gift from the Sea, continued to sensitize me to women's issues and introduced a gifted female author which encouraged me to look for more.

21. Leonard Mosley, Lindbergh.  Tragedy stalked a truly American hero.  I wept when he was buried in Hawaii, almost an outcast.

22. Samuel Smiles, Happy Homes and the Hearts that Make Them, recommended by Vaughn J. Featherstone as one of his favorites. I wanted it for years; finally a kind student tracked it down for me.  It is in the public domain and now much easier to obtain through the Internet.

23. Victor Hugo, Les Miserables, the greatest reading experience of my life, outside of holy writ. A 1000 page description of a Christian saint. Includes the greatest thing I've ever read about the mental struggle a man goes through to decide to do the right thing when his freedom and even life hang in the balance.

24. Joseph Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, where I discovered the Prophet as a simple yet profound thinker, teacher, and scriptural interpreter. The catalyst for one of the greatest spiritual experiences of my life. The most important reading I've done outside of the scriptures. 

25. Gilbert Highet, The Immortal Profession, gave a deep sense of the importance of my profession and initiated me into the world of the psychology and philosophy of an educator.

26. William Shakespeare, Complete Plays and Poems, simply the greatest writer in the English language, if not any language. This is close to, if not on top of my personal top ten (not counting scripture). Profundity expressed in elegance and eloquence that appears deceptively simple. It has to be studied before it can be read for enjoyment. Pay the price and you will enjoy the life-long benefits.

27. James E. Talmage, Jesus the Christ, there is not a wasted word in this magnificent portrayal of the life and mission of Jesus Christ. It came at a time when I was awakening to the idea that my mind really worked and that using it is one of the great pleasures in life. The single greatest contributor to my vocabulary of which I am aware.

28. Benjamin Carson, Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story, a rags to riches story which is not about money, but the mind.  You gotta love his mother!

29. Malcom Gladwell, Outliers: The Story of Success, challenges popularly held views about the factors of success. The chapter on the 10,000 hour rule is worth the price of the book.

30. Ben Franklin, The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, probably my first, and perhaps most significant, self-help book.

31. William J. Lerderer, The Ugly American, a shock to my high school naivete.

32. Corrie ten Boom, The Hiding Place, the tale of a very wise woman who endured the horrors of the concentration camp along with her sister and father, for hiding Jews from the Nazis. An amazing portrayal of resilience, faith, and forgiveness.

33. Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, a portrait (pun intended) of the degrading effects of unbridled hedonism.

34. Mortimer J. Adler, Charles Van Doren, How to Read a Book, among other things, helped me see reading as a great dialogue between author and reader.

35. Edmund Morris, The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt, the one and only time I finished a 700 page book and said aloud, "No, you can't quit now!"

36. Robert M. Prisig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, an intriguing mixture of genius and insanity.

37. Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet, an early exposure to high-level aphorisms and poetry.

38. John Holt, Never Too Late, My Musical Life Story, a man plans for his old age and diminished capacities.

39. Chaim Potock, The Chosen, a peek into the world of the development of a Jewish intellectual.

40. Harry Emerson Fosdick, The Manhood of the Master, perhaps sermon or lecture notes, but some wonderful insights into the character of Jesus, always of interest to me.

41. Sydney J. Harris, Pieces of Eight, a collection of brief essays by one of America's most thoughtful and articulate columnists at the time.

42. Karl Marx, The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte, required reading for a historiography class, it was so unintelligible and uninteresting at the time that I've never had an interest in Marx's philosophy.

43. Feodor Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment, a dark soul commits murder, but through the love of a woman seeks redemption.

44. Kenneth Bailey, Poet and Peasant, A Cultural and Literary Study of the Parables in Luke, significant insights into the stories of Jesus garnered from Arab culture while he lived in the Middle East.

45. Samuel Heilman, The Gate Behind the Wall: A Pilgrimage to Jerusalem, an examination of a Jewish boy's yeshiva and of love for Jewish holy books.

46. David McCullough, John Adams, an inspirational account of one of the most important founding fathers.

47. Philip Hallie, Lest Innocent Blood Be Shed, the captivating story of a French village, led by a local priest, who sequestered Jews from the Nazis.

48. Jay Mathews, Escalante: The Best Teacher in America, a man who succeeded in inner-city LA among poor and disadvantaged Latinos.

49. Denish De Souza, Illiberal Education, an India-born articulate conservative exposes the hypocrisy of American liberal educational philosophy and policy, and launched a career as a conservative social commentator.

50. Linda Atkinson, In Kindling Flame, The Story of Hannah Senesh, 1921-1944, a heart-stopping story of a young Jewish girl who migrated to Israel before the war, trained as a paratrooper, returned to her homeland to aid in the resistance, was captured and finally executed just hours before her town was liberated.

51. Joe Paterno, Paterno: By the Book, a man who is not only a legendary football coach, but one who was chairman of the fund raising committee and donated the first $100,000 to the new Penn State Library. He wanted a library the football team could be proud of, or rather, of which the football team could be proud!

52. Michael Medved, Hollywood vs. America, an expose of the mixed up motives and values of tinsel town.

53. Sterling W. Sill, Leadership, my first exposure to this man's voluminous writings. Some accuse him of being the apostle of the gospel of success, but having read most of his works, I see him quite differently.

54. Michael Montaigne, Essays, introduced me to a new genre of literature and encouraged my search for additional writers with wisdom.

55. Charles Edward Jefferson, The Character of Jesus, provoked a lot of marking, marginal notes, and outlining. I love his style and was surprised when it turned off one of my colleagues. Different strokes....

56. James Newton, Uncommon Friends, a serendipitous find; the kind you come across while browsing in a bookstore rather than read about in the New York Times book review section. This man was friends with Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Harvey Firestone, Alexis Carrel and Charles Lindbergh.

57. John H. Groberg, The Fire of Faith, the amazing faith-filled experiences of a Mormon missionary in the South Seas in the 1950s.

58. Michael Shaara, Killer Angels, a novel about Gettysburg that takes you down into the smoke, noise, confusion and fear of the battlefield. A Pulitzer Prize winner.

59. Vance Havner, The Best of Vance Havner, the homespun wisdom of a most thoughtful Baptist preacher. Few people have said some things as well as Havner.

60. James Bradley, Flags of Our Fathers, the gut-wrenching, yard-for-yard battle of Iwo.

61. B. H. Roberts, The Life of John Taylor, the life of one Englishman who became a defender of the faith, by another Englishman who became a defender of the faith. Probably my first great experience with a biography–which turned into a life-long love.

62. Bel Kauffman, Up the Down Staircase, great humor about a high school, read when I was in high school.

63. Thomas Morris, The Art of Achievement, a potent distillation of thought about success in the business of life.

64. George Orwell, 1984, even in high school I viewed this as scare propaganda, but I've lived to see "big brother" invading our privacy more and more. Five years after the due date, Communism collapsed. So, if we become totalitarian now we will likely do it on our own.

65. John F. Kennedy, Profiles in Courage, short political biographies that won the prize for him and inspired me.

66. Hugh Nibley, Since Cumorah, the first time I considered the internal and external evidences for the Book of Mormon from one of the most original and creative thinkers in Mormonism.

67. John Wooden & Steve Jamison, Wooden on Leadership, Principle with a capital "P" guided his life and his coaching. And the man never stopped trying to figure out how to do it better; refining his principles and teaching them more clearly.

68. H. W. Brands, Andrew Jackson: His Life and Times, grew my appreciation for one of the controversial Presidents, and wait till you read the story of Sam Houston rushing his young son to Jackson’s bedside to meet him before the old warrior died.

69. Jack London, The Sea-Wolf, my first post-mission-president fictional reading. A classy love story, not set in the cold north as with much of London's writing, but on the high seas.

70. Doris Kearns Goodwin, Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln, simply stated, one of the 10 best books I've read. When she finished writing it she was disappointed, because she said, "For 10 years, I got up and spent every morning with Abraham Lincoln." One could do worse. See a longer statement in my recommended reading on leadership.

71. Margot Morrell and Stephanie Capparell, Shackleton's Way, one of the most captivating adventure stories of all time, but the character and leadership of the man was unique in his time and ours. It inspired and edified me greatly.

72. Dallin H. Oaks, Life’s Lessons Learned,  surprised by the simple, practical, and unusual lessons shared by an intellect once considered a candidate for the Supreme Court.

73. Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol, a poignant and powerful look at the spirit of Christmas.

74. Douglas L. Wilson, Lincoln's Sword, was his pen! Wanna appreciate the power of the well crafted word both written and spoken and a man who could do it better than most? Try this winner.

75. Derek Bok, Our Underachieving Colleges, opened my eyes to the complexity of issues in higher education which in my naivete I oversimplified.

76. Robert Bolt, A Man for All Seasons, a play about character and dying for one's principles.

77. John Hershey, Hiroshima, like an atom bomb, small but powerful!

78. John A. Widtsoe, Priesthood and Church Government, some would say this is dry reading, but it has been a huge stone in the foundation of my gospel understanding, especially how the kingdom is governed.

79. Robert Augros and George Stancui, The New Biology: Discovering the Wisdom in Nature, not written as an intentional rebuttal to evolution, but shows another side of the story--cooperation in nature. And, where are the missing-links between a dolphin and a whale, which apparently just shows up without antecedents in evolutionary history?

80. Neville Shute, On The Beach, an imaginative story of the last survivors of a nuclear holocaust.

81. Neal A. Maxwell, "For The Power Is In Them", my first experience with Elder Maxwell. What a discovery for my spiritual and intellectual life.

82. John Wooden, They Call Me Coach, my first exposure to Wooden. It was so interesting to me, that my reading speed increased as I read it. As you can tell from the number of times he appears in this list, he has become one of my heroes.

83. Napoleon Hill, Think and Grow Rich, believe-it-or-not, my mission president had us read this. At the time I was put off by Hill's style, but it was my first introduction to the genre of modern success and self-help literature and to Hill himself. I read more of Hill on my second mission, but didn't make it required reading for the missionaries.

84. Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre, O Jerusalem, the amazing story of the fight for Jerusalem during the 1948 Jewish war for Independence, with vignettes from the Jewish, Arab and British points of view.

85. Betty Edwards, The New Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, recommended by one of my best friends (who happens to be a very successful artist); anyone can learn to draw if they will study, learn and practice. Becoming an artist is another thing altogether!

86. John Milton, Paradise Lost, a very difficult read from one of the world's most brilliant minds. However, I discovered that with the right kinds of aids in the book, even I could learn from and enjoy most literature. This one also requires study before reading for enjoyment.

87. Parley P. Pratt, Key To The Science of Theology, read soon after my first mission, Pratt's style and subject interested me and propelled me forward in the study of Mormon theology.

88. George Adam Smith, The Historical Geography of the Holy Land, awakened in me a love for the Holy Land and for historical geography that has never waned.

89. Edward L. Kimball and Andrew E. Kimball, Jr., Spencer W. Kimball, Twelfth President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, an honest and eminently engaging story of a small man who was one of the spiritual giants of Mormonism.

90. Robert Spencer, ed., The Myth of Islamic Tolerance, How Islamic Law Treats Non-Muslims, 589 pages of essays regarding Islamic philosophy and practice towards non-Muslims.

91. John Fowles, The French Lieutenant’s Woman, a Victorian type novel of a love affair between a gentleman seafarer and a former governess.  I’m still struggling with the surprise endings.

92. Abraham H. Maslow, Toward a Psychology of Being, one of the more worthwhile books I was required to read in the pursuit of a BS in psychology. However, I wasn't intellectually mature enough then to appreciate it.

93. Wesley P. Walters, New Light on Mormon Origins from Palmyra (N.Y.) Revival, a small anti-Mormon pamphlet which I read in 1967. It was my first encounter with above-average anti-Mormon literature (if there is such a thing), that set me off into the world of defending Mormonism.

94. Le Grand Richards, A Marvelous Work and a Wonder, read while at Idaho State College just before my mission. I learned from one of the great missionaries in the Church a bit about teaching the gospel.

95. Stephen L. Carter, The Culture of Disbelief, what to do about the threat to trivialize faith and religion in American culture.

96. Albert Schweitzer, Out of My Life and Thought, I don't know when or what stimulated my interest in this man, probably the idealism of youth, but it seems like I have always wanted to know about him.

97. Nathanial Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter, my first (high school) encounter with Puritanism.

98. Eleanor Roosevelt, You Learn by Living, Eleven Keys for a More Fulfilling Life, warm and wise counsel about life.

99. Orson F. Whitney, Life of Heber C. Kimball, the story of one of the great men of Mormonism by one of its better authors. During the first year of my teaching career it hooked me on Mormon biography.

100. Mikhail Gorbachev, Perestroika, read at the time Communism was on its way out.  This book convinced me that Gorbachev's openness was for real, though many around me thought he was the typical deceitful Russian.

101. Jim Lovel and Jeffrey Kluger, Lost Moon, The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13, I even missed seminary to watch the space launches I was so fascinated by the subject. Somehow, I missed this amazing adventure story until I read this book, which is much better than the movie, as usual.

102. John C. Maxwell, The 360 Degree Leader, Developing Your Influence from Anywhere in the Organization, not my first introduction to Maxwell who is today's apostle of leadership, management, and success, but it is representative of his work, which I found personally beneficial as well as helpful as a Mission President.

103. Plato, Collected Dialogues, this required diligent and hard work for 1,600 pages, but I did it! But, with not as much as I should have to show for it. Clifton Fadiman says Plato read at 20 is one thing, at forty another, and yet another at 60. I'm over sixty, so maybe it is time to try it again.

104. Danel W. Bachman, "A Study of the Mormon Practice of Plural Marriage before the Death of Joseph Smith," I wrote it as a master's thesis at Purdue University in 1975. How can that not change your life?

105. Alan Bloom, The Closing of the American Mind, a hard-hitting critique of the failures of higher education in America.

106. William L. Shirer, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, mammoth, but my endurance was bolstered by a life-long interest in learning about WW II.

107. Hyrum Andrus, Joseph Smith the Man and the Seer, one of the first and more impactful of many biographies of Joseph Smith I have read over a lifetime.

108. James Allen, As a Man Thinketh, this book on the power of thought and thought control is a major life-changer for many people who read it, including me.

109. Edward F. Murphy, Heroes of World War II, Stories of Medal of Honor Winners in the War. Moved my interest in courage, valor, and hero worship a giant step forward.

110. Charles Krauthammer, Things That Matter: Three Decades of Passions, Pastimes and Politics, a collection of editorials and opinions.  Those  that effected me the greatest related to war and Islam.

111. The Standard Works of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Bible, Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, Pearl of Great Price), the most important, influential, and life-changing books I have ever studied. I love them and they have an on-going impact on my life on a daily basis.

112. Robert Trumbull, The Raft.  A WW II bomber crew downed in the Pacific with nothing, suffered terribly but survived thirty-four days.

113. James Bentley, Secrets of Mount Sinai, Konstantin Tischendorf's discovery and purloining of the famous Codex Sinaiticus from St. Catherine's Monastery in the Sinai. Became all the more meaningful after two opportunities to visit that library!

114. George Edward Clark, Why I Believe: Fifty-four Evidences of the Divine Calling of Joseph Smith.  A unique approach to the subject, one which has caused me to generate my own such list over five decades. 

115. Robert I. Eaton and Henry J. Eyring, I Will Lead You Along: The Life of Henry B. Eyring, is chucked full of life-lessons about fatherhood, church leadership, and diligence in getting close to and following the Spirit--all things I wish I would have encountered when I was twenty.

116. Bill Sands, My Shadow Ran Fast, an almost incredible account of a San Quentin convict who reformed and made a success of his life.  Begins with his mother beating him with a rose bush cane!

117. Newt Gingrich, with Ross Worthington, Breakout: Pioneers of the Future, Prison Guards of the Past, and the Epic Battle That Will Decide America’s Fate, the title says it.  It expanded my mind into new realms, heretofore not considered.

118. Gordon Leidner, ed., The Founding Fathers: Quotes, Quips, and Speeches, at age 71 on a trip to Colonial Virginia, gave a big boost to my patriotism and love of country.  Much of it was copied into my Commonplace Files.

119. David W. Bercot, Will The Real Heretics Please Stand Up: A New Look at Today’s Evangelical Church in the Light of Early Christianity, a critique of Evangelical Christianity by an insider was refreshing, educational, and thought provoking.

120. Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Infidel, introduced me to the realities of the life of a Muslim woman. She  abandoned the traditions, rose to political stature in Europe, but because she spoke against Islam, her life is now sought by the fundamentalist radicals.

121. Spencer W. Kimball, Miracle of Forgiveness, of great help to me, both personally and as a handbook during the three times I served as a bishop.

122. Leo Tolstoy, What Men Live By, a short story about a cobbler who receives three divine lessons.

123. Rick Atkinson, An Army at Dawn: The War in North Africa, 1942-1943, introduced me to  America’s entry into WW II, the first and best of his Liberation Trilogy.

124. C. S. Lewis, The Great Divorce, a busload of people are taken from Hell to Heaven, but it doesn’t turn out to be what they expect. 

125. Hugh Nibley, The Myth Makers, my first exposure to an analysis of anti-Mormon literature. 

126. Peter Hellman, Avenue of the Righteous, stories of “gentiles” who saved Jews from the Nazis, commemorated at the Yad Vashem memorial of the holocaust in Jerusalem. 

127. Sar A. Levitan, and Richard S. Belous, What’s Happening to the American Family?  isn’t good, and has only worsened since I read this in 1982. 

128. Deitrick Bonhoeffer, Letters & Papers from Prison, wartime writings of a great Christian who sadly was eventually executed by the Nazis. 

129. Ezra Taft Benson, A Labor of Love, the wonderful and miracle filled story of Elder Benson’s work to help restore the Church in Europe following WW II. 

130. Howard Hibbard, Bernini, the biography of a great Italian Renaissance sculptor, read during a period when I wanted to add more culture to my life. 

131. Yigail Yadin, The Temple Scroll, gave me a new perspective on the cultural background of a number of passages in the New Testament. It was interesting to be taught about Christian things by this famous Jew. 

132. Andy Ehat, “Joseph Smith’s Introduction Of Temple Ordinances And The 1944 Mormon Succession Question,” MA thesis, BYU, 1982, the beginnings of exposure to a deeper meaning of the temple and its ordinances. 

133. John Tolland, Battle: The Story of the Bulge, the story of the German counter-offensive after Normandy.  The courage, determination , and suffering of the allies in the thick of winter cold de-glamorized war. 

134. Victor L. Ludlow, Isaiah: Prophet, Seer, and Poet; with a little help and personal effort I really could understand the great prophet! 

135. Yigail Yadin, Masada, an amazing story of Jewish resistance and Roman persistence which became legendary; all overlooking the Rift Valley and the Dead Sea. 

136. Januz Korczak, Ghetto Diary, story of a man who went to his death with the children of his orphanage at the hands of the Nazis.  Became an instant hero to me. 

137. Brent L. Goates, He Changed My Life, miraculous stories about President Harold B. Lee. 

138. Rex R. Eastman, The Liberty Book of Quotations, the first book(let) I mined for great quotations; a habit that is still with me. 

139. Thomas Friedman, From Beirut To Jerusalem, a well written very readable journalists account of the Arab-Israeli conflict. 

140. Liva Baker, Oliver Wendell Holmes, an interesting biography of an important Chief Justice of the Supreme Court which heightened my interest in the crafting of words. 

141. Irene M. Bates and E. Gary Smith, Lost Legacy: The Mormon Office of Patriarch, beginning of my studies when I was called as a patriarch. 

142. William J. Bennett, The De-Valuing of America, a conservative’s view of the weaknesses and errors of liberal philosophy and politics. 

143. Suzy Platt, Respectfully Quoted; how the staff of the Library of Congress have tracked down and verified popular quotations. 

144. Wayne Gretzky with Rick Reilly, Gretsky, An Autobiography, the story of the “Great One” in the history of hockey.  His passion produced an almost unmatchable skill on the ice, yet he seems to have remained a humble, average type guy. 

145. Alan Shepherd and Deke Slayton, Moon Shot, contains a memorable description of seeing, while re-entering the earth’s atmosphere, a meteorite coming in at too narrow of an angle and skipping off the atmosphere like a rock on a pond.  That was almost worth the cost of the book.

146. Edgar A. Guest, A Heap O’ Livin’, a collection of poems; in my own very unsophisticated way, I love many of Guest’s homespun poems, like “It Takes a Heap O’ Livin To Make A Home.” 

147. Melvin S. Tagg, “The Life of Edward James Wood,” master’s thesis, BYU, 1959, every Latter-day Saint should know about E.J. Wood, a most unusual man of faith, work,  and miracles.  

148. B. C. Forbes, The Forbes Scrapbook of Thoughts on the Business of Life, one of the best compilations in my rather extensive collection of books of quotations. 

149. Todd Compton, In Sacred Loneliness, The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith, I gave a negative review of this book at a Mormon History Convention, and lost a potential friend. 

150. Bart D. Ehrman, The Orthodox Corruption of Scripture, amazing evidence from a non-Mormon scholar that the Bible really was tampered with by those who won the theological battles of the early centuries.  Unfortunately, it was one step in the man’s losing his faith in Christianity altogether.

151. Gale E. Christianson, Edwin Hubble, Mariner of the Nebula, the bio of one of the greatest astronomers of all time. 

152. John Lewis Lund, Understanding Your Patriarchal Blessing, a whole history lays behind my association with John and the eventual publication of this book, all of which helped prepare me to soak up its message for me as a new patriarch. 

153. Vladimir Posner, Eyewitness: A Personal Account of the Unraveling of the Soviet Union, something I never expected to see in my lifetime and which I consider one of the great miracles of our age. 

154. Loren C. Dunn, Prepare now to Succeed on Your Mission, the beginning of extensive reading when we were called to preside over the California Roseville Mission. 

155. Dale Carnegie, How To Win Friends and Influence People, didn’t affect me the first time I read it when a teenager as much as it did when I was a mission president. 

156. Adrienne Koch, Jefferson and Madison, The Great Collaboration, story of the friendship of two of my heroes.

157. Margaret Barker, On Earth as It is in Heaven: Temple Symbolism in the New Testament,  my first exposure to this wonderful Methodist preacher, who has since written a shelf-full of books about the theology of the ancient temple, and through serendipity has become a beloved personal friend. 

158. Dallin H. Oaks, His Holy Name, expanded from a 1985 talk in General Conference which taught me more clearly the purpose and power of the Lord’s name. 

159. Hafen, Bruce C.  Covenant Hearts: Why Marriage Matters and How to Make It Last, answered a question I have been searching for, for about fifteen years.  My wife and I wept by the bedside as we read it together. 

160. Hall Urban, Life’s Greatest Lessons: 20 Things That Matter, a short and easy read, with a powerful, thought provoking message good for any age, but especially important to the young.  I bought copies for each of my grandchildren.  I wished I would have read it before I served as a mission president.

161. Joseph Smith, Lectures on Faith, these seven lectures amazed me for their organization, logic, and power.  Questions were not only answered, but a lifetime of thought has been invested in questions they raised too.  Incidentally, the last two lectures teach some doctrine usually associated with the higher points of doctrine brought forth in Nauvoo.  He knew a lot very early. 

162. Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace, a test of endurance because it mostly exposed my ignorance of Russian history and the need to pay very close attention to the names of characters in novels. 

163. B. H. Roberts, The Seventy’s Course in Theology.  Forth Year.  The Atonement, solidified in my mind Roberts’ place as a theologian as well as a historian.  Many great insights about the atonement often overlooked in today’s talks and treatises.   

164. Church Educational System, Church History in the Fulness of Times; I was part of the committee which prepared the first edition of this volume, the whole experience profoundly influenced my life. 

165. Miguel de Cevantes, Don Quixote; which I didn’t find nearly as funny as most people say, which tells you more about my ignorance than the book itself. 

166. Hyrum M. Smith and Janne M. Sjodahl, The Doctrine and Covenants Containing Revelations Given to Joseph Smith, Jr., the Prophet, with an Introduction and Historical and Exegetical Notes, popularly referred to as the “Doctrine and Covenants Commentary,” introduced me to Hyrum Smith, brother to Joseph Fielding, and also an apostle.  He possessed a remarkable facility to interpret scripture.  We lost a great one when he died relatively young. 

167. John Bierman, Righteous Gentile: The Story of Raoul Wallenberg, Missing Hero of the Holocaust, a neutral Swedish diplomat of sorts, sought to stalemate Adolph Eichman’s effort to eradicate the Jews. His courage, skill, and compassion saved untold numbers of Jews headed for the gas chambers, but he disappeared at the end of the war. 

168. George H. Nash, Books and the Founding Fathers, is small, but shows most of the Founders were readers in the classics of their day, political philosophy of great European minds of their day, and much more. They believed maintaining our freedom required an educated body politic, which meant reading. 

169. William George Jordan, The Majesty of Calmness, a twenty-seven page booklet with seven chapters, six of which are better than the title chapter. The scores of one-liners will give your mind food for thought for a year. 

170. M. Stanton Evans, The Theme is Freedom: Religion, Politics, and the American Tradition; the first detailed study I’ve read showing the Biblical religious foundations of the fundamental principles upon which the Founding Fathers built.

171. John Quincy Adams, Letters of John Quincy Adams, to His Son, on the Bible and Its Teachings; perhaps the US President with the greatest intellect, humbly and warmly recommends Bible study to his son. 

172. John R. Silber, Seeking the North Star: Selected Speeches, a remarkably conservative book by the moderately liberal president of Boston College for 30 years, on many issues facing higher education in the last quarter of the 20th century.  

173. David McCullough, The American Spirit: Who We Are and What We Stand For; some of the great historian’s speeches compiled to counter the  political spirit and ignorance of Donald Trump, his campaign and presidency.   

174. Louis L’Amour, Education of a Wandering Man; the role that veracious reading from a young age played in L’Amour’s life and his writing of a 100 novels.   

175. Michael McGirr, Books that Saved My Life: Reading for Wisdom, Solace and Pleasure; encountered in a museum bookshop on a trip to Sydney, Australia; a religiously oriented school teacher talks about the books that influenced his life.

Let's think together again, soon.

A Panel Discussion In Praise Of Books

Introduction:  Years ago I went through my collection of quotations about books and reading and ended up producing this imaginary panel discussion.  All the quotations are genuine and I have a source for them.  By the way, the Moderator, a close friend of mine, isn't the sharpest tack in the box as you will see.  Please be tolerant!

Participants: many eminent thinkers from all ages.

Moderator: It is a pleasure to welcome our distinguished panel.  Let's begin the discussion with a broad question.  How have books influenced the world?

Victor Hugo: Guttenberg is forever the auxiliary of life; he is the permanent fellow-workman in the great work of civilization...he has marked the transition of the man-slave to the free-man.

Barbara W. Tuchman: I agree...  Books are the carriers of civilization.  Without books, history is silent, literature dumb, science crippled, thought and speculation at a standstill.  They are engines of change, windows on the world, "lighthouses" (as a poet said) "erected in the sea of time."

Thomas Jefferson: To the press alone, checkered as it is with abuse, the world is indebted for all the triumphs which have been gained by reason and humanity over error and oppression.

Benjamin Disraeli: An author may influence the fortunes of the world to as great an extent as a statesman or a warrior.  A book may be as great a thing as a battle, and there are systems of Philosophy which have produced as great revolutions as any that have disturbed the social and political existence of our centuries.

Moderator: Thank you, that's quite a start.  So you feel it is important to know how to read?

Mark Twain:  The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who can’t read them.

Aldous Huxley: Every man who knows how to read has it in his power to magnify himself, to multiply the ways in which he exists, to make his life full, significant, and interesting.

John Quincy Adams: The best book in the world is like the pipe that Hamlet offers to Rosenkrantz and Guildenstern: it will discourse excellent music only to those who know how to govern the ventages.

W. Somerset Maughan: Read books not to gain information.  You can get that, cut and dried, in the encyclopedia.  Read not to get ideas, but read mainly to gain intellectual and moral stimulus.  Read in this mood and the great books will increasingly enable you to think out your own ideas.  One soon tires of a book that does not make him feel now and then like getting up and walking the floor under the impulse of some larger vision of truth.

Moderator: What about selectivity in reading?

Harry Emerson Fosdick: Well...the quality of a man's reading is one of his foremost responsibilities.

Henry David Thoreau: Read the best books first, or you may not have a chance to read them at all.

Mrs. Wesley (John's mother): Avoid whatever weakens your reason, impairs the tenderness of your conscience, obscures your sense of God, takes off your relish for spiritual things...increases the authority of the body over the mind.

Moderator: Would you encourage students to begin building a library of their own?

Henry Ward Beecher: Ah yes, where is human nature as weak as in a bookstore?

John Livinston Lowe: One cannot begin too soon to buy one's own books, if for no other reason (and there are many more) than the freedom which they give you to use their fly-leaves for your own private index of those matters in their pages which are particularly yours, those things which the index-makers never by any possibility include.  To be able to turn at will, in a book of your own, to those passage which count for you, is to have your wealth at instant command, and your books become a record of your intellectual adventures.

Arnold Toynbee: The student, when he enters one of the great bookshops in his university town, is learning the extremely important part of educating himself.  Browsing in a bookshop teaches him to explore the wide world of literature, and to do this on his own initiative without guidance.  He is learning to find his way for himself and finding his way for himself is one of the most important parts of education.

Isaac D’Israeli: A room without books is a body without a soul.

Victor Hugo: Yes but....  It is those books which a man possesses but does not read which constitute the most significant evidence against him.

Moderator: With modern methods of communication why should one invest the time and effort to read?

George Washington: I conceive that a knowledge of books is the basis on which all other knowledge rests.

Christopher Moreley: Lord! when you sell a man a book you don't sell just twelve ounces of paper and ink and glue--you sell him a whole new life.  Love and friendship and humour and ships at sea by night--there's all heaven and earth in a book, a real book.

George Steiner: Books [are] the best antidote against the marsh-gas of boredom and vacuity.

David O. McKay:  Good reading is to the intellect what good food is to the body.  Thoughts as food should be properly digested.

Abraham Lincoln: A capacity and taste for reading gives access to whatever has been discovered by others.  It is the key, or one of the keys, to the already solved problems.  And not only so; it gives a relish and facility for successfully pursuing the unsolved ones.

Clfton Fadiman: It's easy enough to say that they enlarge you, but rather difficult to prove it in advance.  It is less difficult to prove that they act like a developing fluid on film.  That is, they bring into consciousness what you didn't know you knew.  Even more than tools of self-enhancement, they are tools of self-discovery....  Socrates called himself a midwife of ideas.  A great book is often such a midwife, delivering to full existence what has been coiled like an embryo in the dark, silent depths of the brain.

Moderator: What special delights of reading would you call to the attention of the audience?

Rene Descartes: Reading good books is like having a conversation with the highly worthy persons of the past who wrote them; indeed, it is like having a prepared conversation in which those persons disclose to us only their best thinking.

Thomas Carlyle: All that mankind has done, thought, gained or been; it is lying as a magic preservation in the pages of books.

Caroline Gordon: A well-composed book is a magic carpet on which we are wafted to a world that we cannot enter in any other way.

Howard W. Hunter:  Books are among life’s most precious possessions.  They are among the most remarkable creation of man.  Out of the books we get the great literature, the great biography, the great religion....  The most powerful ideas, the finest logic, the best good judgment are made immediately available to us.  We can learn how to think, how to plan, how to organize, how to worship, and how to work.  We have the holy books of scripture through which we may learn about God himself and become familiar with his great doctrines, his standards of value, and his will concerning us.

Moderator: We haven't heard many women's voices, but Ms. Dickinson, I sense you have a poem on the tip of your tongue.

Emily Dickinson: 

He ate and drank the precious words,

His spirit grew robust:

He knew no more that he was poor,

Nor that his frame was dust.

He danced along the dingy days,

And this bequest of wings

Was but a book.  What liberty

A loosened spirit brings!

Moderator: Thank you!  How do you feel about public libraries?

Lesley Conger: You don't need to know very much to start with, if you know the way to the public library.

W. Somerset Maughan: In a great library, you get into society in the widest sense....  From that great crowd you can choose what companions you please, for in these silent gatherings...the highest is at the service of the lowest, with a grand humility....  In a library you become a true citizen of the world.

Richard de Bury: A library of wisdom is more precious than all wealth, and all things that are desirable cannot be compared to it.  Whoever therefore claims to be zealous of truth, of happiness, of wisdom or knowledge, aye even of the faith, must needs become a lover of books.

Gilbert Highet: Sometimes, when I stand in a big library...and gaze round me at the millions of books, I feel a sober, earnest delight which is hard to convey except by a metaphor.  These are not books, lumps of lifeless paper, but minds alive on the shelves.  

Moderator: I appreciate your enthusiasm.  What kinds of books do you like and what do you suggest as good reading for our audience?

Benjamin Disraeli: I don't know which books profit me most--those that keep me awake at night or those that send me to sleep.

Moderator (aside): That was helpful!  The gentleman in the kaffyeh, I don't recognize you, but please feel free to express your opinion.

Arabian: A novel is a garden carried in the pocket.

Thomas Carlyle: I would add another category: A well written life is almost as rare as a well-spent one.

Louis L’Amour:  It is often said that one has but one life to live, but that is nonsense.  For one who reads, there is no limit to the number of lives that may be lived, for fiction, biography and history offer an inexhaustible number of lives in many parts of the world, in all periods of time.

Edward Bulwer-Lytton:  In science, read by preference the newest works; in literature, the oldest. The classics are always modern.

Gustave Flaubert: Well, Shakespeare frightens me the more I think of him.  In their entirety, I find his works stupendous, exalting, like the idea of the planetary system.  I only see an immensity there, dazzling and bewildering to the eye.

Moderator: Thanks Gus.  The man in the double breasted suit....you look like a banker....  You are! With the Royal Bank of Canada.  I see, well what advice does a banker have to offer about good reading?

Banker: One guide can be stated without equivocation: if you want to be vitalized into the power of thinking real thoughts; if you wish to be qualified to debate the issues of the day; then resolutely leave out whatever is not of the best.  To spend time on naughty narratives in a world that holds Hugo and Dickens and Toynbee, Shelley and Shakespeare and Churchill, is like being told you may have your choice of all the diamonds in Tiffany's, and then walking out with a bit of broken glass.

Moderator: Not bad!  Others?

John Ruskin: [Would] you go and gossip with your housemaid or your stableboy, when you may talk with queens and kings?

Moderator: Good point.  Well...any final thoughts on the subject?

Joshua: This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein; for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.

Wilford Woodruff: By perusing history, we hold converse with men of judgment, wisdom, and knowledge.  I finally took up the Bible as a study of history and I never found any history equally interesting until later on I read the Book of Mormon.  While reading these books we converse, as it were, with the Lord and with His holy prophets and apostles.  In studying the Word of the Lord we learn truths which cannot be acquired from any other source.  Those books which contain the revelations of heaven are of far more interest than books containing merely the opinions, theories, and doctrines of men.

Moderator: I wondered if anyone would mention the Bible.  Further final thoughts?

Monroe E. Deutsch: Time has selected and time has tested.  The recent best-seller may endure, but it will have to meet a sterner test than at the time when it was issued.  Gone With The Wind, appearing at a psychological moment, well advertised and still further publicized by the moving picture, which probably sent to the book thousands not in the habit of reading at all, may be read fifty or a hundred years from now, but who knows?  It may, on the other hand, be gone with the wind.

In short, time is a better and more reliable critic than any board selecting the Book of the Month.  You can be sure that when you read Plato or Virgil, Shakespeare or Goethe, you are reading something great--something worth reading.  They form the legion of honor of the ages.  And if you accustom yourself to reading the great books, you will soon find yourself ill at ease in the company of the tawdry and ephemeral.

Ezra Taft Benson: The fact that a book is old does not necessarily make it of value.  The fact that an author wrote one good work does not necessarily mean that all his books are worthy of your time.  Do not make your mind a dumping ground for other people's garbage.  It is harder to purge the mind of rotten reading than to purge the body of rotten food, and it is more damaging to the soul.

Moderator: With so many authors and so many books today, are there other pitfalls to watch out for?

Voltaire: The multitude of books is making us ignorant.

Moderator: Huh?

Warren Chappell: The flood of print has turned reading into a process of gulping rather than savoring.

Aldous Huxley: Science advances from discovery to discovery.  Readers are so busy keeping up that there is a real danger that being well-informed is incompatible with being cultivated.

Marcel Proust: Our journalism forces us to take an interest in some fresh triviality every day, whereas only three or four books in a lifetime give us anything that is of importance.

Robert Louis Stevenson: Books are good enough in their own way, but they are a mighty bloodless substitute for life.

John Keats: Nothing becomes real till it is experienced--even a proverb is no proverb to you till your life has illustrated it.

Aldous Huxley: Reading is not a substitute for experience; neither is experience a substitute for reading.

Clifton Fadiman: Perhaps, but...  An early familiarity with books unconsciously introduces the child to a fundamental, liberating truth: that the largest part of the universe of space and time can never be apprehended by direct firsthand experience.

Michel de Montaigne: When I feel a distaste for Plato's Axiochus as a work without power considering such an author, my judgment does not trust itself: it is not so stupid as to oppose itself to the authority of so many other famous ancient judgments, which it considers its tutors and masters, and with which it is rather content to err.  It blames and condemns itself either for stopping at the outer bark, not being able to penetrate to the heart, or for looking at the thing by some false light.

Moderator: Could someone help me with that?

Samuel Taylor Coleridge: Until you understand a writer's ignorance, presume yourself ignorant of his understanding.

Moderator: Uh...I see....  Well, we have time for a few short summary statements.  Anybody care to venture?

James Martineau: We forfeit the chief source of dignity and sweetness in life...if we do not seek converse with the greater minds that have left their vestiges on the world.

John Milton: A good book is the precious life-blood of a master-spirit, embalmed and treasured up on purpose to a life beyond death.

Moderator: Thank you, all!

Lets think together again, soon.

The Loss Of Two Important Goals Of American Undergraduate Education

In 2006, the now emeritus president of Harvard University, Derek Bok, wrote Our Underachieving Colleges: A Candid Look at How Much Students Learn and Why They Should Be Learning More. In the 1980s and early 90s, American higher education came under scrutiny from a variety of sources and the verdict was not good. Perhaps the banner slogan of this onslaught was the title of the only book of the bunch to hit the New York Times Best-Seller List, Allan Bloom’s The Closing of the American Mind. That is to say, the conclusion was that the nation was “at risk” because of the poor performance in our system of higher education.

Bok takes these criticisms seriously along with the pushback from higher education that inevitably followed these attacks. He asserts that the original assault was marred by certain flaws pointed out by the defenders.  Nevertheless, Bok’s book is not a whitewash of his profession, rather he takes a second look at the issue based on some criteria which he felt were overlooked in the original debate and finds that indeed there are many weaknesses in the system. His approach to the matter is moderate and sensible.

With this background, I bring to your attention two consequences he points out in Chapter 2 devoted to “Faculty Attitudes Toward Undergraduate Education” which grow out of those attitudes and which I think are among the most serious problems of modern higher education. He says the administrations and faculties of America’s colleges and universities have largely not paid satisfactory attention to the purpose(s) of higher education and therefore, they have not been concerned about adequately assuring that they have been effective in meeting those purposes. The first example of a lost purpose is the casualty of ethics.

By not paying careful attention to purposes, faculties have also ignored important aims of undergraduate education over extended periods of time. For example, following the Civil War, most colleges (with the notable exception of church-related institutions) gradually withdrew from any attempt to teach their students to think about ethical questions of the kind that commonly arise in private and professional life. Fortunately, after an eclipse of almost a century, courses on moral reasoning have finally begun to make a modest comeback. Yet most students in America still graduate without taking any classes of this kind.(1)

One of the obvious outcomes of this deficiency may be the rapid rise we have seen in moral relativity and/or rejection of morality altogether. The second purpose of higher education he identifies as being lost is the failure to adequately prepare American youth to function as citizens in a democracy.  

Most colleges likewise fail to make any deliberate, collective effort to prepare their students to be active, knowledgeable citizens in a democracy, even though civic apathy and ignorance of public affairs are widely regarded as serious problems in America. Only a minority of undergraduates ever take a basic course on American government, while fewer than 10 percent complete a course on the perennial problems of social justice and political philosophy that underlie so many issues of government policy.

One wonders how much this loss has contributed to what appears to be a significant decline in patriotism and the growth of cynicism about American government and American ideals. Bok concludes with this summary:

Over the past century, then, two well-known educational goals with roots extending back to ancient Greece have been allowed to languish on most college campuses without much notice, let alone careful debate.

These two deletions from undergraduate preparation seriously imperil us individually and collectively as a society.

Lets think together again, soon.

Note:

(1)   All quotations are from Derek Bok, Our Underachieving Colleges: A Candid Look at How Much Students Learn and Why They Should Be Learning More, (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2006), pp. 41-42, emphasis added.

How Well Prepared For The Millennium Are You And Your Family?

In 1971, then Commissioner of Church Education, Neal A. Maxwell, asked Henry B. Eyring, then newly appointed President of Ricks College in eastern Idaho, to chair a Select Committee to consider the future of higher education in the Church.(1) The committee was composed of twenty people heavily involved in Church Education from BYU, Ricks, Church College of Hawaii, LDS Business College, the Sunday School and Welfare programs. The group were an unusual blend.

The first meeting of this committee was in Salt Lake City in October 1971. It was marked by fresh and divergent thinking that led to some disagreement, but under Elder Eyring’s direction these twenty strong men were led by the Spirit. They were together three hours before lunch. At the end of that period they agreed to investigate a very interesting question:

"If we looked at a 10-year planning horizon and assumed the Lord would come then, what behaviors, attitudes, and skills would the members of the Church and those around them need to have for the Lord to be able to come?"(2) 

Does this question surprise you, coming as it did in 1971? It is a wonderful combination of focusing on a ten-year goal which heightens the immediacy of the question and also it’s practical nature–regarding skills, behaviors, and attitudes people will need in preparation for the Second Coming. The inquiry has the effect of cutting out the unessential and irrelevant. What should Church Education do in preparing people for the Second Coming? That is quite a different matter than asking what role does Church education play in preparing people for jobs and careers or even to build a happy productive life. It is a stark, direct, powerful question.

But even more interesting than the question are some of the answers the committee came up with. It is interesting what such a unique and creative interrogatory may produce by way of answers. It is a powerful question because it also focused the thinking of the committee on what is truly essential to know and to be able to do to stand when Christ comes. Some of the answers dealt with various things the prophets had said which had implications for higher education, which led to additional questions about such things as leadership in the Church. I think you will find their responses as imaginative, even as creative, as the original question. How would you have answered it? Here are five very thought provoking results listed in Elder Eyring’s journal on 21 October 1971

1. The patriarchal order working well enough in most homes that the present auxiliary functions could be performed in the home.
2. Most families, worldwide, economically self-supporting with a surplus to support education and church service.
3. The solutions and people to implement them in place to produce social order and the health and nutrition environment for a peaceful, happy life.  (Must be implemented soon after the Savior’s coming.)
4. The members bilingual, with English as a first or second language.
5. Effective managers for the church in every country, many of them men now illiterate.(3)

These answers fascinate for a number of reasons. First, it is obvious that the list generally concerns “higher education” in the Church, but all of them begin at a very practical elementary level. There would probably be a different list of answers if the question involved Sunday School, the Seminary program, or even the Welfare program. Contemplation of potential differences in responses given in the context of these other levels of education produces useful insights and understanding about both sides of the comparison.  Second, it is interesting to consider the Church doctrines relative to the Second Coming which informed or lay behind each response. Third, when you analyze these answers they quickly fall into several categories. The first is family–a family strong enough to be independent of the Church for its spiritual guidance and leadership; families economically self-supporting and even producing a surplus. The second concerns the “social order”: suggesting that a certain kind of social order needs to be in place at the Second Coming and a significant factor in that order has to do with health and nutrition. The third and perhaps most puzzling for me, is the suggestion that members would need to know more than one language, but English should be universal. I would like to know their thinking about why this would be an important skill to possess at the inauguration of the Millennium. Finally, the issue of leadership in the Church worldwide–which implies especially the local level–in stakes, districts, wards, branches, priesthood groups and auxiliaries.  

Two final thoughts. If you agree that these are significant answers to a significant question, how do you assess you own preparation based on this list? How about your family? Finally, I found this so interesting and thought provoking that I am interested in your reactions and thoughts upon this heretofore unknown aspect of modern church history? I would appreciate it if you choose to engage in this conversation, that you would do so by commenting here rather than on my FaceBook page.

Let’s think together again, soon.

Notes:

1. The story is rehearsed in, Robert I. Eaton and Henry J. Eyring, I Will Lead You Along: The Life of Henry B. Eyring, (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2013), pp. 199-207.

2. Ibid, p. 200. 

3. Ibid.

Lessons On Education And Preparing For A Career From President Henry B. Eyring

[Introduction: Last week I began reading the recently published biography of Henry (Hal) B. Eyring, member of the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.(1) So far it is an excellent book and I recommend it, not only to learn about President Eyring, but it is filled with many stories and quotations that teach a great many lessons of life–something he has been extremely good at sharing with the Church. This also makes it an appropriate topic  for this blog devoted to "Living Philosophies." His father [Henry Eyring] was an internationally prominent scientist at the University of Utah. He had “seen manned flight move from the beaches of Kitty Hawk to the lower reaches of space.  He personally associated with the scientists who harnessed the power of the atom and with others who created the earliest electronic computers. He knew that rockets would soon fly higher and computers run much faster, and he wanted his sons to be prepared for success in such a world.” (p. 47) Therefore, he offered to pay for tuition, and for their room and board in his home if they would do two things. They must major in physics, because he felt that would prepare them best for the coming needs in the modern world, and that they work part-time while attending school and full-time during the summers. The following story contains several very important lessons about education and preparing oneself for a career, which, if you are still in school will inspire you, and if you are a parent of someone in school, may give you some perspective while guiding them through.]

FIND SOMETHING THAT YOU LOVE SO MUCH THAT WHEN

YOU DON’T HAVE TO THINK ABOUT ANYTHING,

THAT’S WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT

Hal often sought his father’s assistance with difficult physics problems. Henry was a master mathematician, capable of solving complex equations in his head. The window of time to get his help, though, was narrow. Henry invariably stayed at the university until dinnertime, six o’clock.  And Hal had a time constraint on the back end–his goal was to have the physics homework done before pickup basketball games at the university started at seven. To hit this narrow window, he tried to solve all but the knottiest problems in the late afternoon, leaving only a few to take to his father after they had finished dinner. 

The strategy would have worked well were it not for Henry’s belief in the importance of understanding what he called the “first principles” of physics. When Hal asked for help with a particularly complex equation, one needed to solve an unworked homework problem, his father typically replied, “Hal, let’s not worry about what the textbook says; we can derive this equation ourselves, from first principles.” 

That would lead to a time-consuming trip downstairs, where a chalkboard hung on an unfinished basement wall.  There Henry would begin to write the most fundamental equations of physics. From these he would lead Hal through an exercise of deriving for himself the complex formulae in his textbook. Working from first principles was, Henry knew, the best way to teach Hal not only physics but also the broader life lesson of paying the price to really understand a problem before trying to solve it.  His willingness to spend time with Hal in front of the chalkboard reflected his belief that Hal had the capacity to be a good problem solver. 

The rub, though, was that this deep dive into mathematical fundamentals nearly always took longer than Hal hoped, making him late for basketball games that were already under way by the time he arrived. It was at one of these tense moments, with precious court time slipping away, that Henry suddenly stopped. “Hal,” he said, “we did this same kind of problem a week ago.  You don’t seem to know it any better now than you did then. Haven’t you been working on it?” Embarrassed, Hal admitted that he hadn’t been studying the problem. 

Henry stepped back from the board and looked into his son’s eyes.  “You don’t understand, Hal,” he said. “When you walk down the street, when you’re in the shower, when you don’t have to be thinking about anything else, isn’t this what you think about?” Again, the answer was no.  It was a poignant moment for Henry, who had hoped that all of his sons would become scientists.  After a pause, he said, “Hal, I think you’d better get out of physics.  You ought to find something you love so much that when you don’t have to think about anything, that’s what you think about.”(2)

Lets think together again, soon.

Notes:

1. Robert I. Eaton and Henry J. Eyring, I Will Lead You Along: The Life of Henry B. Eyring, (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2013).

2. Ibid, pp. 48-50, emphasis added.