The basic premise for "Aims of a BYU Education" is that we can gain wisdom by applying knowledge, and then build our character, which consistently wise action. Then, by taking the covenants and applying the atonement, we can gain eternal life. Thus we have the first sentence of the earlier BYU mission statement: "The mission of Brigham Young University--founded, supported, and guided by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints--is to assist individuals in their quest for perfection and eternal life." An education is supposed to prepare us for life. Necessarily, for our education to be of use to us in this way, it must model our life to come.
If I read something like this in the mission statement of any other university, I would argue that college best prepares someone who wishes to continue intensive learning, if not those future academes who will live and teach there. Nevertheless, we find that many college graduates are not interested in engaging themselves daily in this way. Only a couple of hours ago, I heard someone tell a testing-center story:
One of my friends was taking a history final last year. When he was about one half-hour into his exam, he saw a young lady stand up and yell:
"Why I am I even taking this test? I only came here to get married!"
She then walked out, her test half-completed.
How perceptive of her.
What other purpose could college serve than to prepare scholars? College has some place to train for jobs, but many job skills are necessarily gained on-the-job because the workplace is dynamic.
Because this article was approved by BYU's board of trustees (the prophet), it should be considered scripture. Because it is so straightforward, it can even be hard to probe it for answers to significant questions. We are led to infer that BYU has escaped the plague, and that BYU is suited not only to prepare academes, but all trained professionals to which it offers degrees. Do colleges have this problem? How has BYU escaped it?
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That little story you told is one of my biggest pet peeves about the mindset of some of the people in this place. BYU is not an easy school to get into, three of my friends got rejected from it because their grades were not high enough. If you're going to work so hard to get in here, you better dang well make sure it was worth it. If your sole purpose in coming to BYU was to find a spouse, then in my opinion, you wasted someone else's spot who really wanted to come here and LEARN. Imagine actually wanting a degree! The horror! I'm most likely in the minority here, but I am just so sick of those people whose sole focus is dating and not getting the education they worked so hard to get.
ReplyDeleteI agree. Married people in my classes disturb me. I was hesitant to come to BYU for this reason among others. It seems so cliché to be Mormon and here. BYU is a good school. I chose to come here not for the educational aspect but for the spiritual one. I love the campus devotionals and the religion classes/mission prep classes that I can take here. I chose BYU to prepare me for a full-time mission. Other universities may have had better programs or were better academically but BYU has the spirit on campus. Coming here simply to get married is ridiculous.
ReplyDeleteI think it is important that the final aim of a BYU education is to prepare for lifelong learning and service. After all, we will only be here for a small fraction of our lives. If we don't learn how to learn, graduation will mark the end of our intellectual progression, and the rest of life will be unfuitful. And the other part, about service - I am realizing that my education is critically important, equally for me as for all the people I will serve. Especially since I am on a scholarship, I feel a huge responsibility to not waste my time here. Heavenly Father let me come, and I want to make the most of my gift.
ReplyDeleteEven though some people make the choice to attend BYU for the sole purpose of getting married, I don’t think it’s our place to judge them for that. All we have a right to do is make our own decisions and work hard to earn our own education. I don’t think worrying about others’ ambitions (not related to learning) is any of our concern. The BYU experience is based on learning in the Gospel. If we are truly learning in the gospel of Jesus Christ, we wouldn’t be getting all irritated over those with different goals than ourselves. Moroni 7:16 says, “..the Spirit of Christ is given to every man, that he may know good from evil..” We are only to judge what is right and what is wrong. Those that come to BYU to find a spouse are not sinning; they are not affecting our personal well-being. The Aims of a BYU education include character building. Is putting judgment upon others developing a character like unto Christ? Surely not.
ReplyDeletethe only reason they irritate me is because there ARE other people out there who want to come here and learn and can't because these people took their spot. like my friend, she got a 28 on her ACT, 3.6 GPA, and didn;t get in. She was really hoping to get into the nursing program here. When I see people here for the wrong reasons, it does make me mad, because I think, 'that could've been my friend in your spot.' sorry for judging, i guess it is a weakness, but if we allow this sort of mentality to just exist in our society, how is that helping the future generation? It teaches them that education is not important, you should only go to college to get a spouse. please, that surely does more harm than good in our society.
ReplyDeleteI think it is important to approach BYU with the correct attitude about learning but this applies to every school that you go to. BYU isn't the only school people go to get married. Many people have that goal at any number of universities. We need to approach school with more than one goal. We need to want an education but I think it is okay to want to get married while at BYU. It is also okay to want to have fun while your here. The story told makes me think that the girl doesn't understand the full potential of her time at BYU.
ReplyDeleteMotivation is a big part of life at BYU -- it makes your experience, because it drives you to do certain things. Certainly, BYU is for learning, but what is learning for? What is the purpose? I would say to better ourselves, to make something more of our lives than we would otherwise make of them.
ReplyDeleteThis goes back to the mission statement of BYU: "The mission of Brigham Young University...is to assist individuals in their quest for perfection and eternal life." I like how David broke it down to applying knowledge, building character, and applying the atonement. Learning is more than just what we get in the classroom -- I must admit that in my first few weeks here, I have learned more about myself and how to live than about things in Humanities, French, Writing, or any of my other classes, combined. I have never felt so good about myself, and I have never felt the Spirit so active in my life, and that's just the point isn't it?
Whether you are here to learn for a career path, to learn how to be independent, or even to just get married, the larger, greater picture, I think, is simply to become a better person -- to "quest for perfection and eternal life." As long as you are striving in that direction, what is there to worry about?
BYU Education is super awesome. I was chatting with my friends from other Universities and I was comparing their environment to the one here at BYU. It's so wonderful to be able to go to a physics class and have the professor bear their testimony about the creation or the order of things. Having the spirit in the classrooms helps you learn as well. It's stinking amazing to be able to come here and have this experience so I too agree that one should come here searching for education, and if they happen to get married so be it. But to only come here for that reason is not a good enough reason.
ReplyDeleteHeck no! This is why people have bad perceptions about BYU!
ReplyDeleteI came here to get an EDUCATION. I came here because I felt like if anyone could teach me how to be a better me, it would be BYU. I came here because I have dreams, goals, aspirations!
Marriage right now seems just compeletely out of reach! I'm 18, a freshman, and only just learning how to be an adult. I don't plan on getting married soon, and that is the simple truth.
It's amazing how people have the strangest priorities. People come to schools to learn, and the education here is fantastic.