Related Literature Quotes
Bennion, Milton Lynn
Mormonism and Education (Salt Lake City, UT: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1939).
It is doubtful if there is an organization in existence that more completely directs the educational development of its people than does the Mormon Church. The educational program of the Church today is a consistent expansion of the theories promulgated by its founders. (p. 2)
. . .
The Charter granted Salt Lake City in 1851 by the territorial legislature provided for the establishment and regulation of schools. Similar provisions were made in the characters of all the early Utah towns. These towns were established in promising spots throughout Utah, at an early date, by families sent out by Brigham Young for that purpose. The strongest families were usually selected by President Young for this important mission of colonizing Utah. This probably accounts for the fact that many of the remote settlements kept pace with Salt Lake City in the promotion of education. (pp. 40-41)
. . .
The second law passed by the territorial Legislature in 1850 provided for the establishment of the University of the State of Deseret. (p. 76)
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The Art of Teaching. (1918). Salt Lake City, UT: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The great principle of pedagogy is exemplified in all of the teachings of the Master. . . . Christ contended that it was the divine right of man to express himself--that he should be given his free agency--the opportunity to develop his own powers, through freedom of thought and action.
His will prevailed; but His opponents have never ceased to battle for their unholy cause. In a thousand subtle ways they have kept up the effort to cancel and overcome the rights of liberty divinely won for man.
Even in our systems of education their autocratic hand is frequently shown. As a result our schools are often institutions of repression and suppression rather than of expression. Too many teachers dominate rather than direct the minds of their pupils. Children are constantly being driven, not led, to learn. This was not the method of the Master . . . He did not force the minds of those who came to be taught by Him; but He opened up the truths He would impress, and left them free to work out the problems in their own way . . . Without such expression there can be no growth. (pp. 16, 17)
Kerr, Wm. Rolfe
"The Lord's University."
Professor Albert D. Swensen provided a significant insight into this issue when he addressed the senior class and alumni on April 17, 1980:
"When I joined the faculty at BYU in 1947, after an absence of ten years and with a brand new Ph.D., I was bothered by new innovations which I immediately noticed. Students would refer to BYU as the Lord's University. Now I had come to know many great men who trained or taught at great universities. I thought it presumptuous of us to stake a claim of the Lord's favor in such a way. I was sure that He watched over and blessed all institutions dedicated to learning and disseminating the truth. I was embarrassed when students and faculty alike, speaking at commencement exercises, referred to our school in this way in the presence of honored and dignified men from sister institutions of great reputation and contribution. But after 33 years of intimate contact with, and observations of, innocent, raw, frightened, and often rebellious freshmen growing in excellence both in their social and academic stature and their new spiritual convictions, I've changed. I have learned from caring and dedicated administrators, faculty, bishops, and many others that academic excellence without spiritual fulfillment or the enlargement of the mind beyond the enlargement of the spirit is self-defeating and non-productive. So, now I must confess that I, too, am a believer that this is the Lord's University--a secret believer, but nevertheless a confirmed believer."