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McKay School of Education > EDLF > Archives > Prophets > Schools 1922

Schools 1922


George Albert Smith, CR, April 1922, p.49

"Here we come upon the whole great problem of national education, its successes and its disappointments, its achievements and its problems yet un-solved. Education is not merely instruction -- far from it. It is the leading of the youth out into a comprehension of his environment, that, comprehending, he may so act and so conduct himself as to leave the world better and happier for his having lived in it. This environment is not by any means a material thing alone. It is material, of course, but, in addition, it iS intellectual, it is spiritual. The youth who is led to an understanding of nature and of economics and left blind and deaf to the appeals of literature, of art, of morals and of religion, has been shown but a part of that great environment which is his inheritance as a human being. The school and the college do much, but the school and the college cannot do all. Since Protestantism broke up the solidarity of the ecclesiastical organization in the western world, and since democracy made intermingling of state and church impossible, it has been necessary, if religion is to be saved for men, that the family and the church do their vital cooperative part in a national organization of educational effort. The school, the family and the Church are three cooperative educational agencies, each of which has its weight of responsibility to bear. If the family be weakened in respect to its moral and spiritual basis, or if the Church be neglectful of its obligation to offer systematic, continuous and convincing religious instruction to the young who are within its sphere of influence, there can be no hope for a Christian education or for the powerful perpetuation of the

Heber J. Grant, CR, April 1922, p.167
I have here a note from Elder Stephen L. Richards, who is an attorney, and he says: "A notion seems to be prevalent among educational people that the offering of prayer in our public schools contravenes the law of the State. I believe a reputable legal opinion will not support this view; since provision is made for prayer in the Federal Congress, the State Legislatures, and other public assemblies, why prohibit prayer for the children?"

President Brigham Young said: "Prayer keeps a man from sin, and sin keeps a man from prayer." We ought to have enough interest in our children to have prayers. I will thank the Lord when the public sentiment of America shall say that a man who does not believe in prayer cannot teach our children, at the expense of the public. Why should my money be used to employ a man to teach my children infidelity and a lack of faith in God? I remember as a boy, when we had our small common schools, that they hired a non-"Mormon," to teach in the Twelfth Ward school. He got up and said: "I understand that in the past you have prayed in this school. We will not have any more prayers, because we do not know whether or not there is anybody to pray to." I consider it an outrage that the money of people who believe in the Lord God Almighty can be spent to teach our children that kind of "rot." I endorse Nicholas Murray Butler's words. "The fool who says in his heart: 'There is no God,' finds his god when he is looking in a mirror."

John A. Widtsoe, CR, October 1922, p.45-46
We imagine too often that we can place most of our burdens, with respect to our children, upon the schools; yet, this is not possible, for our public schools are not permitted to teach all that should be taught mankind. As all know, in our free land, there is a provision in the constitution of the United States -- perhaps the finest in the constitution -- which provides for religious freedom; and in consonance with that constitutional provision, religious instruction is not permitted in our public schools. Since man is not merely physiological, or intellectual, but also spiritual, our schools do not wholly suffice for the full training of man. Yet it is quite as natural for a man to desire religious education as to desire education for his body and mind. This truth is borne out by human experience to such a degree that I have no need to dwell long on it here; but it came to my attention again with renewed force just a few weeks ago. I had the privilege of visiting, in company with two members of our Church, and several who were not members, the great Rainbow bridge, or Rainbow Arch, located in southeastern Utah, not far from the Arizona line. It is one of the most beautiful of all known works of nature -- a gigantic, perfectly formed bridge or arch of brilliant red sandstones spanning the canyon symmetrically from side to side. Through the efforts of President R. D. Young of Sevier stake, there was found, in a squirrel's hole, the registration book which had been used since 1909 by the occasional visitors to this bridge. In this book the visitors had written their names and comments that had occurred to them. Some very distinguished names were found in this book. Theodore Roosevelt and three of his sons had been there, I think in 1913, and had written their names in the book. The names of other men and women of national prominence were inscribed in the book. One man of national renown had written below his name: "Here hath the Master wrought with consummate skill." This man, not primarily a religious man, a well known scientist, standing before this marvelous creation of God, this great, wonderful natural bridge, felt himself drawn to God, and left a testimony of faith to all who might follow. Another man, under his signature, wrote, "This is a wonderful work of God. Remain here and worship God in all His glory." He also turned from the physical beauty of the bridge to the great spiritual beauty of the Maker of the bridge. This is the natural and normal instinct of all men. We are spiritual, as well as mental and physical; and our education, to be complete, and fully satisfactory, must take into account the demands of the spiritual nature of man, and provide for religious instruction. The man whose mind and body alone are trained is not necessarily a safe citizen, because such education is no guarantee against a criminal life or a life of lawlessness.

Education frequently helps the criminal in his lawless deeds. Spiritual education is the best known means of causing men to use their powers for human good. We are not justified in sending our children to schools and colleges to be developed mentally, with just the barest opportunity for spiritual development during the most critical period of their lives.

Since religious training is not permitted in the public schools, because it is against the law of the land, the question is how are we to supplement the work done in our public schools, so that our boys and girls may be spiritually developed, and thereby become better able to do the things that have been called to our attention in this conference? I am dwelling on this for a few moments -- realizing that there is no time, since there are many speakers, to develop this subject -- merely to call the attention of the Latter-day Saints to the necessity of not placing the whole burden of education upon the schools of the land. Too often, of course, school trustees and school teachers are afraid of doing what they really might do, under the constitution of the United States. This is not a God-forsaken country; this is essentially a God-fearing country, and there is no reason why, in our public schools, we should not teach the love and the fear of God. Since, however, we may not do this as fully as we would like, we must go for help to the home and to the church -- the two remaining agencies for the rounding out of education.

Those who have read the history of recent human thought, will remember that during the last forty or fifty years, the fathers and mothers of our land, having witnessed the wonderful development of the educational system within this country, have gradually placed increasingly much of their responsibility upon the school. The home has been minimized in importance; the school has been made larger in importance than was ever intended by the clear thinkers within the field of education. The home still retains its duty -- the duty of teaching and training and developing young men and women spiritually, filling in where the school under the constitution is unable to do its full duty. The home must not, and can not, in safety, shift its responsibilities to the school.

The Church should likewise be of tremendous importance in spiritual training. In this Church we have auxiliaries of various kinds, the chief purpose of which, as I view it, is to spiritually train our school-trained generation. I would like to leave the thought with the Latter-day Saints on this occasion, that the prime purpose of the auxiliary institutions of this Church is to supplement our educational efforts, as made through the public schools. The Church has also provided a system of Church schools -- in possibilities, the ideal school of course -- in which the child the youth and the maiden may receive instruction, not only out of books of learning made by man, but also out of books of God; where man may be trained physically, mentally and spiritually for complete living, and be better fitted thereby to obey the law and to do all other necessary things in living up to the teachings that are taught in this and similar pulpits throughout this Church, and throughout other churches. A number of splendid high schools, junior colleges and normal colleges are maintained by the Church, to the great advantage of thousands of students.

But, it is impossible for the Church to maintain church schools that will reach all the people, nor would it be wise or proper to maintain an educational system, competitive with the public school system, and therefore, we have in this Church a wonderful organization, scarcely understood by the people, known as the Religion Class, which is a definite attempt under the law to correlate religious instruction with the work which the law permits to be done within the elementary public schools. I take the liberty to call your attention to the religion classes, from this point of view, in the hope that all Latter-day Saints may give special attention to the meaning and purpose of this great movement in the Church. Then, continuing the religion class, the Church provides for the same purpose -- the development of the spiritual man, so that, educationally, he may be rounded out fully, the Seminaries which are maintained for the religious training of high school students, and in close proximity of the high school, but not in connection with it. In these institutions the young men and women who attend high school, may receive an hour a day, if possible, proper religious instruction. The Religion Classes and the Seminaries provide means by which the training of the boy and gift may proceed symmetrically, step by step -- not in mental chunks one year and religious chunks another -- but so that each year throughout the whole course of education, we may teach and train all the faculties of man.

Heber J. Grant, CR, April 1923, p.158
"Why is it that most of the able men in our great industries came from the country districts? The reason is that the country boy is trained to work. Statistics indicate that very seldom does a child, brought up in a city apartment house, amount to much; while the children of well-to-do city people are seriously handicapped. The great educator of the previous generation was not the public school, but rather the wood box."

Anthony W. Ivins, CR, October 1925, p.21-23
The world war, instead of bringing the allied nations closer together, as we had hoped that it might, threatens, because of the financial complications which have arisen, to drive us farther apart, while in the school of religion conflicting opinions threaten to bring chaos to existing theories regarding our relationship to God, and the present and future state of man, as it applies to eternal life.

Already the people are assembling in two hostile camps, one calling itself fundamentalists, the other modernists, one professing to base its conclusions on the truths brought out by modern scientific research, the other on the Word of the Lord, as it has come down to us in sacred writ, regardless of its harmony, or lack of harmony with modern thought, or the onward march of scientific investigation.

It is not a new controversy, but one which has characterized every gospel dispensation which has existed from the beginning to the present.

Men highly educated, and trained in certain fields of scientific research, with but limited knowledge of the great plan of human redemption, provided by the Lord for the blessing of his children, proceed to point out certain obscure passages which may be found in the Bible, and which may have no bearing at all on the relationship of man to his Maker, thus seeking to bring the entire book to ridicule, and destroy faith in it as a divine revelation from God.

On the other hand men knowing little of the great truths which have come to the world through the investigations of men, denounce all modern thought, sometimes even when it is demonstrated truth, if it does not appear to harmonize with their interpretation of the written word of the Lord.

The controversy, it appears to me, is one which might be more readily composed if the parties to it better understood both sides of the question under discussion, and were governed by a spirit of tolerance and reason, rather than one of dogmatism.

What is the difference between a fundamentalist and a modernist? If asked this question I would answer somewhat as follows: A fundamentalist is one who believes in the teachings and customs of the past, as they have come down to us by means of the written word contained in sacred writ, or secular history, preferring, where the ideas and teachings of today conflict with the past, and where definite evidence is lacking to establish one or the other theory to accept the old, rather than the more modern interpretation.

The modernist prefers, and accepts, the customs, philosophy and thought of the present in preference to that of the remote past.

The fact that a person may profess to be a fundamentalist is no evidence that he is either right or wrong, and the same rule may be applied to the modernist. Fundamentalism is that upon which a system or structure is builded.

The same may be said in truth of the modernist. Looking back over the history of the past it is plain that man cannot with safety ignore the lessons which it teaches, for truth, no matter when revealed, remains the same, and that great truths have been made known to man in the remote past cannot be denied.

Neither can we ignore the truths which have come to the world as a result of scientific research in the dispensation in which we live. The sure anchor, then, upon which we are safe in building our structure, is demonstrated truth, whether it be the truth of the remote past, or the living present. Thus we become both fundamentalists and modernists, with our feet firmly planted on solid ground.

Stephen L Richards, CR, October 1925, p.120
It is a matter of great regret that in our schools and colleges there are those who pass under the designation of educated men and women, who seem to rejoice in the destruction of the testimony and the faith of young people. I warn them that a persistence on their part to destroy faith and to keep this great thing we call testimony from reaching the hearts of students, young men and young women, will constitute an offense in the sight of God for which they shall be held accountable.

I could wish that the faith of our young folks were so well established as to give them security, even in the face of these dangerous situations. We can say to them, God has revealed the truth, that truth will never change, all the discoveries of science will in the end but serve to confirm it. Therefore, young men, young women, keep your minds open, do not forsake the wisdom of the ages for the theories of a Ph. D.

Heber J. Grant, CR, April 1926, p.8
"I sincerely hope that these things are merely a phase and that the American people are still a God-fearing race. If not, these things are a tremendous indictment of schools and colleges as well as parents. Yes, America has every material blessing at the present time and if we will keep our feet on the ground, the present era of prosperity should continue for years. On the other hand, all wealth is a mere tool which can be used either to up-build or to destroy. Everything depends on the motives, ambition and tastes of the people who have this tool in their hands."

George Albert Smith, CR, April 1926, p.144
We have in our public schools and in our universities, men and women who are trained, their minds are lighted up by the teachings of men, and it is remarkable to what a degree the business of life has been brought to the attention of the human family; but most of our schools operate as a result of the wisdom of man and exclude God, the source of all truth. We spend millions of dollars in the education of the hand and of the mind, and we exclude from many of these institutions all knowledge of our heavenly Father, who gave to us the hand and the mind. In fact, there has been an effort made by some educators to create in the minds of pupils under their watchcare a contempt for the fact that the world we live in is controlled by our Father in heaven.

So my brethren and sisters, while we can have our children educated in the arts and sciences as taught by men, there still remains a commandment of our heavenly Father that we shall supplement those teachings and that our children shall be reared in light and truth. I find in this same section a reference that is made to one of the men of that time. It says:

Joseph F. Merrill, CR, April 1928, p.38
You understand of course that in all of our system of education we are not trying to get into, we are not trying to dominate, we are not trying to influence improperly, we are not trying to interfere in any way with the public school system of education. All that we are asking is that the members of the Church may voluntarily go during school hours into our buildings, and our own property, and receive religious education. And this religious education was given daily last year, as President Grant announced this morning, to more than 14,000 who were in daily attendance at high schools and colleges. This year more than 15,000 high school and college students are attending week-day religion classes.

Joseph Fielding Smith, CR, April 1928, p.66
A man may have a wonderful education and not be on the road to salvation. It matters not if a man is acquainted with them principles of science, history, literature, and all the branches of education as they are taught in the schools of our land, these truths, of education as will not save him in the kingdom of God. He must have in his heart the spirit of faith in the mission of Jesus Christ; he must have in his heart the principle of repentance; he must understand the principle by which the remission of sins may be obtained, which is baptism by immersion by one having authority. In fact, he must understand of the first principles of the gospel and obey them. These truths are fundamental to salvation. If a man has not complied with these principles and received the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands, and obtained entrance into the kingdom of God, he is not on the road to salvation, no matter what else his knowledge may be. The great learning he obtains in the world will not save him.

David O. McKay, CR, April 1928, p.106
I said that the greatest obligation upon society is the proper training of youth. The home, our quorums, our officers in the community are three great educational factors, and all three subject to our sentiment, our approval.

"It matters not what I shall gain
By fleeting gold or fame,
My hope of joy depends alone
On what my boy shall claim.
My glory must be told through him,
For him I work and plan--
Man's greatest duty is to be
The father of a man."

George Albert Smith, CR, October 1928, p.94
We live in a great and wonderful age. The glory of this century is beyond that of any other century; but I feel that we are in just as great danger as were those who lived in the days of Noah, or those who lived in the days of Nephi upon this great western land. We are in as great danger as any nation that has ever lived, because God has given us more than any other nation, and if in arrogance and in pride we turn aside from the Father of us all, and in our carelessness and indifference towards sacred things we spend our lives for the things of this world, it will not be very long until the chastening hand of an all-wise Father may come upon us as a nation, and we be counted as the nations of the past, among those that have withered away. I pray that we may be worthy of our heritage, that the example of the members of this Church in every nation where they live, may be such that others observing their good works may be constrained to glorify our Father in heaven. How I pray that we as the servants of the Lord may have charity for mankind, may have patience with those who err, and in kindness and love go forward teaching the simple principles of the gospel of our Lord to the blessing of every soul with whom we come in contact.

Heber J. Grant, CR, April 1929, p.4; 7
It is only fair to say that the religious instruction given in our seminaries is equally as extensive and as thorough as that given in our Church schools. We have appeals from all over the Church, wherever Church schools are located, that we do not close these institutions. The people in each stake feel that their particular school is the one that ought not to be closed. While we are expending more now and have done so for the past three years than all the tithes paid by the people in the various stakes of Zion from Canada to Mexico, it is an impossibility to further extend our seminary system--which has been greatly expanded in the last three years--and still continue our Church schools. When you stop to reflect that it only costs a little less than one-tenth as much to educate our young people religiously in the seminaries as it does in the Church schools you will realize that we are justified in curtailing our schools and in enlarging our seminaries--when we can give for the same amount as much if not a little more religious education to ten people in a seminary as we can give to one person in a school. We would be delighted if it were possible not only to keep each and every one of our Church schools operating, but to have more of them. I am sure that figuratively speaking it breaks the hearts of the presidency and of each and all of the general authorities of the Church to close any one of the Church schools. We appreciate the wonderful labors that have been accomplished and the wonderful good that has been done in these schools, but we cannot, without facing a deficit, continue to expend three or four times as much money for building meeting houses and Church schools with only a very slight increase in our tithes.

Because of these facts we would like the people to understand that in closing Church schools and opening seminaries we shall be able to give religious instruction to about ten times as many students....

"I would plead for a conception of education large enough to take into itself everything that deepens the human consciousness, that inspires the human soul, and gives one a vision of the eternities. This, a moral education, to use the word in the highest sense, will do. As every historian can show, morals divorced from religion are sorry affairs without any point. But morals not so divorced can rise to the height that religion itself has attained."

"Our doctrine of equality and liberty, and humanity and charity, comes from our belief in the brotherhood of man through the fatherhood of God. The whole foundation of enlightened civilization, in government, in society, and in business, rests on religion. Unless our people are thoroughly instructed in its great truths they are not fitted either to understand our institutions or to provide them with adequate support. For our independent colleges and secondary schools to be neglectful of their responsibilities in this direction is to turn their graduates loose with simply an increased capacity to prey upon each other. Such a dereliction of duty would put in jeopardy the whole fabric of society. For our chartered institutions of learning to turn back to the material and neglect the spiritual would be treason, not only to the cause for which they were founded but to man and to God."

George Albert Smith, CR, April 1929, p.32-33
We should stress the necessity of morality among the rising generation. It is not safe for us to leave to our public schools and to other institutions outside of our homes the training of our boys and girls with reference to a proper conduct in life. If we do not teach them the sacredness of these bodies of ours, if we do not inspire in them a desire to build character that is beyond reproach, if we fail to impress upon them the danger that confronts them in their contact with the evils that afflict mankind, we will not be justified by saying that we did not realize how serious it was. God has warned us that we should teach our children to pray and to walk uprightly before him. He has given us schoolmasters after his own heart who have been instructing us from year to year in the things that we should do. If our children grow up in idleness we know that that is displeasing to the Lord. If those of our households neglect to hold in reverence the things of God, we must know that sooner or later sorrow will come into their lives; and if it comes into the lives of our children then we, too, must join them in sorrow and remorse.

I am thinking of the time when ancient Israel went astray. They worshiped false gods. They listened to that which was popular, but false, and then destruction overtook them. We are in just as much danger, my brethren and sisters, as any people who have ever lived upon the earth, unless we listen to our Heavenly Father. His is the only voice, and the teachings of those whom he directs are the only teachings that we are safe in following. We know that the adversary is alert. If he can, betray the rising generation, if he can lay pitfalls for their feet and ensnare them in evil his desire has been realized and their downfall is accomplished.

Rulon S. Wells, CR, April 1929, p.103
President Grant emphasized in his opening address the importance of religion and quoted from some eminent authorities an opinion that religion is the true basis of all morality. I heartily concur in that opinion. I do not believe that there is any morality independent of religion. The present policy of the Church, as announced by President Grant, in withdrawing from secular education, must not be construed by the people as a withdrawal from the great cause of education; but it does seem like an unnecessary duplication of work for the Church to undertake to do, in an adequate way, what is already being so well done by our public schools.

The greatest work of the Almighty is to educate his children. This Church itself is a great institution of learning and is charged with the responsibility of educating the world, and, in this connection, with particular reference to our secular education, our public schools are rendering to us and to our Church in common with our fellow citizens of other religious views and their churches, a splendid service in the accomplishment of this divine purpose, namely, the education of mankind.

David O. McKay, CR, October 1930, p.11
In one of our school districts great strides have been taken in guiding and taking care of the leisure hours of youth, particularly during summer vacations, not only in recreation but in vocation. A few years ago the Granite School District inaugurated a plan of guiding these students in the proper way of citizenship. Brother Francis Kirkham, who is now a member of the national committee to which I have referred, was instrumental in introducing this, and Superintendent D. C. Jensen is carrying the work nobly forward. I am mentioning it now because it is an example worthy of imitation by all educators in the state and nation. Summer supervision for Junior and Senior high school students was inaugurated in 1920, when 1227 students were enrolled. In the summer of 1921, the enrollment increased to 1500. In 1930 in two important respects the policy in this district was changed in respect to compulsory enrollment. "School officials do not now require enrollment in the activities of the summer, nor do they make a formal record of the credits earned as a requisite to unconditional promotion. Enrollment is wholly voluntary and the joy obtained through participation is the only reward offered." Notwithstanding they give no credits, make no compulsion, last year there were enrolled 4303 in activities as follows:

Richard R. Lyman, CR, April 1931, p.72-73
The indifference, if not the actual antagonism, toward religion on the part of many who are college-trained, is due primarily to the fact that their religious education has been neglected. Their religious ideals and motives have not been developed along with the growth of ideas and ideals in science, literature, and the arts. Our aim, therefore, is to produce a generation of college men and women who will understand, appreciate, and enjoy Gospel incentives, motives, and ideals, with the same interest, enthusiasm, and devotion that they develop for the new ideas they acquire in science, literature, and art.


To any who regard training in science, language, and mathematics as most valuable, I put these questions: Is not religion more weighty than other subjects? Is not character of more consequence than a knowledge of science? Honesty of greater moment than a knowledge of mathematics ? Dependability more important than a knowledge of languages ?

Give your children all the training you can in these other subjects, but see to it that along with their school instruction they are given this most valuable branch of education--a study of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, a study of the life and teachings of our Lord and Savior. For the prime purpose of this line of Gospel education, this training in religion, is to make people happier and better.

Let me make it clear and definite that religion is not founded primarily on logic; religion is rounded on faith. Faith, like electricity, is hard to define; but, like electricity, it has tremendous power. Faith is that satisfying something which comes into humble human hearts as a result of prayerful life and righteous living.

Affection, like faith, is not based on the logical operations of the human mind. It does not obey the dictates of the will, neither is it controlled by the rules of logic.

We are endeavoring to teach faith--faith in our fellowmen, faith in God, faith in a life beyond the grave.

Rulon S. Wells, CR, October 1931, p.63, 66
The Bible and these other scriptures are the words of eternal life, concerning which it has been said that "Heaven and earth may pass away, but my word shall not pass away." All shall be fulfilled. For this purpose they are given unto us. A great many people, in investigating the scriptures and searching in them, do it rather for the purpose of wresting them, and putting upon them private interpretations, or endeavoring to disprove them. It ought to be remembered that the Bible and the books of the inspired word are not given to us for the purpose of teaching us astronomy, geology, chronology, or any of these particular sciences. But they do have a specific purpose of educating us in the things of God. Education is important to all mankind. No man can be saved in his ignorance. How grateful we ought to be for that army of men and women who are engaged in our public school systems, our teachers, the teachers of our children, for our professors, for our scientists, for our inventors and discoverers: for these too are servants of God, engaged in the great task of educating mankind.

If we are, however, to be educated in the higher branches of education--and by that I mean those particular ones that are of necessity excluded from our public schools on account of our differing opinions--if we are to be educated in those things particularly that pertain to the things of God, we need a particular kind of teachers. For this purpose we need apostles and prophets. We need inspired teachers--men who speak as they are moved by the Holy Ghost, for "no man knoweth the things of God but the Spirit of God." As well might a man try to teach chemistry or algebra without knowing them as to undertake the teaching of the things of God without the Spirit of God. It cannot be done in either case.

Education, then, is the purpose of the Almighty, and we are here in God's great school. Our education did not begin when we entered the school rooms, neither does it end when we emerge from these institutions of learning. And as we come forth from them we very appropriately celebrate the affair by commencement exercises, for it is another commencement for which we have been preparing ourselves.

When I speak of education I mean that all-round education which contemplates the full development of all our faculties--physical, mental and spiritual--that we may indeed become like God. It is for this purpose he has sent us here. We are in attendance at God's Great School--a school of experience in bodies of flesh and bones--the earth life school with all of its potentialities for development and growth. And when we emerge from this great school and are called hence, let us hope that we will have so far advanced in our education and training that we may receive our diplomas, and then, that suitable commencement exercises may also be given: for this is indeed still another commencement as we enter into that still higher institution of learning, God's Great University, wherein we may continue to learn until we shall attain to that perfection which is contemplated in the words of the Savior: "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect."

Is this secular education which we receive in our public schools an essential part of our education? Most assuredly. If we have any rational idea of God we must conceive that he is a great scholar, a scientist, an inventor, a discoverer, with full knowledge of the forces of the universe, a chemist, a mathematician. He who framed the universe is surely educated along all these lines....

Some people say they are not religions; they are not religiously inclined. They don't mean what they say, they are thinking of the devil's counterfeit. Don't despise the pure gold of religion because the devil makes a counterfeit of it in hypocrisy. Be religious but don't be a hypocrite. Our higher education consists then in developing the genuine, the divine attributes and casting out the false, the counterfeits. To do the former is an exercise in faith, the latter is one in repentance. That we might obtain this education our first parents partook of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. We are still partaking of that forbidden fruit notwithstanding the dire consequences of earth life, its trials, its tribulations, its sorrow, its suffering and finally death. "For in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." But also with the full assurance of an unconditional redemption from that fall and an exaltation predicated upon our diligence in this preparatory school during the period of our mortal existence. Blessed are we then if we have accepted the good and rejected the evil, or, in other words, developed the genuine and cast out the counterfeits. God help us to do so. Amen.

David O. McKay, CR, April 1932, p.64
There is not time this morning even to mention further these various phases of the Church, each one of which will apply to the needs, to the education, to the peace of individuals. I should like to take, as an example, however, the principle already named. Considering this will illustrate also how even a teacher may himself become warped in his attitude toward what he might consider merely a dogma You know there are occasionally men in the profession of teaching--as that is my profession I can speak plainly--who pride themselves on being iconoclasts; but unfortunately, when such teachers break their so-called images they supply nothing to replace them. They destroy ideals but offer no others, thus leaving the young boy in doubt and uncertainty. Such a one seems to me to be heaving anchor and starting out on the ocean of life before his course is even charted. It is well not only for church people but for educators everywhere when teaching the young to have in mind the three "C's" as well as the three "R's" mentioned so proverbially. By those three "C's" I mean character, conduct, citizenship. The teaching of religion in public schools is prohibited, but the teaching of character and citizenship is required.

Anthony W. Ivins, CR, October 1932, p.4
We know it was a great disappointment to the people of the Church when the Church schools were discontinued. It was to us. We did so regretfully, but we do know that we are giving religious instruction now to nearly four times the number of children that we instructed in the Church schools when they were at their peak. So we believe again in the good result which is to come from this change.

David O. McKay, CR, October 1932, p.67
Next to the home the school is the responsible factor in child training. We have in the state forty school districts, with a school population of approximately 150,000. In 1929 fourteen districts had persons specially appointed to deal with attendance and school coordination problems. Of these fourteen only seven districts had the services of one or more persons on full time, and were serving about sixty-five per cent of the school children of the state. Thirty-five percent, in round numbers, are without such service.

Sylvester Q. Cannon, CR, April 1934, p.75
We should strive to promote even better general education for our young people, wherein will be inculcated in larger measure an appreciation of moral and ethical principles and practices. We need to provide also for the application of theoretical instruction to the problems which prevail in our various communities. There should be more vocational and applied courses suited to the conditions in the different localities, so that the young people may have the opportunity to fit into the local situations, and not have to drift away to other places and probably lose opportunities that might be theirs. It is to be expected that the teachers in all schools shall have characters above reproach and temperaments and habits such that their lives will prove a powerful stimulus for good with their students in their preparation for life's activities.

J. Reuben Clark, Jr., CR, April 1934, p.93-94
For the third point that I want to make to you, I want to read you what the Savior said at the Feast of the Tabernacle, when he began teaching the people openly. The Jews had sought him, and the Jews had marvelled, saying: "How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?"

Let us pause here a moment, for this is the challenge of today. How can men teach the word of God who are not learned? My brethren and sisters, some of the greatest achievements in pure thought (the nearest kin to pure religion) that have ever been made in the history of the world, have been made by men who did not know the chemical formula for water, nor the mathematical formula expressing the law which controls falling bodies. How difficult would have been the work of Christ himself had he had to depend upon the learned. The lowly only were his reliance; the learned sought him by night or not at all.

"The glory of God is intelligence." Intelligence is given to us to use, to cultivate, and to develop. Knowledge is the handmaid of intelligence and priceless beyond all words, and knowledge implies within it not alone learning but experience. Mere learning without knowledge in the true sense is of no avail. The Pharisees who made this inquiry knew that the Savior had not attended the school of Gamaliel, but the Lord did not need to master any curriculum; the full truth does not lie in any one curriculum. Learning is beyond price if it be accompanied by the spirit which should follow it. But if the Gospel is only for the learned, how few there are of us who could have any use for it.


Now, I am not arguing against learning, I am only asking that the youth of Zion be relieved from the thought which is growing in their minds that a partial mastering of one curriculum is the full truth. There is spiritual learning just as there is material learning, and the one without the other is not complete; yet, speaking for myself, if I could have only one sort of learning, that which I would take would be the learning of the spirit, because in the hereafter I shall have opportunity in the eternities which are to come to get the other, and without spiritual learning here my handicaps in the hereafter would be all but overwhelming.

But the Lord has so made it today that we and our children may have both, and that is one of the great glories and blessings which we have today, that we may be learned in the sciences and the arts, and we may also be learned in the spirit. In other words, we may have true knowledge.

Melvin J. Ballard, CR, October 1934, p.116-117
That is the tribute I want to pay to him, because it was just shortly after this that I had graduated from the Brigham Young College at Logan and was planning to go East and continue my work at Harvard, for I had aspirations and hopes to acquire a higher education. I found myself without funds to accomplish that; so, having an offer to teach, I accepted it and taught for two years. I thought I could save enough to take me through at least a year of school.

In my second year of teaching there came into my class a very charming young woman. I taught her that winter, and she has been trying to teach me ever since.

Two weeks before that school closed and the happy event of our marriage was to take place, I received a call from President Wilford Woodruff to go with Brothers B. H. Roberts and George D. Pyper to open the missionary work in the large cities of the United States. That was a crushing blow to all my hopes and aspirations as I had worked so long and planned and saved to get the means to continue my education. We debated the question but a short time, and before night came the answer had gone back, bidding goodbye to our hopes, then, of further education; and the means we had saved, which would put us through the first year of college, we used on that mission. It is true we got married all right, but she stayed home--the bride of two weeks. That was no small trial to me. She volunteered to teach school and assist me in the completion of that mission.

I want to pause here to pay tribute to the wives of these General Authorities of the Church, and to the wives of you stake presidents and you bishops, for these women are all the same kind. No men in any part of the world have been blessed with such wonderful women as the wives of the men who have been leading and directing the affairs of this work. How willing they have been to make their sacrifice, to stand in reflected glory and "play second fiddle," and let us go on while they perform the great service, often as father and mother in the home. God bless them for it.

I was not in that mission long, however, until the greatest disappointment of my life came in the release from the particular work we were doing, and an assignment to become a traveling missionary, and it came at a time when I was alone. I wept all night about that, and the devil tempted me, to quit and come home. But I thank the Lord that I turned to him for aid and help. Before morning came I had mastered my own spirit and had written a letter accepting the disappointment.

It was then I found the song that I have been singing for all these thirty-eight years, and which I brought into the literature of the Church. I found it in a little book called "Make His Praise Glorious":

I'll go where you want me to go, dear Lord;
I'll be what you want me to be.

It was like a message from heaven to me, and what a, joy it has brought to my life to try to live up to the sentiments expressed in it.

I also recall being impressed when the call came to leave the business that I had built up, and that was so profitable, to go out to the Northwest. I suffered financial loss, and some of my associates thought it was foolish. I remarked that had the sacrifice been ten times as great, it would be no sacrifice for me to leave it, because I owed the Lord more than I could ever pay him if I gave him my whole life.

I got back to Harvard later but I was thirty-five years late. I was installing a mission president and it was vacation time. As I stood on the threshold of that great institution I saw myself as I might have come thirty-five years earlier, with hopes, with successes that might have been; and notwithstanding I appreciate titles and degrees I was not disappointed. I saw on the other hand what had happened to me: Eleven years as a bishop's counselor and high councilor; fourteen years as a missionary of the Church; fifteen years as a member of the Council of the Twelve--forty years of glorious living! The joy that had come out of it, the honors and the favors of the Almighty, I would not change for all the titles and degrees that Harvard offers, much as I admire them, if I had to sacrifice for them the joys and the happiness that came to me through yielding obedience.

This is the lesson that I learned: If I do what the Lord wants me to do I shall live to fulfil my life in the fullest and the most glorious way. I cannot always see what he wants me to do, but he often inspires those whom he has called and appointed to direct the labors of my life, so that if I am obedient to them and listen I shall come to find myself prepared.

Stephen L Richards, CR, October 1935, p.95-96
I do not mean to impugn an express and predetermined purpose on the part of many teachers in the country to undermine the faith of their pupils. I think that relatively few would have at heart such a sinister purpose. I cannot believe that they would be so inclined. But I feel certain that in the determination that is in the minds of that great body of men and women who constitute the public school system of the country to keep completely separate, as we should always keep separate, church and state affairs, there has been the neglect of some perfectly legitimate opportunities to foster the best things that can be given to the youth of America.

I have been pleased to note that an effort has been and is being made to utilize our school system for the teaching of character and those principles that go to make for honesty, for virtue, dependability, and other worthwhile characteristics. But I feel certain that a careful study and consideration of these very items would convince those engaged in that endeavor that there is nothing so potential, so effective for its accomplishment as to encourage the youth to abide by the faith, the time-honored traditions, the morality and the spirit of their fathers.


I believe that as I make appeal to the teachers of the country to encourage their students to keep open minds on all these questions that affect the faith of their fathers, I not only speak the sentiment of our own Church but likewise the sentiment of all good religious people who seek to bring to the youth of their churches the spirit, the theology and the traditions which they foster.

It is such an easy thing to discourage faith in this world of materiality, in this world of science, where we have laid so much emphasis on all the scientific processes and developments that have been so much in evidence the last few decades. It is so easy to say a word to undermine faith. I wish that those who have within their power the formation of the views of youth, the cultivation of their character, I do wish that they would be careful.

As a taxpayer and a supporter of the public school system, which I admire, which I regard as one of the greatest factors for the civilization of the race, which I have always regarded as being an essential constituent of a democracy and on which my children are dependent for education, I have always entertained the view that there is no right on the part of those to whom that education is entrusted to in any way say one single word or promote one thought that will tear down the faith of my children and lead them from the philosophy of faith.

I wish that it were possible for us to teach our youth that all the enduring satisfactions they may ever hope for, all the real joys and pleasures of life, are to be had in pursuance of and not in contravention of Gospel principles. I wish they could feel what we here feel today. I wish they could know the warmth of church companionship. I wish they could feel the spirit that emanates from on high to mellow our hearts, to make us truly love one another and love God. I wish their ears could be attuned to hear the lovely things of truth, as the ears of these musicians hear the melodies and the sounds that some of us cannot hear. If they could be made to realize that these great blessings are to be had through compliance with the laws of God, through application, activity, diligence and loyalty, I am persuaded that many more would now be amenable to the influence of our organizations, many more would derive the joy and satisfactions which relatively few of us enjoy.

John A. Widtsoe, CR, April 1936, p.70-72
May I for a few moments direct your minds to some thoughts of mine in connection with the work that I have been doing the last few months? I have been engaged in a direct, positive experiment to solve some of the social and economic ills that have been talked about today and yesterday in this conference. I have had the privilege of teaching Mormonism, the principles, practice, and history of it, to university classes for university credit if the subject were one of the recognized university subjects. It has been a rare opportunity. Four other churches have had the same privilege. It is a courageous experiment undertaken by the University of Southern California. The reason for undertaking this experiment is simple enough. Thinking men have come to the conclusion that there is only one way out of our difficulties in the country and throughout the world. No plan made by congress or by private individuals for economic and social recovery will succeed except upon the basis of the acceptance of religion. By the acceptance and practice of spiritual truth alone shall we find our way back to economic stability and social happiness.

We have attempted at the University of Southern California this winter to teach religion, living religion, followed by large groups of living people, to those who have cared to listen, in the hope that thereby they might be made better citizens than they otherwise could be and that they would go out tO contribute to the solution of our national and international difficulties. Our nation, as we know, is today a school-made nation. The schools are making our citizens. The school has made most of us who are here today. The schools are training our children for life's activities; and as the schools teach, as the schools direct the thinking of our young people, so our nation will become, indeed has become.

It is a curious fact that a child, an American child, may go through the elementary schools, compelled to do so by the law, may go through high school, may go through the state college and university and never hear the name of God mentioned nor take any subject of study telling him how he shall conduct himself in life. Character--we all admit the importance of it--practically forgotten in the curriculum of the schools of the United States. Thinkers talk about it, there is much said about it on the public platform, but little is done about it.

It is for that reason that the university with which I have been associated the last few months has had the courage to say, "We will raise religion to academic dignity. We will give it a place in the sun, in the educational sun, that thereby we may help change the thinking and improve the conscience, as Professor Young has just said, of the people of this great country. It has been said that there is no substitute for character. Character is the thing that makes us do certain things. Our conduct depends upon our character. Nevertheless, one great university president, the president of one of the great universities of America, said at a public meeting in my hearing, and later published the statement in pamphlet form, that the purpose of a university is to train men and women mentally and that character must be a byproduct of education. We Latter-day Saints take just the opposite view, that the direct purpose of all life, of every life activity, of our schools in particular, of all training and teaching institutions, must be the formation and development of a proper character. We do not accept the doctrine that character is a byproduct of education. That doctrine, intolerable to Latter-day Saint understanding, has much to do with the social and economic chaos in which we find ourselves in this country at the present time.

That is not all. Character may be built on ethics, on simple laws of human conduct to avoid offending our neighbor. We believe that an acceptable character must include, as Professor Young has stated, belief in the living God, a God of whose race we are. Here, again, we find a difficulty to be considered, at least by Latter-day Saints. I heard the leader of one of the greatest divinity schools in America, the trainer for a generation of time of the ministers of churches in America, say in so many words that man is but the product of cosmic forces, unknown forces, and that the word God is but a name for those cosmic forces, and nothing more. To Latter-day Saints God is a personage, the greatest intelligence in the universe, our spiritual Father. We are of his kind and we may approach nearer and nearer his likeness, if with all our might we live righteously throughout our eternal life.

We need to teach the youth of our Church and of the world the reality of the living God. Not only that, but that God lives in the unseen world, and that the unseen world is real. Into that unseen world we shall go some day, and there we shall find those who have gone before us. In course of time there will be a resurrection of the body, a reunion of the spirit and the body. There will come a judgment based upon our deeds. These are real concepts that America needs to understand and to accept and must understand and accept before peace can be fully restored in our economic and social life. The whole program of life is governed by law, according to a great plan in the mind of the Creator. He governs and directs all that happens on this earth. We can not defeat the purposes of the Almighty, though we may delay them through Our stubbornness. A plan for human salvation has been laid out, and somehow the Lord through his power will see to it that his purposes fall not. "The God of Israel, he slumbers not nor sleeps."

We need today to have the conception of God and the things of God that were given to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery one hundred years ago last Friday, need not take the time to read it, but do ask you to read in Section 110 of the D&C the description of God as given in poor human words by Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery. They tried to describe the glory of the personage who stood before them--not a cosmic force, but a living being--who spoke to them with a voice like thunder. After he had gone others came, beings of the unseen world who had been upon this earth, who had lived here, who had gone into the spirit world and now were commissioned to come back to perform certain important tasks. They unrolled, as it were, the plan and purpose of human existence.

That is the type of faith, with its applications to human conduct, that we try to teach to these special classes, in living religions, so far as I am able, at the University of Southern California. I think my colleagues serving other churches are doing the same as best they can. Our country needs that kind of instruction.

I trust that we Latter-day Saints are making good use of our Sunday Schools, Primaries, Mutual Improvement Associations, seminaries and institutes, since our public schools are not yet ready to give us the character training that we need. Dare we, fathers and mothers, withhold such training from our children? And dare you, young people who are assembled here this afternoon, dare you avoid and deny yourselves the kind of training which in the end will determine your true success? God be with us, bless us in our attempts to bring righteousness into our lives and to serve God as he would desire us to serve him, I pray in the name of the Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Reed Smoot, CR, October 1937, p.18-19
I thought this morning I would take the time to call the attention of this Conference to some of Doctor Karl G. Maeser's sayings, which I call Sentence Sermons. I think they are wonderful; each one is a subject for a sermon, and put so concisely that to announce the statement itself is sufficient:

The Lord never does anything arbitrarily. Make the man within your living ideal. Everyone's life is an object lesson to others. My word shall always be as good as my bond. Authority must be as an iron fist in a velvet glove. Say to thy soul: "No unclean thing shall enter here." One who has lost the Spirit of the Lord is dead spiritually. Let your first good morning be to your Heavenly Father. A man without character is like a ship without a rudder.

I would rather lose my right arm than break my word of honor. If it shall please my Heavenly Father, I shall be a teacher in heaven. It is not so much what a person says, but what makes him say it.

No man shall be more exacting of me or my conduct than I am of myself. He that deceives another is a knave; but he that deceives himself is a fool. Our patriarchal blessings are paragraphs from the book of our possibilities. Boys, when you are tempted to go into a saloon, think of me, your teacher. We go to the East for learning, but the East will come to us for wisdom. No righteous rules, however rigid, are too stringent for me; I will live above them. Eagerness to earn bread and butter has overshadowed many a golden opportunity.
School is a drill for the battle of life. If you fail in the drill you will fall in the battle. I would rather trust my child with a serpent than to place him in the hands of an irreligious teacher.

Youth demands recreation, and if it is not provided in the high places, will seek it in low places.

The truly educated man will always speak to the understanding of the most unlearned of his audience.

If you learn only the fraction of the "A" of a principle, practice at once that fraction you have learned.

What we did before we came here conditioned us here; what we do here will condition us in the world to come.

Every one of us, sooner or later, must stand at the forks of the road and choose between personal interest and some principle of right.

I owe a great deal to Brother Maeser. I graduated from the Brigham Young Academy, and I thank God that later I had a chance to demonstrate to him that I loved him loved him better than he perhaps thought. I would have done anything in the world for him. He was a man of God who fulfilled his mission, and as the years go by the members of this Church, through the students that were under him, shall know better the Work intended by God for his people in this dispensation.

Stephen L Richards, CR, October 1939, p.68
I am in favor of more concentration in our educational processes in the development of the useful skills. The student who comes out of a high school, college, or university without ability to serve in useful capacities has failed, whatever his alleged scholarship may be. I am willing that the term "useful" should be applied to every form of human endeavor that contributes to the welfare of humanity, but I demand that it be consciously useful in the mind and heart of the student himself.

Joseph L. Wirthlin, CR, October 1939, p.81
Thoughts and opinions of this kind are decidedly detrimental and dangerous to the welfare of the youth of the land, and dangerous to the welfare and the future of the Church and Government. The home is the greatest institution of learning. George Herbert once said: "The first university is the university of the home. Here the hours for recitation are the morning, the noon and the night. Here we find the round table of infancy and childhood. Here are discussed the problems of the present hour, and the possibilities of the coming years. Here sit the scholars of youth and maidenhood. Here are enthroned two great chairs, endowed by destiny and sustained by human affection, Fatherhood and Motherhood. The greatest university in the world is the home. One good mother is worth one hundred school masters."

The home being the greatest university, the great place of preparation for the men and the women of tomorrow, who are going to be faced with a most uncertain future, I wonder if in our planning and thinking, we are preparing those curriculums and courses which will give our boys and girls the training that they should have relative to their hearts, to their heads, to their minds, and some instructions pertaining to the fundamentals of health.
Levi Edgar Young, CR, April 1940, p.102
One of the largest factors for the proper teaching of the higher spiritual values of life should be our public schools and colleges. For our youth should participate in the religious life of the communities where they live. Religion should be the most constructive part of our culture, for that culture wherein religious idealism prevails, is a culture that loves beauty, truth, and goodness. The great souls who in 1776 won for us our independence and the right to have religious freedom were men and women who wanted to exercise that right. It is religion we want, but not secularism. The inhibitions written in our State laws are not against religious teaching, but against sectarian teaching. Religion and education cannot be separated. The minute education assumes an attitude that religion is for a special class of thinkers, then our schools miss that quality in human life that make for the happiness of mankind. We who advocate religious training, however, have missed the larger issue at times. We should not require credit for religious subjects, for we should think of something higher than marks. We should require something more fundamental and that is the truth that the school's responsibility should be to lay a foundation of religious principles, and this can only be done by the teachers consecrating their lives to the highest religious ideals of the Holy Bible. The consciences of teachers must be quickened and inspired with faith and courage to lift their voices against wrong and infidelity. This does not mean that teachers should adopt or accept any one rule of life or agree on any one concept of religious thoughts. "There is, however, within every soul a divine light; a divine impulse for good and truth, and when this light is developed, then life reaches its highest vision and man his greatest happiness," said the philosopher, Swedenborg. It is this light that must be made to glow in the souls of our children, for it is the light of God and immortality. Dr. James Conant, the President of Harvard College, has recently written in his report to the Board of Overseers, "Our Puritan ancestors thought of education and theology as inseparably connected. It is hard for us to recapture their point of view."

It is religion that man needs, for when all the ideals of culture find their inspiration and nourishment in the divine ideals of Jesus Christ, and take their place in the great living purpose of the world"s Savior; when thought and art and literature and knowledge and life are brought into subjection, to the obedience of Christ, then mankind shall have attained the true victory, and will say: "Thou hast conquered, O Galilean."

John A. Widtsoe, CR, October 1940, p.62-65
Such beliefs have made the Latter-day Saints supporters of all sound educational endeavors. We look upon our public schools, from kindergarten to university, as the finest expression of democracy. They are levelers and equalizers of our citizenry. They offer the even chance in life for rich and poor, weak and strong.

Therefore, we have given our public schools a great trust; and have endowed them with tremendous power. Our children are in their keeping during most of the formative years of life. As the schools teach so will the coming generation think and act. The conditions in our land today, good or bad, may well be laid at the doors of our schools, which nourished us in our immaturity with ideals which in our maturity are being translated into action.

In return for this trust we expect our schools to be preservers of the principles of human welfare; bulwarks against every insidious, subversive foe of human freedom; defenses against all invaders of human rights; teachers of the way from war to peace, from poverty to prosperity. In times of moral, social or economic upheaval, our schools, ideal-builders, must be among the nation's most powerful defenses. We rely on our schools, for example, to prevent the unspeakable, blazing evil now raging in Europe from starting a conflagration in our land. We teach with easy precision protection against communicable diseases. It is more important to teach immunity against untruth; to show how the fruits of our civilization may be preserved and increased. Among the many instruments of democracy, the schools must stand foremost in preparing the people against coming evils, and for a better future day.

We are in the midst of a changing day. It is folly to believe that we can go on happily with millions of men unemployed, and as many millions living under an inadequate standard of living. There will needs be much readjustment to secure prosperity for all. Many activities must be redirected to make every able-bodied person self-supporting. In this realignment of forces, and reorganization of resources, the schools must take an active, practical part.

To do this, to be worthy of their high commission in this troubled day, two major objectives must be courageously reemphasized and accomplished by our schools.

First, moral and religious education must be given hereafter an honorable and corresponding place by the side of the traditionally important subjects of the curriculum. For the safety of the nation, moral teaching should be given, at definite hours, in every publicly supported classroom. There must be eager cooperation with every project, such as our L. D. S. Seminaries and Institutes, to supply religious instruction outside the school. There must be no whining and hiding behind a misinterpretation of the constitutional provision for religious liberty. We still say on our coins, "In God we trust." There must be no attempt to place the sole responsibility upon the Church. The strongest defense of this or any other nation is not of sword and shot, of long range cannon and bombs from the sky. It lies in the spiritual domain of life, among the intangibles. The human will, according to its training, determines whether steel shall be shaped into swords or plowshares. The "fifth column" and other corroding influences, and all evil, often disdainful of exploding bombs, are conquered and chained only by spiritual weapons. Thinking citizens, the country over, are recognizing the danger of a citizenry, untaught and untrained in the moral and spiritual principles upon which human welfare has ever rested. Unless our schools resolutely place such training foremost, they will have sown to the whirlwind

Second, the right of way, after moral and religious training, in every school and college curriculum, must be given to useful knowledge -- knowledge that may be used in making a living, in meeting the actual and daily needs of life. Unless this is done our physical defenses will prove inadequate, and economic chaos will increase. We must dignify and ennoble the necessary tasks of life, to secure contentment among humanity.

Practical education must be featured as never before. Men and women must be taught how to use the natural resources about them for their support in life. The economic possibilities must be set forth, of waters, soils, forests, mountains and hills. To solve the problems of the day, and of tomorrow, we need more trained farmers and mechanics, skilled craftsmen, business men and housewives who are so educated that they can do their work intelligently, and therefore with respect for their calling; and who are ready to wrestle joyfully with the gifts of earth. For these are the only true producers of wealth. There would be more prosperity and home happiness if more men toiled with the hand as well as with the head, and if every girl were trained in the processes of maintaining and running a household successfully with emphasis on child care and training. Such education for boys and girls should begin in the lowest grades for some do not reach high school and many fail to enter college.

Such education does not require special industrial or vocational schools. That would defeat the spirit of democracy, for every boy, rich or poor, should learn how to support a family, and every normal girl looks forward to the joys of wifehood and motherhood. Besides in a true democracy, class consciousness must be avoided. Such important training should not be neglected nor left to chance. Our present system of education should direct from year to year, from grade to grade, the thought and training of students toward the application of knowledge to useful ends -- life-sustaining ends. The colleges should gladly receive students so trained, and continue the training under college environment.

Culture accompanies such training. The discipline of the mind is the essence of culture. The so-called "common pursuits," have in later years been invested with a variety of newly discovered knowledge. They are in this respect not surpassed by the so-called "professions." The study of agriculture and home making may be made as cultural as of astronomy; or of our own government as that of ancient Rome. Failing to recognize this, thousands of young people have failed to find their places in life. They find no jobs for they have not been trained to work, too often only to seek to avoid work. In the words of Brigham Young, "Education is the handmaid to honest labor."

Moreover, they who have learned to work, and who have acquired their belongings through personal toil, are the safest members of society. They believe in private property; and what is more, they believe in allowing others to gather about them material benefits. They will be the last to attempt to dispossess others of property won through honest toil. Teaching men and women to work and to earn a living is the best insurance against the false economic doctrines which flood the land.

If the schools shall be powerful factors in building defenses against evil, and in preparing against the enemy, they must face about from traditional views and give undivided attention on the one hand to moral and spiritual training, and on the other to practical education. Such teaching, for that matter, has been the counsel and advice of the Church from the beginning. Never was it needed more than now.

We who have been entrusted with parenthood must anxiously plan for the welfare of our children and the coming generations. If changes are needed, let us make them. The schools are ours, and the responsibility for the coming race is ours. The time has come when schools must train our children for safe living, that is for greatest usefulness, which means greatest happiness.

The vast majority of the teaching profession, looking into the future, agree in the main with the view which I have here expressed. They recognize that schools must reflect the wishes of the people, by whom they are supported; and as good citizens, themselves, are ready to help our schools foster truth and destroy evil, thus making them main defenses of our nation.

As a Church we have always tried to be in the forefront of progressive changes. An uncertain future looms before us. As far as we have influence we should turn our educational endeavors towards a secure and happy future. If we do so, we shall help build a mighty defense against threatened disaster.