Education

We are so organized that we can learn but little at a time, and the little we do learn should be that kind of knowledge which will bring to us as individuals and as a community, temporal and eternal salvation. Brigham Young¹

While I was at Airborne School I was having serious problems with the extensive running required of all students. I had never been a good runner, and we had to run at a set pace for about 5 miles per day. I was worried that I would not be able to keep up and get kicked out of the school. I didn’t want to be there in the first place, and the physical intensity was just another reason to make me want to go home. I prayed about staying, and promised the Lord that if he wanted me to stay, and let me know that he wanted me to stay, I would make it, no matter what. I knew that he had promised that if it was his will, there would be a way to do it.² He told me very clearly that he wanted me to stay. I was very confused. I thought and thought, searching for any reason that I should stay, and I could only come up with the fact

that the people who sent me knew I was Mormon. I thought my quitting would give them a bad impression of the Church.

I resolved that I would stay, no matter what, and that I would the runs. I knew it would take more than I complete tenacity had, but that God would give me the ability to push past my natural ability. The next morning came, and I made the run. My celebration was short-lived, however, because as we headed to the mess hall, I felt an intense pain in my knee. I had never felt so much pain in my life. Let me here explain that, besides the daily formation runs, all students at airborne school had to run everywhere they went; To the mess hall; To the training sites; To the barracks. You weren’t allowed to walk. I talked to the instructor as soon as I had the chance, and explained that I was injured and needed medical attention. He said that I was not allowed to go to the hospital. If I did, he would send me home for refusal to train. I remembered the promise I had made, and prayed with all my heart—not for the pain to go away, but for strength to bear it for the rest of the duty day, until I could get to a hospital. After breakfast we were informed that a high profile guest was coming to the base, so we would spend the afternoon picking weeds and trash from a field. I rejoiced, knowing that we would be spared the normal routine of running all over the place and jumping on of things.

That evening I went to the hospital. On the way, I prayed to God and said that if the doctor said that bearing this injury would cause permanent damage, I would go home. If it would just be painful, I would stick it out somehow. The doctor examined me and explained the problem. He said I needed to go home and use crutches for at least a month before the pain would go away. I asked him what would happen if I continued training. He looked at me in shock, and explained how much it would

hurt. I asked him if it would leave permanent damage. He said it would not, but was still in shock that I was considering staying, especially because airborne students were not allowed narcotic pain relievers. I left the hospital, sure that God wanted me there. That was a Friday. I spent the entire weekend in my bed. Monday morning I limped down the barracks steps and braced for our run, which I anticipated would be the most painful experience of my life. Before I had struggled with just the physical strain of running. Now, it would be coupled with an intense stabbing pain in my knee whenever pressure was placed on it. Somehow I made it despite the pain. By Wednesday, my knee felt fine. I completed the school and went home.

For the entire year following, I wondered why the Lord wanted me to stay at that school. That following fall, I would learn why. I had left for a mission to Chile. As a zone activity, we had driven out to the mountains. On a dare, I stupidly decided to climb a cable bridge which stretched across a river. I rationalized my decision by noting that the river wasn’t very wide, and I had recently navigated much more difficult obstacles in military training. I would have crossed without incident, but I decided to stop halfway and pose for a picture. Instead of just pausing on the wire, with my feet interlocked over the wire and my hands supporting the rest of my weight, I decided to unlock my feet and hang by just my hands. The missionary taking the picture took a very long time to figure out how to work the camera. After what felt like a few minutes, he took the picture. I tried to get my feet back up to continue the crossing. But I was too tired. My hands were beginning to slip. It was only then that I thought about how high I was on the ground. I looked down and noted that the ground was covered with boulders. I thought that if I dropped, I would surely break my legs, and miss out on the rest

of my mission. I felt so foolish and angry at myself. I pleaded with the Lord to make the most of the situation somehow. The skin on my hands began to tear and bleed. I dropped. From that height, anyone would have hit the boulders and broken at least one leg. I executed a parachute landing fall, specifically designed to absorb the force of a man dropping at 25 miles per hour without any injury—the equivalent of a 13 foot drop. I was higher than that, but somehow the only injury I had was my bleeding hands. I knew in that moment why the Lord had told me to stay at Airborne School. I still felt incredibly stupid for risking a mission on such a stunt, but I was incredibly grateful for the preparation I had received at Airborne School, without which I would not have served longer than 2 months. “Now ye may suppose that this is foolishness in me; but behold I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise.” This scripture has special meaning for me. I thought Airborne School was foolishness, but I was confounded, as a great thing came to pass.

Like my Airborne experience, long periods of preparation can make all the difference in a moment of opportunity. There is usually much preparation for seemingly short, even instantaneous events in life. That is how life goes. As the value of money is defined by the quality and quantity of goods you can exchange for it, the value of time is the value of the preparation you can use it for. The more advantageous an experience is, the more time and energy it is worth using to prepare for it.

Early in life, there are far less valuable experiences to be had. A child may spend an entire day sleeping, eating, and playing. Perhaps those are the only options. As the child grows, he can begin to acquire new skills. He learns to walk. He learns to

speak. He learns to read. Now he must choose between playing and reading, speaking and walking. In adolescence, he can earn money or go out with friends, practice piano or ride his bike, learn math or play games, among many other options. As life moves on, more high-value experiences are options. Previous decisions and dividends as current preparations begin paying opportunities are only possible because of prerequisite preparation. The piano skills sure came in handy on the mission, and now he is enrolled in college, which wouldn’t be a possibility without the income from the piano lessons he gives three times per week. A few years later, he marries and has his first child. His preparation in seminary, institute, the mission, and private study were all necessary to make him the sort of man worthy for such a wonderful wife. His preparation has honed him to take the into the lifetime of service which is fatherhood. first steps And so on with careers, future service, and anything of meaning in life. All future experiences build on prior preparation.

Chances are that your time will become much more limited the older you get, and it will be harder to spend large amounts of time on things that don’t have an immediate payov. Contrast this with How did it take for to learn how to youth. long you read your first language? Would you spend that much time for anything now? Yet, was it worth it then? A young child may detest piano practice, but they are much more suited for it, since, as they get older, the time cost to learn increases, while the payov doesn’t change much. The time cost increases because there are so many things to do which will yield a high and quicker return on investment. For the adolescent there are dates to go on, paid work to do, and college classes to take. For the married person, there is a career to tend to, a family to watch over, etc. For a woman with children, going back to school requires a great deal

more financial and time sacrifice than it would if she didn’t yet have children.

Most preparation does not have a quick turnaround. Many of the significant sacrifices you make for future gain will have a high initial cost, and a low payout. But the payout will continue for the rest of your life, providing many times over the original cost in resources. For example, a mission requires a great deal of sacrifice, hard work, and even suvering. But the missionary who gives his all will reap substantial rewards for the rest of his life. Another example is getting a degree in a worthwhile field. It may cost four years or more of your time, and more money than you probably have on hand. But, if you choose your major wisely, you will have a secure income for the rest of your life because of your sacrifice. As the Savior said,“wisdom is justified of her children.”³ The probable fruits of your actions should be the deciding factor in how you spend your limited resources in preparation.

Thus, the more you prepare, and the earlier you do it, the better on you will be.

The race of life is so important, the prize so valued, that great emphasis must necessarily be placed on adequate and thorough preparation. When we contemplate the eternal nature of our choices, preparation is a vital factor in our lives. The day will come when we look upon our period of preparation and be grateful that we properly applied ourselves. (Thomas S. Monson, “Great Expectations,” CES Fireside, Jan 11, 2009)

In some vocations, one must spend more than a decade in specific preparation. A person cannot meander through general courses and somehow end up a lawyer. A potential doctor can’t

start one sort of degree and continuously change his mind and switch to others. At some point, one must commit to a path and stick to it. Typically, the more worthwhile the destination, the earlier one must plan for and commit to it. The longer you wait, the harder it will be, and the less time you have left. That being said, there is no limit to where you can go, if you are willing to pay the price.

Whenever we learn, we should recognize that it is the Holy Ghost that allows us to do it. If we tailor the environment so that it invites the Holy Ghost, we will be sure to increase his presence, and increase our learning. If prayer helps you learn while studying the scriptures, would it not also help while studying math? I’ve never heard anyone say they feel the Spirit when they integrate, but if the Spirit testifies of truth, he can help you to learn anything that is true. If the Spirit is present, you will study with an ability greater than your own. It is difficult The effects to seek spiritual learning without inviting the Spirit. of the Spirit, including quickening of the mind, will help you study more effectively. President Eyring said, “That spiritual element, when it is effective, refines and uplifts the aims of our total education.”⁴

A simple way to invite the Spirit into your study sessions is by reading the scriptures in between study tasks. If you recognize that it is the Spirit who is teaching you, you will avoid studying for school on Sundays. To do so would be to try to obtain a favor from One who you are ovending. Another way of looking at it is that you are attempting to obtain a blessing by pursuing the opposite condition upon which it is predicated.

Education is preparation when education is for a pragmatic purpose, as opposed to for entertainment value. There are two

main types of education: formal and informal.

For most, formal education is one of the greatest temporal preparations that can be undertaken. The main question is simply, what to study? The answer to this lies in another question: why study in the first place? Some study the subjects that they like. Some go to college because that is what other people do. Some go because of parental pressure. Some go because they don’t know what else to do. Some study a subject because it is easy. Pursuing education for any of these reasons make it less likely that you will achieve your vocational potential. We don’t go to college because our parents said to, because everyone else is doing it, or because we have no plans for life. We go to college to learn skills which will empower us to better build the kingdom. What we choose to study, therefore, should be the subject which best fulfills that purpose.

There are many educational paths which will bring us closer to God and those that will injure our spirituality. This could be a result of the schedule necessary to attain them, the location and environment of learning, the cost of learning, or the subject matter.⁵ Moroni taught that

every thing which inviteth to do good, and to persuade to believe in Christ, is sent forth by the power and gift of Christ; wherefore ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of God. But whatsoever thing persuadeth men to do evil, and believe not in Christ, and deny him, and serve not God, then ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of the devil; (Moroni 7:16-17)

If any educational decision will increase your distance from God,

it is not worth pursuing. “It is clear that our first priority should go to spiritual learning. For us, reading the scriptures would come before reading history books. Prayer would come before memorizing those Spanish verbs. A temple recommend would be worth more to us than standing first in our graduating class.”⁶ If your educational goals cause you to fail to meet spiritual duties, they are not worth the cost of pursuing.

These generalities aside, to specifically know what field of study will best prepare you for building the kingdom, you must consider your specific duties in the kingdom.

To the men: You seek training in skills which will make you more marketable to an employer, and thus more able to support a family and finance service to others. Your choice of study is really a choice of career. And your choice of career is really a choice of how much and in what way you will serve in this life. This subject is addressed more fully in a later chapter. Choose your career wisely.

You have the responsibility to financially support not only yourself and your family, but also to help all those you can. Elder Oaks said, “In our educational choices we should prepare to support ourselves and those who may become dependent upon us.”⁷ Elder Robert D. Hales said, “obtain an education and vocational to for a that training prepare [yourself] profession will sustain [you] and [your family].”⁸

In considering essential questions such as what to study and where, don’t forget to consider how much school will cost compared to how you will earn in your employment. A rule of thumb

is to select a major where you will qualify for employment which will pay you enough in the first one or two years of employment to have paid your entire cost of education. If the cost of tuition is several times what you would make in that field’s annual salary, consider another major which is more worth your time and money. There are a lot of vocations which pay in the first year enough to cover the full cost of one or more degrees. This is one application of a parable that Jesus taught about the cost of being a disciple:

For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it? Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him, Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish. Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is yet a great way on, he sendeth an ambassage, and desireth conditions of peace. (Luke 14:28-32.)

Resources in making these cost calculations include the school’s website, government labor outlook booklets (which contain annual salaries, job descriptions, and educational requirements for almost every job), and current job listings.

Once you have settled on a prospective career, choose electives which will better prepare you for that specific job. Even if you haven’t made a final decision as to what career you will pursue, choosing classes based on a tentative plan will better prepare you than blindly taking classes.

A good major is one which will prepare you for a job that will provide for your family, give you time with your family, and allow you to serve in the Church. After those basic requirements

are met, further selection can be made by considering your own strengths and weaknesses. You will be spending a great deal of your life working, and it makes sense to pick a job which will help you develop your weaknesses into strengths. For example, a job that requires patience is a good fit for someone who lacks it. Or, a job requiring math skills for someone who isn’t very good at math. Surely, spending so much time each and every week will help you be better in those weak areas.

To the women: As a women do not have a you primary responsibility to provide for your family, but to nurture them. You should choose your scholastic path accordingly. You should choose the educational path which will make you the best mother and wife.

You must take special care not to be snared by the trapping idea which would lead you to believe that scholastic preparation in fields which are directly applicable to managing a home are degrading. The truth is that these areas of study will best prepare you to fulfill the responsibility to nurture, teach, and raise children, as well as be a help meet for your husband. These duties are the noblest and most joyful that you can undertake in your life.

The thirst for education that comes with the change the gospel brings can be a blessing or a curse, depending on our motives. If we continue to seek learning to serve God and His children better, it is a blessing of great worth. If we begin to seek learning to exalt ourselves alone, it leads to selfishness and pride, which will take us away from eternal life. (Henry B. Eyring, “Education for Real Life,” Ensign, May 2002, p16)

You will approach your education much diweren'tly if you are preparing to be a mother and wife than you would if you were preparing to tackle the industry. The former will lead you to

choose based on what will best to be a wife and prepare you mother. The latter may lead you to choose based on rigor of topic, worldly honor, academic acclaim, and monetary remuneration.

All subjects are not created equal. Though practically any major will give you something which is useful in the home, the disparity between the most and least useful degrees for a homemaker would suggest that a majority of majors are not worth the time and money. What will give you the guidance you need to discern between them in prayerfully considering your purpose. If you chose accounting, you would pick classes which would help you make strong family financial decisions and keep tabs on accounts in the home. You would also prepare to teach those skills to your husband and children. If you were taking a teaching major, you would do it in preparing to teach your children. If you were taking a math major, it would be to help your children in math, or even home school them. If the major does not have primary application in the home, then perhaps another major would be more appropriate.

If there is more than one option which meets these requirements, discrimination should be made according to which educational path could help you secure the highest paying job if circumstances arose where you had to support your family. Unfortunately, many female students use income potential as one of the first discriminants in choosing a job. Income should not be a primary deciding factor. It should only become an issue once a list of majors that would help you become a better mother and wife has to be pared down. This list is so extensive that there should be quite a few majors that could support a family on one income should the need arise.

Be careful in acquiring large sums of school debt if you are a single female student. When you get married, those loans will

put an additional stress on your family without increasing your family’s earning power. Do all in your power to work on your tuition as you go through school, even if it takes you longer to obtain a degree. Your husband’s income, if substantial enough, will be sufficient for to after you eventually finish your degree marriage. Even if (and especially if) your husband’s income is not substantial enough to support your continuing education, you are better on without the burden of debt.

To all: The goals you set in education will determine how you study. If your goal is to get a good grade point average, you will study to do well on evaluated assignments. If your goal is to learn skills which will assist you in life, you will learn those skills through your own evorts independent of what is taught in class or the text.

I suggest focusing on the latter. Grades certainly matter, but if you make it your mission to master the useful part of the subjects you take, you will be better on in the long run. Both spiritual and secular knowledge are only as good as they are applicable. If your life or the lives of others will be no diweren't as a result of the knowledge, it really isn’t worth much. Trivial dates, facts, and arcane obscurities are akin to fillers for your mind. In abstract, they are neutral, but in practice, they are malignant, as they squander your limited time and money from being used to obtain more beneficial knowledge. “Nothing in education is so astonishing as the amount of ignorance it accumulates in the form of inert facts.”⁹ Much of what we call education, isn’t. You would do well to separate subjects which you are interested in from subjects that will teach you something useful. The former is recreation, to be treated as such in terms of priorities, and the latter is preparation, which has a much higher priority level.

Recreation is treated in a later chapter in detail. As with any use of resources, put your greatest focus on the subjects which will yield the greatest effect on your life. If you have to memorize something or learn something for a test, than do it, but spend extra time seeking out and internalizing those skills which will actually be useful in life. In the eternities, we will have eons to learn everything there is to know about anything which is true. But, even there, all our knowledge will center on and be delineated by what is needful to build kingdoms, principalities, and powers. What we study here should increase our ability to serve. It should prepare us for employment. Education for the sake of education is nothing more than leisure, and subject to the judgments which bound when leisure is an appropriate use of resources.

Don’t waste your time and the school’s resources—especially if it is a Church school. Church universities are subsidized with tithing. There are some very poor members of the Church in this world, and they are funding schools with their widow’s mite—schools which their children probably have no chance of that in mind the next time are attending. Keep you tempted to enroll for a semester because have no other or you plans, take a class because it sounds interesting. Show the same level of seriousness in education as the members of the your poor Church show in funding it. Figure out your major, complete your coursework as quickly as you are able, and get out into the job market. College is not for leisurely general study. Know your purpose and act accordingly. If you don’t have a major, make your purpose to find out what to major in, and tailor your actions accordingly.

What you become in this life is determined by what happens outside the classroom. I am not talking about homework. I am

talking about proactively taking charge of your education. One who does this sees the teacher not as a master, but as a resource; sees the text not as a to-do list but as a resource for answering questions. The syllabus does not determine his course of study. His and interests do. He sees as a toolkit to goals knowledge solve problems.

You should always ask Heavenly Father to increase your abilities to aid you in studying. Such a prayer would be in vain if you didn’t do your best to show up to class (if classes help—there are some terrible ones out there), to do your assignments, and to take extra time to study anything you don’t fully understand. Remember that it is not the teacher’s job to dump his brain into yours. His job is to create an environment where you can learn for yourself. As Emerson said, “it is not instruction, but provocation, that I can receive from another soul.”¹⁰

Don’t ask the Lord to give you good grades, but that he give you the strength to study hard enough that you earn good grades. Take the example of Alma, who asked for strength so that he could break the bands with which he was bound.¹⁶³ Ask God to give you strength to study as hard as you need to in order to be successful. I have seen students who could study with ease, and I have seen students not so blessed with book-smarts. The old fable about the tortoise and the hare applies here. The degree doesn’t go to the one for whom it is easy, but the one who has tenacity. Don’t be discouraged if you aren’t book smart. You may have to four times as as You will book study long your peers. develop smarts, but they may never develop your tenacity. That tenacity is perhaps the greatest spiritual reward for education. Those who study hard subjects are constantly forcing their body to do

what the spirit wants it to. The natural man has no interest in calculus! The ability to subdue the body with the spirit is one of the principle skills we were born to learn.

An oft-cited scripture reads, “And if a person gains more knowledge and intelligence in this life through his diligence and obedience than another, he will have so much the advantage in the world to come.”¹¹ Perhaps I can take liberty to apply the ideas of this verse to school, and render it, “if a person gains more knowledge and intelligence in [school] through his diligence and obedience than another, he will have so much the advantage in the [post-college] world to come.” Perhaps in this application, the advantage is not necessarily what you learned in your classes, but what you learned through your classes—the tenacity you necessarily developed in order to do what you had to do to be a success. Your degree may qualify you for a job, but your tenacity and ability to conquer challenges is what will make you a success in life.

Be smart about school. Research your professor options before choosing classes. It may be the most important homework you’ll ever do. A good professor can make the hardest subject simple, and a bad one can make the easiest subject impossible.

Of course, most of the greatest learning we enjoy this life happens outside of the classroom. With the internet, libraries, and other resources available, we can learn almost anything about almost any topic for almost no money. Even those further along the path of life still have many opportunities to improve themselves. A father without a can back to college degree go school and then motivate his child to do the same. A mother can learn an instrument and then teach her child to play. A worker can learn a tough new technique and then share it with her

coworkers. The list of possibilities are endless. Every moment we can fill with learning. But we have limited time in this life. What should we study in our formal education?

We will have all of eternity to learn about everything our hearts may desire. In this life, however, our main educational objective is to learn to subject our body to our spirits. For this purpose were we born. Learning to learn is learning to control our minds and focus them on improvement. Our spirits grow as our minds grow. Learning how to subject our bodies to the desire of our spirit is a part of becoming more like God.

All learning can and should be framed within the gospel. If it has no place in building the kingdom, we have no time for it. This is more about motive than content. Brigham Young explained it this way, “Our education should be such as to improve our minds and fit us for increased usefulness; to make us of greater service to the human family; to enable us to stop our rude methods of living, speaking, and thinking.”¹² In most cases, the subject is not what makes it worthwhile or not, but the intended use of the knowledge. Just as righteous, kingdom-building wealth is made of the same dollars as selfish, stewardship-denying mammon wealth, kingdom-building learning could include the very same subjects as empty, vain, waste-of-time learning. President Eyring said, “when you put the spiritual things first in your life, you will be blessed to feel directed toward certain learning, and you will be motivated to work harder.”¹³

In its proper frame, spiritual learning will always be first. That doesn’t mean simply scripture study, but learning placed in an eternal perspective. Spiritual learning really means learning that increases your ability to build the kingdom. Knowing the

proper motive will clarify the purpose of your education, give you guidance in the path you should take in obtaining it, and also aid in your learning. The Spirit will bless you with speed, depth, and applicability in a greater measure than your unaided abilities.

True education is not an experience, but an attitude. A true learner will find learning in all that he does. His entire life will become an informal education experience. Every moment we can fill with learning. We can either choose explicit instructional activities like a or a new researching particular topic learning area of math, or we can glean educational opportunities from small changes in our everyday tasks. We can listen to scriptures while driving, listen to audio books or talks while exercising, or make cards to our on our lunch flash expand vocabulary break. While reading for entertainment, we could note new words to memorize later. We can choose hobbies which increase our knowledge, such as reading, writing, teaching, etc.

Intelligence is not the result of a college education, but of an unquenchable thirst for light and truth. Any knowledge that exists is fuel for your educational pursuits. Prioritize it according to your expectation of the needs of those around you, and tenaciously seek after it. The stronger we are in the gospel, the stronger will be our desire to learn not just the spiritual, but all things. President Eyring said that Joseph Smith experienced this effect. “[He] had essentially no formal schooling, yet the ev ect of the gospel of Jesus Christ on him was to make him want to learn more so that he could be more useful to God and to God’s children.”¹⁴

You never know when you will be able to use acquired knowledge to help yourself or others. “We may live here year after

year, and store up knowledge all the time, and yet not have an opportunity of exhibiting it to others; it is on hand; whenever the time comes it should be used.”¹⁵ This is the true end of kingdom-building education, to give us more tools with which to serve others, and to draw closer to God ourselves.

As we become more like God, we will become more capable of caring for others as he does. Perhaps the service will come in the form of using the knowledge to fulfill the needs of others. Or, perhaps the service will be passing on what we have learned to others. Perhaps what you know took a lot of time, money, or experience to learn. Perhaps in teaching another, you can pass on your knowledge to someone who does not possess the skills, time, or means to obtain it in the same way you did. Nephi was blessed with a foundational knowledge of metallurgy, and to that was added additional instruction in the trade from the Lord. Knowing that his people in the New World would not have the same opportunities he had in learning those skills, he taught them. “And I did teach my people to build buildings, and to work in all manner of wood, and of iron, and of copper, and of brass, and of steel, and of gold, and of silver, and of precious ores, which were in great abundance.”¹⁶⁹

Take the time to think about what you want to study. “Our Heavenly Father expects us to use our agency and inspiration to examine ourselves and our abilities and decide the educational course we should follow.”¹⁶ Whether formally or informally, how much evort we spend on our education is a measure of how consecrated our lives are, for God’s sole purpose in giving us our lives and this world is so that we can improve, and improvement

always starts with an increase in knowledge.