McKay School of Education > EDLF > Archives > Prophets > Schools 1942

Schools 1942

Albert E. Bowen, CR, Apr., 1942, p.59

Now the answer to the question put to Peter is of the all-or-none order. The Christianity which built the western civilization was built upon Peter's answer. It was that Christianity which brought democracy into the world because it was the first to bring to man the revelation of human personality, and that is the rock upon which the democracy in which we profess . . . a faith rests and alone can rest. It was that Christianity upon which the declared principles of our civil order rest, and there is no other resting place for them. A belief in democracy without a belief in that Christianity is no better than a code deprived of its creed or a flower cut from its parent stem: it must ultimately wither and die. When it dies freedom dies, even if democratic forms survive. Hitler rules today under the "forms" of the Weimar constitution and Stalin under the "forms" of a constitution as "democratic" sounding as anyone could wish! The same thing could happen here under our own "forms" if we, too, should lose faith in the soul that alone can give them life.

I am not predicting dire catastrophe for our country. But I do say that the warning sounded is no idle one. The arraignment made by Mr. Woodlock is, I am forced reluctantly to admit, justified by the facts. Since sometime before the war started in Europe thoughtful men, there and here, scholars, scientists, publicists, statesmen, religionists, have been calling for a spiritual and religious recovery; they have solemnly warned that our nation cannot endure "except upon a solid religious foundation," but I very much doubt if any of them would give the answer Peter gave to the same question as was addressed to him. Men profess a deep attachment to what they call the ethical quality of Christ's teachings, but they deny Him. The nineteenth century is described as the one in which man substituted belief in himself for belief in God. "Glory to man in the highest" was Swinburne's impious exultation. Now the things of which man thought himself master have turned on him with a terrible vengeance. We have seen the decline of religious faith followed by the rise of tyranny. I believe it is a safe generalization that despotism is always at enmity with the Christian religion. They rest upon inherently and irreconcilably antagonistic conceptions about man, his worth and dignity and destiny and place in the order of things; the one debases him, the other exalts; the one denies God, the other acknowledges His supreme power and bows before His majesty. The teaching of the Christian religion irritates the despot because it is a constant denial of his assumed supremacy and a rebuke to his tyrannies. Hence the despot always seeks to put religion down. The rise of Hitler in Germany heralded assaults upon the church. His Minister of Religion said, "Adolph Hitler is the true Holy Ghost," and the Minister of Culture declared, "We must proclaim a German Christ, not a lamb of God." In Russia the line was the same, "What is worrying us is not that Christianity is dying in Russia, but that it is still surviving," said the Commissioner of Justice. "The natural transition," said another, "is to bring about the death of all religion."

Albert E. Bowen, CR, October 1943, p.82-83

But there are other things that ought to go side by side with these elements of learning that I have been talking about. It is an interesting observation, the cycle through which our thoughts have run and the way the pendulum has swung from one end of the arc to the other, respecting what constitutes a proper education. We have the old scholastics, who dealt in the classics, and who spent their time in philosophical discussion, dealing with the meaning and purpose of life and man's relationship to the universe, rather than with what we have in this day come to regard as the more practical training.

Then we came upon a period when we thought it was more important in our educational system to prepare men to make a living and so education came to be supposed to have as its purpose the training of men in the art of making a living. We gave training in the crafts, in the trades, and now a good many of our educators are looking over the field and are saying: "We have lost something." They suspect that we have laid too much emphasis upon these so-called practical things. And so we are veering around again now to the notion that the classics should be taught, that men should be concerned more with the intangibles; that education is a business of cultivating the heart and soul of man, rather than training him in the mere business of providing food.

Teach ye diligently and my grace shall attend you, that you may be instructed more perfectly in theory, in principle, in doctrine, in the law of the gospel, in all things that pertain unto the kingdom of God, that are expedient for you to understand;

Of things both in heaven and in the earth, and under the earth; things which have been, things which are, things which must shortly come to pass; things which are at home, things which are abroad; the wars and the perplexities of the nations, and the judgments which are on the land; and a knowledge also of countries and of kingdoms. . . (D. &. C. 88:78, 79.)

As I interpret that scripture, it admonishes us in our educational system, first to make sure that we do the things for which the classicists have so strongly contended, namely to teach men in the art of living, and particularly living the highest philosophy rather than to make education the mere instrumentality for getting their bread and butter. The first business of education is to establish a proper understanding of man's relationship to the universe in which he lives, and to the God who created it. Those are the things which are essentially laid down here, in the first verse that I have read.

Following upon that is given us a latitude wide enough to accommodate the most vaulting ambition. There is nothing from which we are barred. The whole wide world of knowledge is open to us, and we are invited to enter in and make it our own. It is this combination of purpose and attainments which the educational system fostered by the Church is intended to carry out.

We have scores of teachers in our seminaries and our institutes, carrying on the teaching of the eternal values to supplement what is taught in the other schools alongside of which they are placed. And at Brigham Young University at Provo, standing at the head of the system, we hope we may train the men that will be the peers of any men who come out from any institutions of learning in all this broad land.

Anyone who has the intelligence to make a good teacher has enough intelligence, if he wanted to direct it in commercial channels, to become vastly more successful financially. I cannot develop the ideas here, for want of time, that I would like to develop, but I would like to make this plea to you leaders in the wards and stakes of the Church: That you induce the parents of the children to make use of these opportunities that are afforded them in the seminary system and the institute system of the Church and, for those qualified, in its university.

Stephen L Richards, CR, April 1944, p.73

It has long been pointed out that religion as a motivating force has declined. In many decades a smaller and smaller proportion of the people are even exposed to religious influence. Churches and Sunday Schools throughout the nation have gradually but constantly decreased in attendance proportionate to the growth of population. The schools have been so completely divorced not only from religious control but from all religious and spiritual influence that they never even have prayer in any of their exercises except for graduation. Just why they see fit to call for divine favor at graduation and not for any other occasions I have never been quite able to understand.

Humanism, skepticism, and atheism have probably grown with the years, although I do believe that in recent times they have not had the comfort and encouragement from science that they were once supposed to receive. Modernists, cults and societies, seeking to explain the phenomena of life, man and the universe in every way other than the plain and simple way in which the Author of the universe explains it, have sprung up in such numbers and with such varied philosophies as utterly to confuse the youth of the land and all others who do not have the good fortune to have their feet planted on the solid ground of truth.

John A. Widtsoe, CR, October 1944, p.49

Our young men returning from the front, should be encouraged to take up their educational work where they laid it down when the country in its need called for their service; and they should be urged to continue it to the end of their program. Despite the loss of time during the war period, and the apparent financial need, they would make a mistake to rush into active life without proper development and training; without the eye-and-mind-opening vistas that follow the wise discipline of schools. The coming age will require the service of trained minds and bodies more than before. During the late financial depression, few men who had professions, including agriculture and the trades, were unemployed. The untrained group suffered most. We must see to it that our returning boys, even at our own heavy sacrifice, finish their educational ambitions. Thus we shall better protect their futures. Some help may be offered by the federal government. Schools will do their utmost, we may be sure, to intensify and shorten the courses required for men who have matured quickly among the stern realities of warfare.

Education cultivates the innate powers of man, and gives him a vision of eternal truth and the great gains of the centuries. It should also help fit a person to make a living, and to perform better the work likely to be required of him, and from which he earns his bread and butter. In that sense, all education, dealing with men, having earthly needs, should be practical. Probably most of our young men have already decided upon their life-pursuits; all should do so, and make their educational training subserve their life's needs. All their learning, including that which seems at first remote, should fit into the student's life ambition. Wise parents, and all young men, will heed this matter with care; and direct their educational efforts to a definite objective. Wasted educational opportunities are seldom recovered.

David O. McKay, CR, October 1944, p.82

With the spirit of the gospel in men's hearts, nations will accept the truth that integrity is more to be desired than intellectual acumen or the accumulation of wealth. Men will then look upon material advancement not as an end in itself, but as a means to spiritual attainment. They will recognize the significance of "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." Statesmen, churchmen, school teachers, civic officers, newspapers--all who in any way mold public opinion must grapple intelligently with spiritual apathy and moral decay.

Howard McDonald, CR, April 1945, p.148

When I was called upon by Brother George F. Richards to be President of the Stake in San Francisco I asked my Father to bless me then, and I believe he did; and if the Presidency of this Church, those in authority, want me to go to the Brigham Young University as the president, if they will send me with their blessings, and if God will go with me, I believe we can carry on that great work as you people would want it carried on. We want to promote in that institution the traditions of the founder of that great institution, Brigham Young. What were his standards? I think if he were laying the foundation and stood here today he would say to me, "We want established in that institution principles wherein the boys and girls, the young men and young women who enter that institution, will have faith in God, that they will be nurtured in the faith that God lives and that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the Redeemer of the World, and that Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God and that the leaders of this Church from the Prophet Joseph to the present, President Heber J. Grant, have been prophets and seers of the living God. As you presidents of stakes and you bishops of wards go back into your stakes and your wards I hope you will carry this message with you, as the young men and young women will be coming to you for advice. Where shall we go for our education? I want you to know what my philosophy of life and education are, that you might know that those boys and girls who come under the jurisdiction of that institution will be well cared for.

I also want to say, so all the world may know, that we want teachers, professors in that institution, who have faith in God, faith in a living God, a personal God, and who have faith in the mission of the Prophet Joseph Smith, that they may carry to the boys and the girls, the young men and women that same faith.

Horace Mann, that great educator, gave a definition of what a teacher should be. He said,

"A young man or a young woman whose education is sound, whose language is well selected, whose pronunciation and tones of voice are correct and attractive, whose manners are gentle and refined, whose topics of conversation are always elevating and constructive, whose dignity of heart maintains acts of civility, courtesy and kindness, who carries with him an unnamed charm into whatever circle he goes,--that should be the teacher of every school."

I would add to that, to all of those qualifications for those who teach in the Brigham Young University, not only should they have those qualifications but they should have the qualification of faith in God, and in the divinity of the Prophet Joseph Smith.

Time will not permit to go further, but I feel like William Lyons Phelps when he said, "I cannot explain to another the joy and the happiness I get out of teaching. It is more than a profession, an occupation, a vocation, a struggle; it is a passion, for I love to teach." He said, "I love to teach as a painter loves to paint, as a singer loves to sing, and as a musician loves to play. Every strong man loves to run a race."

Never in all the world has there been a greater time to be a teacher than at the present time, in this twentieth century. With all these problems before us today we have the greatest opportunity to be a teacher, and I want our teachers to be lovers of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

John A. Widtsoe, CR, April 1946, p.129-130

Here we must face about. In the home must be taught the most important things of life; faith in God, faith in self, and our proper conduct toward others. There must be a daily outreaching to God. That will engender a trust in him and a desire to love him. By daily family prayer, every member upon his knees, there will be established the habit of communing with the powers of the unseen world, to which atomic energy and all other powers are subservient. To be in touch with the author of all things will do more than all the governments of earth to change the hearts of men from evil to good, and to protect weak humanity. He who thinks of God, and appeals to him daily, has no room for thoughts of destruction.

But one cannot love God without loving the children of God, and trusting them. Let a home make it a practice to speak well of others, and to seek out their virtues. Soon, such a family will discover the virtues, and speak well, of other nations. Inevitably, were this done everywhere, the sun of goodwill would warm the hearts of men; and peace would cover the earth. By such people, and perhaps only by such methods, will the atomic bomb be tamed to useful ends.

The school, likewise, a close ally of the home, must turn its face toward the greater light. It must courageously train our children for the larger life. During the long years of childhood and youth, our children have been taught every kind of knowledge, from atoms to star clusters, from amoebas to monkeys. But their proper conduct among their fellows and before God is mentioned, if at all, casually, in occasional assemblies. Geography and arithmetic have been raised to the warmth and dignity of required disciplines of the mind, but ethics, not to speak of religion, which determine human behavior, and which always act as restraints upon evil, stand, unwelcomed, shivering before the closed schoolroom door. Such a dangerous taboo was not intended when it was agreed that, in our land, sectarian religion should not be taught in public schools. By the present method, our schools are sending out generations of men of little faith, who are unmindful of their eternal obligations.

The home and the school together could soon eliminate fear from the hearts of men, and in the face of any new power man could discover, establish the day of peace on earth.

Albert E. Bowen, CR, April 1946, p.178-179

But bold as this historian is, he shrinks to small size by comparison with the ambition of another who does not hesitate to reach up and pull God himself down from off his throne. This one tells us that "a new world must be born out of the dead world of the past." He wants just one all encompassing world state, set up by social contract, which is to take complete charge of human lives, and in which parents, teachers, and church are to be mere agents to carry out the supreme will of the state, where the "myth of God, of the Bible and of Jesus Christ is to be replaced by the fact of brotherhood by social contract." Did anybody ever hear anybody complain about authoritarianism in religion?

Yet another one of them tells us that: The things of highest value for individual experience and for the ethical standards in America will not be found out so long as intellectual leaders maintain a sensitivity over the supernatural significance of Christian mythology, or a sentimental personal attachment to the character of Jesus. It may as well be frankly recognized by American educators that the days of Christian cultural solidarity in America are over.

Now we know the worst. America is no longer to be a Christian nation.

This is all of a piece with the action of a teacher who, evidently determined to do his part about getting rid of the "myth of God," under the guise of giving what he called a "maturity test," submitted two questions: first, "Do you believe in a supreme being?" second, "Do you rely upon him for aid?" The student answered "yes" to both, and the teacher promptly marked him down as woefully immature. This same teacher, no doubt, would be very explosive if anyone taught religion in the school, but he does not have enough respect for the law, whether written or resting in a code of honor, to refrain from violating the spirit of it himself, by teaching irreligion even to the extent of disbelief in Deity.

He cannot prove that the student was wrong, yet unhesitatingly he marks him so, and so declares. Then some people complain about authoritarianism in religion. That teacher is not very smart either, for, dependent upon his caprice for graduation, the student soon learns what kind of answer the teacher wants, and gives it to him, even though he does not believe a word of it.

Now, lest anybody think that this is intended as a wholesale charge against teachers, I at once file my disclaimer. I know that in the schools are many of the most highly honorable and punctilious, who revere God and practice true religion, but the occasional ones, such as I have instanced, show what forces the church and the home and society have to meet, if they desire to preserve the stabilizing power of religious faith. Parents, at least, should know the task that is cut out for them.

David O. McKay, CR, October 1946, p.116-117

If the reports be true, with reference to the indifference of the country as a whole toward Christian churches, we shall have to place next to the home, not the church, but the public school, as the most influential factor in lessening delinquency.

Present-day conditions emphasize the fact (and I believe it with all my heart) that the most paramount objective of the public school system from kindergarten to the university should be character building and the evolving of true, loyal citizens of the republic. The teaching of the three "R's," of the arts and the sciences, even the delving into research work, should be but a means to the development of true manhood and noble womanhood. Education for loyal citizenship! Ralph Waldo Emerson (sometimes referred to as the wisest American) truly said:

Character is higher than intellect; a great soul will be fit to live as well as to think.

A few years ago inquiry made into the school status of juvenile delinquents in one of our Utah school districts, revealed the fact that eighty-one percent of the offenses were found committed by five percent of school pupils. A committee appointed to deal with this situation made the following report:

1. Since the school offers one of the best resources in the state to prevent and treat delinquency, every effort should be made by both school and court to help the delinquent make a satisfactory school adjustment in order to accomplish this result, cases which come to the court should be immediately referred to the school coordinator or attendance department of the school district in which the juvenile resides in order to determine whether or not the delinquent has a satisfactory school or work record. If he has not the court and schools should not cease their efforts until the delinquent is either in school full time on a satisfactory program, or is employed and under proper supervision.

2. That immediately after the juvenile court has disposed of a case, the school coordinator should be notified of the disposition made.

3. That the industrial school notify the proper school authority when it releases a boy or gift to his or her own home.

A fourth and final safeguard against delinquency of youth is the moral atmosphere of the town or community. This is determined by the ideals and actions of adults, and particularly of civic officers and those who are entrusted to enforce the law. The following from one of our leading columnists (Miss Dorothy Thompson) referring to the "pervasive example of the behavior of adult civilization," is pertinent:

As long as we publicize and condone violence; reward profiteering; intensify civil strife; glorify personalities with the sexual morals of rabbits; teach in our high schools and colleges a cheap relativism which denies personal responsibility and places all our sins upon the "economic system" or "infantile conditioning," so long will we have juvenile criminals. Our children are reflections of ourselves, or of the things in our communal life that we tolerate. England, now, is making special films to be shown in special theaters for teenagers -films which are partly educational and partly pure entertainment, made by first rate artists, and frankly designed to magnify and make attractive virtue.

The writer then quotes Thomas Jefferson who "did not believe that you can get a good society except through good, honest, well-mannered, considerate, law-abiding, clean-living citizens. He thought, in fact, that if education concentrated in the first line on creating these, society and the state would take care of themselves."

Joseph L. Wirthlin, CR, April 1947, p.83

The great responsibility in guiding the thinking of youth rests in the home. That obligation rests squarely upon the shoulders of parents. I sometimes think that we parents are prone to leave the matter of what our boys and girls think too much in the hands of the schools. As Bishop Richards indicated yesterday, doctrine is being taught to our boys and girls that will undermine their faith, and I say that the Lord is going to hold us accountable as parents if we fail to take an inventory of what is being taught to our boys and girls in the institutions of learning in the land. Not only that, we as parents usually are very careful about the kind of associates our sons and daughters shall have. But I want to say to you there are other associates to which we should also give very careful consideration; namely, the books they read, for, after all, books are more than associates because they are so intimate. Let us remember that the books that these young men and young women read will store away in the storehouse of memory the thoughts that will either motivate them to deeds of nobleness or evil.

Matthew Cowley, CR, October 1947, p.81

I have been thrilled by the testimonies which have been borne here. I thank God, my brothers and sisters, for the testimonies of men like Brother Oscar Kirkham and Brother Levi Edgar Young. These men were my teachers when I was struggling for an education in high school and in the university. I thank God that they touched my life with their testimony of the gospel more than they did with the instructions they had to give me as teachers of an educational institution. And as I look into the faces of the great educators who sit before me, who have in their charge thousands of our young people at this time, I am glad to know that they are men who know that in any field of science there has not been discovered, and they know that there will never be discovered, anything that will replace religion as the savior of the human family.

It is regrettable that we have in our institutions of learning, my brothers and sisters, some who would try to destroy the simple faith of our children which they have acquired at the knees of their parents and in the auxiliary organizations of the Church. You know and I know that there is no power under heaven in this day which will bring peace to the human heart and peace to the nations of the earth outside and beyond this simple faith in God our Father and in the efficacy of the gospel of Jesus Christ to regenerate the children of God here upon the earth.

You men who are at the head of these great institutions, some of which do not permit the teaching of religion although they do permit the teaching of everything and anything that will destroy faith in God, you have a great responsibility. It is your responsibility to touch the lives of your many students outside of the classroom as my life has been touched by men such as these I have mentioned.

Levi Edgar Young, CR, April 1948, p.81-82

We believe that the only salvation for mankind will be found in religion, in the true and everlasting gospel. Never in its two thousand years has Christianity had a more urgent call and a nobler opportunity to fulfil its obligations as the comforter and guide of humanity.

I believe that faith and works must be taught and! developed in our children. By works, I mean that there is a meaning to intellectual effort and that it plays an important part in our spiritual stature. Else why should the activity of divine intelligence, the power to think and reason, have been created? Intellectual effort is not condemned in the search for spiritual truth, for our spiritual growth, our religion have their roots in the deepest aspirations of man.

How deeply divine are the words of Joseph Smith when he said:

The glory of God is intelligence, or, in other words, light and truth.

Whatever principle of intelligence we attain unto in this life, it will rise with us in the resurrection. (Ibid., 130:18.)

These words inspired the Prophet Joseph to establish in his day schools of learning, and even a university. He advocated the study of the ancient classics, of all the learning of the world. No other American ever advocated as he did, for his wisdom and understanding came from the works of God.

Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. (Matthew 5:48.)

We may further express this idea by saying that all the intellectual acquisitions, all the facilities which society puts at the disposal of man-schools, universities, libraries, laboratories, all things offered by religion, all the occasions given him to develop his own aptitude, his work, his leisure, all must be considered by him as tools destined to improve his personality, his moral self, and to make him feel the divine purpose of God. If the moral law and true religion dominate the world today, mankind will be on the right road to the winning of peace and happiness for humanity.

Spencer W. Kimball, CR, April 1948, p.108-109

Atheism may be taught our children, but not the word of God, not the Bible, not the Prophets, not the Apostles. Karl Marx is legal in the schools, but not Isaiah, or St. Mark. They suffer from Bible affiliation. (George E. Sokolsky, Atheism by Law.)

Not all scribes and Pharisees lived anciently. There are today wreckers as well as builders among men and in nature. In the Church library there are more than 1,700 books and pamphlets of a defamatory character. The books are dead. They are seldom consulted. They can be purchased from secondhand bookstores at low cost. The authors likewise are dead. They flickered for a moment and went out, dying of their own corruption, after having polluted the minds of a few. They went into the discard while the cause they fought went steadily on. Simon Peter warned us:

Apparently there were in the early church those who taught for doctrines the sophistries of men. There are those today who seem to take pride in disagreeing with the orthodox teachings of the Church and who present their own opinions which are at variance with the revealed truth. Some may be partially innocent in the matter; others are feeding their own egotism; and some seem to be deliberate. Men may think as they please, but they have no right to impose upon others their unorthodox views. Such persons should realize that their own souls are in jeopardy. The Lord said to us through the Prophet Joseph:

The great objective of all our work is to build character and increase faith in the lives of those whom we serve. If one cannot accept and teach the program of the Church in an orthodox way without reservations, he should not teach. It would be the part of honor to resign his position. Not only would he be dishonest and deceitful, but he is also actually under condemnation, for the Savior said that it were better that a millstone were hanged about his neck and he be cast into the sea than that he should lead astray doctrinally or betray the cause or give offense, destroying the faith of one of "these little ones" who believe in him. And remember that this means not only the small children, it includes even adults who believe and trust in God.

David O. McKay, CR, October 1948, p.120

But only a small percentage of children and youth ever come in contact with the church. In New York City alone, fifty thousand children are unaffiliated with any church. A potent factor, therefore, in character development is the public school.

To these democratic institutions come children from all kinds of homes, including the delinquent. All I can say this morning is that every teacher in church and in school should realize that he has the moral as well as the assigned responsibility to impress upon his students the true value of the highest and noblest things in life.

George Albert Smith, CR, April 1949, p.8

When I think of the fine development that is being made in our schools, I am grateful. I refer particularly to the Church schools (and I wouldn't overlook the public schools). There are many teachers in the public schools who have done their best to teach our sons and daughters concerning correct principles. But there are many people identified with the education of the youth of this great land who do not have any faith in God.

We are fortunate to have so many who not only have the education that comes from the universities, not only have the benefits that are derived from science, but in addition to that, also have a testimony that God lives and that we are his children. It hasn't been very long since I saw a letter written by an educated man who concluded his letter with a suggestion that all religion was a myth. All of it! And yet that man has a position teaching the children of the Latter-day Saints.

John A. Widtsoe, CR, April 1949, p.151

The Church has a noble educational history. We all know that. What I want to say is something about education itself. It will not take me long. Education may or may not be a good thing. It depends on what we learn. Education is really the accumulated knowledge of mankind, passed on from generation to generation. Each teacher passes on to his pupils that which the world knows. In that way we all benefit from that knowledge and we preserve that knowledge for those who come after us. This accumulated knowledge of mankind, the knowledge of the world, falls into several distinct parts. Two of the major parts I would like to mention.

All knowledge falls first into a part or division or group that we call factual. Sometimes we call it truth, which amounts to the same thing. Facts of observation, that which we hear with our ears, see with our eyes, that we recognize through the various senses that the Lord has bestowed upon us make up the first and most important part of knowledge. That kind of knowledge is everlasting, unchanging. Under the same conditions a fact will appear the same throughout the countless coming ages.

The other division of human knowledge, speaking of the major divisions only, is made up of the human interpretations, explanations, and inferences of the observed facts, the truths in our possession. These inferences, explanations, and theories, interpretations of truth, may or may not be correct. They usually change as more knowledge is acquired by humanity. If education consists chiefly of learning what men have said or thought about the facts of nature and existence, it may mislead students, may lead them into difficult places, often into places of untruth. It is only when education confines itself primarily as to truth, to facts, as observed, it becomes worth while. That is not saying anything against the interpretations of truth. We have the scriptures as an example. We have the right to interpret them as we see fit, but we have no right to teach them as we see fit. We must teach truth as it is given us, whether it be in the domain of revelation or of science or any other field of human activity.

Therein lies a tremendous danger to our young people and the coming generations. An honest teacher, unless he is ignorant, will place before his students--I speak both of students in the Church schools and in state schools, I draw no distinctions--the truth as discovered by many, or revealed by God, and when interpretations are taught, he will label them as such, and say, "This is an interpretation by man of existing truth." That should be done in our priesthood quorums, in auxiliary organizations and in all schools of learning attended by our young people. This is important, of the greatest importance, in the building of happy lives, in a world of peace. President Smith said something last Sunday that pointed in that direction, and it has clung to my mind until I had to speak of it this afternoon.

We have also the field of speculation, very closely related to the field of interpreting truth. If one wants to see how absolutely confusing and useless and untruthful the field of speculation is, let him go to the philosophers of the ages. Begin with the old philosophers and go down to the philosophers of today. Every one has tried to explain or describe God. Not one has failed to try his hand at it. Every one has set up his own explanation and presented his own kind of God. As you read after them, you find yourself in a state of confusion. Great minds, great thinkers, have tried throughout the ages to solve the same problem and have failed utterly to agree. That is because they have not begun with truth. Therein we are strong. Joseph Smith, on his knees in the grove, saw God and spoke to him. There is no question about the beginnings of this work. God does live, a personal being. We are made in his image. We are carrying out his purposes.

The distinction between a fact and an inference is, or should be, pretty generally understood. I bear you my testimony here this afternoon that in all of our teachings we must discriminate, distinguish between the facts of human knowledge and the interpretation of the facts. Interpretations change from day to day. Once in a great while an interpretation of a great truth becomes a truth itself, but very seldom. Usually there is too much of the humanity of us, mixed in with explained truth. So that we can not well trust our interpretations.

I do not like to have my taxes spent, or my tithing spent, for that matter, in the support of a teacher who does not understand the difference here discussed and who will not be honest enough as he stands before classes to say, "This is a fact, as far as we understand it, and this is but an attempted inference of the fact which may or may not be right." I have no objection to a man who is an atheist, teaching outside of the Church. His faith is his concern, not mine. I would like to convert him to a knowledge of God. But, when he stands before his classes and talks about God and his own atheism, he is going beyond his rights. He is not employed for that purpose. As a citizen. I have rights. It is my money and your money used to support the schools whether in our out of the Church.

J. Reuben Clark, Jr., Conference Report, October 1951, p.57-58

Now the point that I wish particularly to emphasize is this -- you parents cannot shift that responsibility to anyone else. It is yours; you cannot divest yourselves of it.

You cannot give it to the state, and you ought not to give it to the state, for when the state takes over the direction, instruction, and rearing of its youth, then passes out, as the whole history of the world shows, the great principle of free agency, and not only that, but all the sacred principles of chastity and morality, with a host of other virtues which belong to a free society and are inherent in the governing principles of the kingdom of God.

You cannot entrust your children, in the sense of having them take over your responsibility, to our schools. They cannot do your work. They may aid, and, sometimes, they may detract and defeat. I have referred before to pernicious doctrines which are appearing in our schools, not only political doctrines, which I would like you to note, but moral. The doctrine that the sex urge is like the urge for food and drink, is born of Satan, and the man or woman who teaches it, is Satan-inspired. Every effort you can make to prevent the spread of this doctrine, you should make.

You cannot entrust your children to society. That will never do. Society is too tolerant of wrong, too ignorant of matters of right living, too easy to betray and debauch.

Levi Edgar Young, CR, April 1952, p.53

If our schools and colleges teach the things that are really important, the mind is required to do hard work, to attack a difficult problem and think to a correct answer. One of our well known writers has said,

Mark E. Petersen, CR, April 1952, p.104-107

A week ago a young man told me about the trial that came to him in school. Some of the teachings he received from an instructor who had no faith appeared to have weakened the faith of this young man.

I am always sorry when I hear about teachers in our public schools who try to destroy the faith of our young people. It always grieves me to hear of instances like this. I know that the great majority of the schoolteachers, themselves, are wonderful people; they are believers in God. Many of them are devoted students of the scriptures. But unfortunately, occasionally we find a teacher, whether in the field of philosophy or science, who seems to take it upon himself to destroy the faith of our young people.

I appeal to our young folk to realize that true science is not anti-religion, and that there is no unity among the scientists with respect to many things now being taught by some instructors who interpret them to mean that there is no God. Science has never come to a unity of understanding on that point, young people, so do not be disturbed by the godless teachings you may get in the classroom.

I would like you to know that some of the great scientists, many of them, in fact, are devoted believers in God, and some of them have declared that atheism has no place among the true scientists.

I tell you there is nothing outmoded about faith in God, and when you go to school, you do not need to believe everything that is told you by these faithless men, whether in philosophy or science classes. You do not need to accept their evidence alone. And if you are disturbed by their persistence in teaching you these false things, just ask yourself the question: Which is the greater scientist, your instructor or Dr. Robert A. Millikan? Ask yourself, who is the greater scholar, your instructor or Lord Kelvin? Ask yourself, who is the greater authority, your instructor or Dr. Arthur H. Compton, or some of the other scientists who give the lie to the teachings of these men who say there is no God.

I shall never forget when I was in a sociology class I saw the professor, a short, bald-headed, bewhiskered man stand there in front of our class and actually defy us to believe in God. He defied us to believe in a special creation or that man is a child of God.

I have always understood that it was against the law to discuss religion in the schools. But these men apparently claim academic privilege of some kind academic freedom, I think they call it in taking the right to destroy the very faith which the law prohibits us from teaching in the public schools. And when they do it, I think they are in violation of the spirit of the law, just as much as if they were teaching religion. Young people, remember the great men of the world believe in God.

We do not get our faith from science, however, and I hope you will never take the position that we must even seriously regard what science says about religion. Faith comes by revelation. No matter what science might do to promote religious faith, it can never save a man. Salvation comes through revelation and the power of God restored to men in these last days. And that revelation is available. That revelation has come. The power of God and his priesthood are now here among men and salvation comes through them.

When you go to school, you study mathematics or chemistry or some foreign language. You do not just take the teacher's word for what is given there. When you study mathematics, you actually work out the equations and know by working them out that they are true. And when you study chemistry, you learn about the truths of that subject by actually performing the experiments that are given to you, and by performing them you discover the truth of the principles you are taught.

But if you went to school all your life and did not study mathematics you would never know anything about that subject, would you? You might go to school all your life and never learn one thing about chemistry, unless you studied chemistry. And you can be in this Church all your life, and never know what this Church teaches unless you study it.

Will you not take the advice of Brother Kirkham and study your own religion? Open the pages of the Bible; read there of the hand dealings of God to man. Read there of the life of the Savior. Learn of his teachings. He actually was here on the earth, and he taught men the principles about which you have heard today and in the preceding days of this conference.

David O. McKay, CR, April 1953, p.15-16

And so we have the call of men of clear vision and sound judgment, for a rededication of schools and homes to moral and spiritual values.

Our most precious possession is the youth of the land, and to instruct them to walk uprightly and to become worthy citizens in the kingdom of God is our greatest obligation.

Religious freedom and the separation of church and state are clearly set forth in the first amendment to the Constitution of the United States, and no governmental agency can have any supervision, control, or jurisdiction over religion. Though our public schools may emphasize moral, ethical, and spiritual values as essential elements in the public school program, they cannot favor any particular religion or religious system. The teaching of religion is therefore definitely a responsibility of the home and the Church.

If, upon examination, you were to find that termites are undermining the foundation of your house, you would lose no time to have experts make thorough examination and have the destructive insects exterminated. You would have the weakened materials removed and the foundation strengthened and, if necessary, rebuilt.

But there are destructive termites of homes, as well as of houses, and some of these are backbiting, evil-speaking, faultfinding on the part either of parents or of children. Slander is poison to the soul. "Slanderers are like flies that pass all over a man's good parts to light only on his sores." In the ideal home, there is no slanderous gossip about day schoolteachers, about public officials, or Church officials. I am more grateful now, as years have come and gone, to my father, who with hands lifted said, "Now, no faultfinding about your teacher or anybody else."

David O. McKay, CR, April 1953, p.59

Another phase of this missionary work tonight--Professor James L. Barker for years has urged that we give classes in foreign languages, that our young men may have an opportunity to study at home and get at least the fundamentals before going to a foreign country. Well, it is a good suggestion, but we have not yet been able to make it practical. It seems now that the time has come when we must do something. I have here before me an appeal for the teaching of languages in our high schools. I have a note from one who says that among all our senior high schools, only 15 offer one or more courses in foreign languages. In the Church there are men and women from every country in the world, in which there are missionaries. I should like to encourage our young men and young women, young men particularly, to include in their high school and college courses, some of these languages.

Recently there appeared in a local paper here an excellent editorial on the necessity, on the advisability of teaching languages here in our State, and in the United States. "Modern languages are not as widely or as successfully taught in United States schools as they should be to meet the requirements of the nation's position. The high school student who takes a language often finds he has practically forgotten. it within a year or so. That may be due, in large part, to the fact that there is little opportunity to exercise language skills. The need to learn foreign languages should be accented and the acquisition and use of such languages stimulated. When men can talk together, they can get together."

The responsibility of preaching the Gospel rests upon us. When the people in Macedonia called to Paul, and the spirit told him to go over, he answered that call. They are calling for us in various nations they are calling for more missionaries now in the missions already established, and we must answer that call.

David O. McKay, CR, October 1953, p.7

If that be true, to awaken in the minds of the youth of the land a desire to achieve life's truest values is to render the greatest of all great services to our country.

With this thought in mind, I commend the teachers in our public schools, who under present difficulties, are remaining true to their post of duty. Let us hope that they will continue to do so, and not go off on a tangent vainly seeking redress in unions, which will only aggravate a condition already regrettable. We have confidence in the teachers. They will be loyal to their profession, teaching the young to be loyal and true to our country, to love the best in life, rather than to seek that which leads to selfishness.

Levi Edgar Young, CR, April 1955, p.60-61

I rejoice with you in the great messages we have heard from our First Presidency on the important question of teaching and the proper training of our children. The first thing we should teach our children is respect for all human beings. All are children of God. Man is made in the image of God. Respect for all men leads to a love for law and order. In the home is taught obedience to the loving directions of our Father in heaven, Then comes self-discipline, self-direction. Whether we are teachers of the gospel or professional men, we can and should dedicate ourselves to help our children to develop their potentialities for good, for truth, for love, for beauty, and above all, reverence for God.

Our young people must be educated to think clearly and deeply, and students of schools and universities should be taught that the famous authors and philosophers of the world have produced writings which glorify God and the divinity of man. We are reminded of the words of Carl Schurz, when he said: "Ideals are like stars; you will not succeed in touching them with your hands. But like a seafaring man on the desert of waters, you choose them as your guides, and following them, you will reach your destiny.

We teach the gospel of good works. It is excellent; it is ennobling; but that is not all. Man owes to God and to his fellow men, not only his conduct, but also his thoughts, not only to do much, but also to think aright as to honor, integrity, and honesty.

To understand the true value of the ideals of the American people when they think of their government of the United States, one must recall the character of the people who settled these shores in the seventeenth century. "They brought hither in their little ships, not money, not merchandise, no array of armed force, but they came freighted with religion, learning, law, and the Spirit of God. They stepped forth upon the shore, and a wild and frowning wilderness received them." Strong in their faith in God, they began their combat with danger and hardship. Disease smote them, but they fainted not. At times they had nothing to eat but the roots of the plants they gathered. They first built houses for God and then for themselves. They established schools and developed a strong morality which was always their principal characteristic. They educated their children to a high faith in God. Villages began to smile; churches arose; industries multiplied; colleges were established; and every town had a democratic government for all to take part. The states that were formed grew into a nation with noble, fundamental ideas of government. And so came our own United States, the most democratic government in the history of the world. What a glorious history our early country had, for religious people went not only to New England, but we have also the Quakers and the Methodists and other religious groups settling along the Atlantic Coast.

For this reason and others, we believe that honest inquiry into any field of knowledge should be encouraged. But one should always have for a guiding thought his need for beauty, for goodness, for love, and the communion with the divine. "To me," says Dr. Green of Yale University, "truth, beauty, goodness; and Deity are ultimate objects of our search, as is nature for the scientist. I am profoundly impressed by the witness of sincerely and intelligently religious folk, the saints and prophets of the great religions, that man can encounter Deity, and find in that Deity a source of understanding and comfort."

In a General Epistle of the Council of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, issued December 23, 1847, at Winter Quarters and signed by President Brigham Young, we have these words:

The Kingdom of God consists in correct principles; and it mattereth not what a man's religious faith is; whether he be a Presbyterian, or a Methodist, or a Baptist, or a Latter-day Saint or "Mormon," or a Campbellite, or a Catholic, or an Episcopalian, or Mohammedan, or even pagan, or anything else, if he will bow the knee, and with his tongue confess that Jesus is the Christ, and will support good and wholesome laws for the regulation of society, we hail him as a brother, and will stand by him while he stands by us in these things; for every man's religious faith is a matter between his own soul and his God alone.

We ask no preeminence; we want no preeminence; but where God has placed us, there we will stand; and that is, to be one with our brethren, and our brethren are those that keep the commandments of God, and do the will of our Father who is in heaven; and by them we will stand, and with them we will dwell in time and in eternity. (Journal History, Dec. 23, 1847.)

How nobly did the Prophet Joseph Smith declare this ideal when he said:

We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may. (Eleventh Article of Faith.)

It is to be remembered that there are men walking the earth and beckoning us to follow them to the future -- not abreast of us, but ahead of us. Religion explains them as men blessed of heaven; men so spiritually endowed as to be able to respond to the inspiration of the infinite, which they know comes from God. They are good men, and wonderful is the vitality of goodness. Men are keeping faith and virtue and are working for the freedom and happiness of the human race. Their discipline is the loyalty of each man's heart to the voice of God. These men look for authority, for principles, for divine government. They have noble thoughts, beautiful sentiments, worthy aspirations, courageous living for a true and happier life. They know that God has not separated himself from the world nor does he lightly regard anyone's need. There is a true light which "lighteth every man that cometh into the world" (John 1:9), a saying rich in promise. God reveals his principles of eternal life to good men who have discerning vision and deep faith The world has always had such men; it has such men today.

In all of our history there has been nothing in the way of persecution by the Latter-day Saints of other people, but we have been taught by the Prophet Joseph Smith from the beginning, when God spoke to him, that all are children of God and that we should approach them with love and the testimony that God lives and that Jesus is the Christ, the Redeemer of the world.

Someday, he will be found again among the thirsting people for whom he lived and died. As he came back after his death to confirm the faith of his disciples, and to comfort their desolate hearts, so will he come again to establish his kingdom in the earth and usher in the reign of peace. May we be blessed with a love for mankind, I ask in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Levi Edgar Young, CR, October 1955, p.34

"Every man who learns," says Ralph Waldo Emerson, "must do so by laborious reading." Such a man looks forward to an expanding knowledge. He becomes a lover of books, and great books tell us of God and truth. The attitude of the Prophet Joseph Smith alone in reference to study and the gaining of knowledge from books is one of the sublime truths of his life. He had the spirit of learning, a thing we need in our schools today.

Ezra Taft Benson, CR, April 1958, p.58

For a term at the Alpine summer school, of Brigham Young University, I was fortunate enough to sit at the feet of Adam S. Bennion in a course that I shall never forget -- a course in biography. I remember the term paper which he assigned to us. It caused us to turn the searchlight on our own lives. The subject was "Why I Am What I Am." Under his stimulating direction that group of students searched their souls for the influences that had come into their lives, the examples that had been set them, the temptations that had crossed their paths, and the influences of the Church and of good men and women. I still have that term paper; I am grateful to Brother Bennion that he turned my thoughts inward and made me analyze my own life and the influences which had affected the life of a young man up to that time. I am grateful for the contribution which he made as one of the great teachers of the Church. My life has been enriched. He helped inspire me to seek the good things which I enjoy.

Henry D. Moyle, CR, April 1958, p.65

Academic rank among our teachers in the Church school system depends upon

1-Personal qualities, including attitude toward and adherence to the principles and teachings of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

2-Worth as a teacher.

3-Academic scholarship and competence, degrees and distinction.

4-Achievement and competence in scientific research, philosophic investigation, artistic production, or other professional endeavors.

5-Public service to Church and community.

Ernest L. Wilkinson, CR, October 1958, p.124-127

After returning from his third mission, he again organized a school, being permitted to use a Ward meetinghouse. One day this meetinghouse burned down. Greatly distraught, he sought his Bishop, Bishop Sharp, whom he found in the office of Brigham Young. Without awaiting to be announced, he burst in the office and told them of the catastrophe which had occurred.

President Young looked at him and hoping to ease his anguish said, "Brother Maeser, do not be alarmed. I have another mission for you." Brother Maeser looked for an opening in the floor but could not find one. President Young quickly reassured him by saying, "We want you to go to Provo and found a Church academy. Will you come back in a couple of days and let me know if you can go?" Brother Maeser was back the next morning, volunteering to go and asking for instructions. Having been raised in the Prussian system of education, he expected a long series of written directions. But Brigham Young turned to him and said, "Brother Maeser, your instructions are only these: You should teach not even the multiplication tables or the alphabet without the aid and inspiration of our Heavenly Father. That is all. God bless you. Goodbye."

And without any budget, without any arrangement for compensation, no union" to bargain for him or to deprive him of his free agency, Brother Maeser went to Provo and there met his first 29 students. The minutes of their first assembly record that Brother Maeser played the organ and led them in singing at the same time. He then gave them a short sermon in which, in its entirety, he spoke as follows:

"We trust you all; we give you our confidence; we hope you will do nothing to weaken that confidence. We put you on your word of honor."

From those simple instructions and that humble beginning, Brother Maeser, during the 25 years he was Principal of Brigham Young Academy and later Superintendent of Church Schools, often prophetically proclaimed that the time would come when the influence of that institution would extend to every hearthstone of the Church. If, my brothers and sisters, you came to the Brigham Young University campus now, you would know that that prophecy is being fulfilled. By the time registration closes this coming week we will have 9900 students from all 49 states in the union, from every territory and from some 40 foreign countries. They come to us with a variety of experiences; some from homes of wealth even judged by worldly standards; some from homes of adversity; some from broken homes; but they nearly all come with a religious heritage and desire to learn more of the revealed word of God so that they may better serve their fellowmen. This common religious heritage and spiritual yearning transcends all other qualities, and the motivation arising therefrom overcomes many other obstacles.

I would not have you think from this rich Story that we have no students at the Brigham Young University having religious problems. We do, for youth always has been the period of religious skepticism and doubt and at the same time, with proper enlightenment, the period of greatest understanding, faith and religious resolve and performance. Most of our students having religious problems, however, are those struggling to throw off the shackles of darkness of other faiths, once they see the sunshine of the restored Gospel. And I don't want you to think that the time of persecution for one changing his faith is over. Just two weeks ago I had an earnest young man call me on the telephone one evening. He wanted to see me at once. I could tell he was disturbed, so I invited him to my office. With tears streaming from his cheeks he told me that the day before he had been physically beaten by both his father and mother, members of an apostate Christian faith, because he had confessed he had been attending a Mormon Sunday School and was interested in joining the Mormon Church and enrolling at Brigham Young University. After the beating he was ejected from their home with only the clothes he had on his back, denied the right to return for his other clothes or for his 1950 model Ford which he had purchased with his own money. The next morning he went to the bank to draw out his summer earnings, which he intended to use for enrollment at Brigham Young University, only to find his mother had already been there and drawn it out, for they had a joint account. Homeless, disinherited, penniless, but having seen the vision of a new light in a Mormon Sunday School, he wanted to know if the way could not still be opened so that he could drink further of the living waters at the Brigham Young University. The next day I told of this experience at a Stake Conference of one of the Stakes in Provo. Before I had arrived home after the Conference the sole remaining daughter of Uncle Jesse Knight had called to say she would be honored to provide financial help for this young man. God bless her, for thanks to her help this young man is now enrolled at the BYU. And when he marries a sweet Mormon girl, which I am certain will eventuate, and they have children, there will not be the intolerance, bigotry and anti-Christian hatred in their home that at the present time darkens and demoralizes the so-called home of his mother and father.

This year, also, religious classes are being given for approximately 50,000 Latter-day Saint high school students in Seminaries connected with 713 high schools extending all the way from Maryland on the East to the Hawaiian Islands on the West. I hope your child is one of those 50,000 choice spirits.

By the year 2000 A.D. we expect students in our Church institutions of secondary and higher education to more than quadruple. Truly for our young people the "glory of God is intelligence."

May the Lord bless us to appreciate the significance of this great educational system; may we have the inspiration to carry on under the simple but powerful instructions of Brigham Young, that we shall do nothing without the aid and inspiration of our Heavenly Father, I ask in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

William J. Critchlow, Jr., CR, April 1959, p.83

Now let me tell about another man who lectured brilliantly in Salt Lake City a dozen or so years ago. He was a silver-tongued orator who reportedly had lectured in nations around the globe and had more degrees behind his name than many of us could interpret.

The following day he visited in Ogden and was taken sightseeing up Ogden Canyon. Returning, he relaxed in the office of the president of the Ogden Chamber of Commerce where he remarked, "You Mormons are certainly a friendly, hospitable, and happy people. Will one of you tell me something of your philosophy of life?" His finger pointed to me, so I told him about our concept of God, why we were here, where we come from, and what we expected hereafter. I also quoted our Articles of Faith. When I had finished, he said in substance:

"My father was a minister. I, too am a graduate of a school of divinity. But what I learned in that school, or rather what I did not learn, and what you have told me today confuses me. As a result I am what you would call an agnostic."

"Now," he continued, (and this is significant) "if what you believe -- this philosophy of yours -- makes you happy, then stick to it and live it. I tell you there is no happiness in unbelief. Your philosophy is interesting. It could be taught in colleges along with other philosophies and people would read it -- if you would disassociate and leave Joseph Smith out of it."

My brothers and sisters this gospel plan which he called "our philosophy" is not a philosophy. It is truth. And Joseph Smith can no more be "disassociated" than can this earth be taken out of the solar system. He was foreordained before the foundations of this earth to head this the greatest of all dispensations, the Dispensation of the Fullness of Times.

David O. McKay, CR, April 1961, p.6-7

Parents dress their children in the best clothes when children go out in "company." They cannot so change their characters. What traits of character the child develops in the home, he takes with him into society. The selfish, morose nature, or his cheerful kind, radiant soul developing in home environment goes with him when he joins the social group. If you want your child to be courteous in society, teach him to be courteous in the home. "If you please," "thank you," "pardon me," are terms of culture more applicable and more educative in the home than in social circles. Into our schools and churches come too many children from homes where the fundamental virtues of true manhood and beautiful womanhood are seldom taught and more infrequently practiced.

In schools, in this Christian land, the teaching of Church dogma is forbidden, but the teaching of true citizenship -- honesty, loyalty, the keeping of a promise, and other virtues that contribute to the dignity of man -- is not banned.

Man should so conduct himself as to merit the trust of his fellows. "There is a unanimity of thought in this," writes a wise philosopher, "which is to be found nowhere else except on the subject of the ten commandments, but the effort made to impress this idea indelibly on the minds of children in the shape of automatic conditioned reflexes is so slight that one is aghast. The equilibrium of the whole world, not only peace, but justice, commerce, industry, science, rests on the confidence in the integrity and in the word of men, and all the moral teaching given to youth in the course of ten or fifteen years of education and instruction certainly does not represent more than a few hours, in certain cases a few days. The young are stuffed with many useless details and the essential is passed over in silence." (The "essential" meaning moral training, teaching them the dignity of true manhood.)

"Farmers might as well be taught to grow flowers in borders without learning how to cultivate a field; or young girls be taught the art of makeup without learning how to wash. Examinations deal with a quantity of facts destined to be forgotten in three months, or which are purely technical; children are trained to behave decently in public, but nobody dreams of making them repeat daily, as a prayer: 'Every promise is sacred. No one is obliged to give a pledge, but he who breaks his given word is dishonored. He commits an unpardonable crime against his dignity; he betrays; he covers himself with shame; he excludes himself from human society.'

He who is purported to have been the wisest American wrote years ago: "Character is higher than intellect. A great soul will be fit to live as well as to think." (Emerson.)

Thorpe B. Isaacson, CR, April 1961, p.62

College students and other young people should be strongly advised against joining any of these un-American organizations. In American history, we have known of leaders who gave their lives for their country, patriots who would die rather than betray their great land of liberty and freedom. But those great blessings for which our leaders and patriots have died shall not long continue with us unless we recognize our responsibility to preserve our heritage and pay whatever price such preservation entails.

Every institution of higher learning, including our high schools, should make sure there are no youth organizations or activities within their schools not approved by those in authority, regardless of the attractive name, regardless of their surroundings, regardless of their first approach. Each new national youth organization should be thoroughly investigated and fearlessly exposed when any subversiveness is in evidence.

Colleges should be encouraged to turn out vigorous men. We cannot afford to turn out college men who shrink from physical effort or from a little physical pain. In any republic, courage is a prime necessity, and moral courage is needed.--The courage that dares, as well as the courage which endures, the courage that will fight valiantly alike, against the foes of the soul and the foes of the spirit.

It was never intended that our life on earth would be one of ease, since this life is but an interlude between two eternities.

Is there a need in American schools to teach our young men what America should really mean to them? And what about the young men of America who are not in our schools? Who will alert them? Because these secret youth organizations will be aimed directly at America's young people, leaders of state and city governments should investigate every new youth organization seeking to become established within their respective jurisdictions. Our danger is greatest from within. If America is to be destroyed, the enemy knows full well it will have to be weakened from within.

David O. McKay, CR, October 1961, p.5

Sixty or seventy years ago, when United States history was an essential course in elementary public school teaching, many a boy was thrilled by Patrick Henry's dramatic declaration: "Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death !" Patrick Henry was then a delegate to the Second Revolutionary Convention held at Richmond, Virginia. March 23, 1775.

Alma Sonne, CR, April 1962, p.35

The Apostle Paul recognized that power when he said, "For the mystery of iniquity doth already work." (2 Thes. 2:7.) It is at work in our schools, in the colleges, in the universities, in the newspapers, in the books, in the magazines, on the television, and in the picture halls.

To counteract these unholy influences the Church is sending into the world thousands of missionaries to proclaim the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. It is the only weapon, my brethren and sisters, that will eventually crush and destroy the evil designs and bring to naught the devious plans of unscrupulous, untrustworthy, and godless leaders of men. Missionary service is the life the vitality, and the obligation of the Church. Jesus commanded his servants whom he called and commissioned, to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature and to every nation and tongue, and people.

Ezra Taft Benson, CR, April 1962, p.105-106

To protect this base we must protect the soul of America -- we must return to a love and respect for the basic spiritual concepts upon which this nation has been established. We must study the Constitution and the writings of the founding fathers.

Yes, we must protect the Lord's base of operations by moving away from unsound economic policies which encourage creeping socialism and its companion, insidious, atheistic communism. If we are to protect this important base we must as a nation live within our means, balance our budgets, and pay our debts. We must establish sound monetary policies and take needed steps to compete in world markets.

If we are to protect this American base, we must realize that all things, including information disseminated by our schools, churches, and government, should be judged according to the words of the prophets, especially the living prophet. This procedure coupled with the understanding which will come through the Spirit of the Lord, if we are living in compliance with the scriptures, is the only sure foundation and basis of judgment. Any other course of action leaves us muddled, despondent, wandering in shades of gray, easy targets for Satan.

We must not fail in these pressing and important matters. We must not fall short of the great mission the Lord has proffered and outlined for America and for his divinely restored Church.

Thorpe B. Isaacson, CR, October 1962, p.30-31

Now again with reference to the ruling of the Supreme Court referred to, and I am quoting from an opinion survey entitled, "Vast Majority of Parents Favor Public School Religion." These findings came to light in a nationwide survey on one of the most controversial domestic issues of recent years. The following question was asked of the group most directly involved, the parents, who will be sending their children to public elementary and high schools this year. Here is the question:

"Do you approve or disapprove religious observances in public schools?"

Eighty percent of the parents said, "Yes, we approve religious observances in public schools." Fourteen percent stated that they disapproved and six percent had no opinion.

When the views of all the people of this survey, not just the parents of public school children, but everyone taken into consideration, here is how the survey divides on the question of religious observances in public schools:

Seventy-nine percent approves religion in public schools; fourteen percent disapproves, and seven percent has no opinion.

Quoting from another prominent man whose name I do not recall at this time, speaking on the subject, "This Nation Under God": "Our way of life has been guarded by men of

granite with Bible in hand, but we stand to lose this way of life through the neglect of our devotion to God and his truth."

Now quoting from another prominent newspaper on "The Right to Pray":

"Readers have shown their dismay over the Supreme Court's decision regarding prayer in the public schools. They have voiced their apprehension that this decision will open the door for still further rulings against public expressions of the belief in God, on which this country was founded."

When the Supreme Court rendered their decision, the writer states: "I feared the implication that would follow." And then he goes farther, and I quote: "Now comes word that another certain organization is prepared to challenge the 'Under God' provision in the Pledge of Allegiance."

The seriousness of this may go on and on, and I further quote from him:

I deplore and decry this outrageous stand and I will do everything humanly possible to fight any repeal of this acknowledgment of our abiding faith in God. Everything possible should be done in behalf of the constitutional amendment legalizing the right of the people to publicly express their belief in God through nonsectarian prayer or the simple affirmation of faith contained in the Pledge of Allegiance."

Victor L. Brown, CR, April 1963, p.72-73

The thought I wish to conclude with, however, has reference to yet another group who were not present at this meeting. As a matter of fact, I am afraid the motto, "Fulfil Freedom's Challenge," would have little interest for them. They are known as dropouts. They are the ones who for one reason or another leave high school without obtaining their diplomas. It is my feeling that this group of young men and young women are choosing to become enslaved to a life of mediocrity, and the tragic fact about this is that not only are they entering into this deplorable condition, but they are probably going to take many of their children with them. If they could only foresee the opportunities and rewards that will pass them by because of their decision to be satisfied with a minimal preparation for life! It is essential that each person recognize that the responsibility for these decisions rests with himself. John Oxenham has written:

Ezra Taft Benson, CR, April 1963, p.110

I became alarmed as I reviewed what has happened in our schools under so-called "progressive education." What about the loss of patriotism, faith in God, and the teachings of character building principles once so much a part of our education? We have all but "forced Americanism out of the classroom to make way for temporary trivialities." (DeLove.) I remembered President Joseph F. Smith's warning of the three dangers to the Church from within, viz., the flattery of prominent men sexual impurity, and false educational ideas. (Gospel Doctrine, p. 312.)

Gordon B. Hinckley, CR, April 1963, p.128

We have reached the tragic point in our history where evidently we cannot invoke the blessings of God in our schools, but we can pray in our homes. The family is the unit of society. The praying family is the hope of a better society. "Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, . . ." (Isa 55:6.) I was touched last fall by the heartbreaking statement of a young man in Japan. He said, "I have been here for months. I can't learn the language. I dislike the people. I am depressed by day and sleep at night. I wanted to die. I wrote my mother and pleaded for an excuse to return home. I have her reply. She says: We're praying for you. There is not a day passes that all of us do not kneel together in the morning before we eat and in the evening before we retire and plead with the Lord for his blessing upon you. We have added fasting to our prayer, and when your younger brothers and sisters pray they say, "Heavenly Father, bless Johnny in Japan and help him to learn the language and do the work he was called to do."'"

Spencer W. Kimball, CR, October 1963, p.39

To slow down this ever increasing rate of juvenile delinquency, there is a growing cry: "We must have more detention homes and reformatories. We need more public money appropriated for better facilities, more highly trained specialists, social workers, psychologists and psychiatrists. We need larger jails, more police." Certainly, it must be apparent that all this is but an attempted control of a malady of epidemic proportions. Have the experts failed? Isn't it time to come back to fundamentals? "We need more money," they say, but we have spent in the last decade $78 billion on elementary and high schools for the children, yet delinquency increases; $110 billion on cars; $127 billion for recreation, and still immorality, hoodlumism, sadism, and vandalism grow apace, and to make it worse, $180 billion in cosmetics, tobacco, and alcohol. No -- money is not the answer! Surely we must realize that an ounce of prevention is worth tons of cure.

Thorpe B. Isaacson, CR, October 1963, p.96-99

We all recognize that there are three important institutions that greatly affect the life of a boy, and when I use the term boy I should like to also have it understood that I include the girl. The home, the church, and the school -- all are important, but perhaps not all in that order.

We recognize, however, that the home should be in first place and directly responsible for the welfare, the training, and the future of a boy. But what if the home fails, and what if the parents cannot succeed?

True, the church plays an important part in the life of a boy. Yet, we must recognize that the church has the boy under its jurisdiction but a very small percentage of his time, while the teacher and the school have a very close association with him. Perhaps more of the boy's time is spent with the teacher than that he spends in the home. Therefore, it might be said that the teacher and the school will play a bigger part in the welfare and the training and the character and the future of a boy than perhaps the home or the church.

Now, teacher and school, I wonder if you are willing to assume the welfare and the training of the character of the boy, remembering that you have him under your direction more of his awake time than anybody else. So much depends upon you -- the teacher and the school. Yes, parents expect the teachers and the school to make sure that their boy is properly taught, not alone that he is taught to read and write and the arts and the sciences, but that he is taught the fundamentals of life and the building of character. Some would say, "Yes, Teacher, his future depends largely on you." I wonder if you are willing to accept this responsibility?

Of late years we have had much said about the teacher and the school. Regardless of what may have been said, the fact still remains that the teacher has the association and the responsibility for a greater portion of his time than anybody else. Parents are justified in being anxious about their boy, and they are anxious that the teacher and the school give him everything that he needs. They are anxious that he is properly taught because his future life and how he conducts himself will in a large measure be the result of some teacher and the school.

Teachers, do you realize that the boys today under your direction may be the doctors of tomorrow, they may be the businessmen of tomorrow, they may be the teachers to take your place tomorrow, the legislators of tomorrow, the public officeholders, church leaders. Yes, they may be the men who may go to the moon; some may be great artists and authors. Some may be great industrial tycoons, and some may be the leaders America will need so badly to survive in this puzzled world. Yes, teacher, you have their future in your hands. Don't let any boy fail because of you, his teacher.

Great teachers are always underpaid. Probably it can never be said that a great teacher is paid enough, but a poor teacher is paid too much, regardless of what he is paid. Teachers, you may be underpaid; yes, you may be unappreciated at times, and you may be overworked, but you will gain that pay in secret satisfaction and blessings of God in heaven, and many boys will rise up and call you blessed.

Recently, I asked a beautiful little granddaughter, Becky, how she liked school, and she answered and said, "O Grandpa, it is the greatest! I love my teacher." I wonder what that is worth to a teacher. Certainly you teachers must be proud of your profession. Jesus was the greatest teacher of all, and what he taught lived long after him and still lives. May teachers teach those things that will live long after you! Yes, you should be proud of your profession. Many great men in America, many great men in this audience, men who are listening by television and radio, have been teachers. Our great prophet was a teacher; he has been a teacher; he is still a teacher. Certainly, teachers, you should be proud of your profession. Secretly, you must admit that you have the greatest job in all the world because you hold the history of the world in the palm of your hand -- you are a teacher!

Many of us can and do constantly pay tribute to the teachers whom we were fortunate enough to have. As parents, taxpayers, and citizens, it might be well if we took a little more interest in our schools and in our boys and girls and extended greater appreciation for our teachers. It would be well if we never speak disparagingly about a teacher.

Teachers, make sure that you teach as you would like to mold. Teachers, be sure that you teach so that there will never be any justifiable reason to criticize your profession. Teachers, remember that there is a divine spark in every boy and girl that never goes out. You may help to kindle that spark. Children are like the flowers of God, and they must have time and room to bloom.

May I dedicate this to teachers, and when I speak of teachers I speak of them in the broadest sense because every one of us is a teacher -- teachers by example and precept. I refer to parents, and I refer to teachers in the auxiliary organizations. I would like to include teachers in the elementary schools, high schools, public schools, colleges, and universities.

Teachers, into your hands we daily commit the dearest that we have. As you make our children, so shall future years see them, so be careful.

Teachers, may you have an abiding consciousness that you are coworkers with God, the great teacher of humanity, and that he has charged you with the great duty of bringing forth from the budding life of the young the mysterious stores of character and ability which he has hidden in them.

The miracles and teaching of the Man of Galilee are considered by many to be the brightest illumination of all that has come to bless man. He taught individual responsibility, and his parables concerned each person's fulfilling his own capacity.

In Proverbs 20, verse 27, I quote, "The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord, . . ." Teachers, remember to reverence the young lives, clean and plastic, which have newly come from God and to realize that generations still unborn will rue your sloth or rise to higher levels through your wisdom and faithfulness.

May God, the Father of us all, gird you for your work with his patience and tranquility, with great fatherly and motherly love for the young, and with special tenderness for the backward and the afflicted and the poor. Save them from trouble, from loneliness, and discouragement, from the numbness of routine, and from all bitterness of heart.

Here are some thoughts expressed to teachers, which might be said by all fathers and mothers to all teachers:

"To you the teacher and the school, my son will start school. It's all going to be so very strange and new to him for awhile, and I wish that you would sort of treat him gently.

"You see, up to now, my little boy has been the king of the roost. He's been boss of the back yard. His mother has always been around to repair his wounds, and I have always been handy to soothe his feelings. Now things are going to be different.

"This morning he is going to walk down the front steps, he is going to wave his hand to his mother, and he is going to start out on a great adventure. This is an adventure that will probably include much tragedy and sorrow and disappointment.

"Our boy will have to live his life with you and with the world that he now has to live in. It will require faith and love and courage. So teacher and school and world, I wish you would sort of take him by his young hand and teach him the things that he ought to know, but be careful with him.

"Please teach him, but gently, if you can. He will have to learn, I know, that all men are not just, and all men are not true, but please teach him that for every scoundrel there is a hero, and for every disloyal politician, there is a dedicated public leader. Let him understand, teacher, that you are one of those dedicated leaders. Teach him that for every enemy he may have, there will be wonderful friends, and teach him that you are that wonderful friend.

"It will take time, teacher, school and world, I know, but teach him, if you can, that a nickel earned is far more valuable than a dollar found. Teach him to learn to lose but also teach him to enjoy winning. Steer him away from envy if you can, and teach him the secret of quiet laughter.

"Let him learn early that the bullies are the easiest people to lick. Teach him, if you can, the wonder and greatness of good books. But also give him quiet time to ponder the eternal mystery of birds in the sky, bees in the sun, and flowers on the green hill.

"In school -- teacher and world -- teach him it is far more honorable to fail than to cheat. Teach him to be honest. Teach him to have faith in his own ideas even if others tell him that his ideas are wrong. Teach him to be gentle with gentle people, but teach him to be tough with tough people.

"Try to give my son the strength not to follow the crowd just because everyone is getting on the band wagon. Teach him to listen to all men, and then teach him also to filter and separate all he hears on the screen of truth and take only the good part that comes through. Teach him to choose that which will be good.

"Teach him if you can how to laugh when he is sad. Teach him there is no shame in tears. There is a sacredness in tears. They are not the mark of weakness but of power. They speak more eloquently than ten thousand tongues. They are the messengers of overwhelming grief, deep contrition, and unspeakable love, and when tears course down his cheek for any of these three causes, remember he is standing close in the presence of God.

"Teach him to work and study. Let him know that the price of success is high, but not nearly so high as the price of failure. Teach him there can be glory in failure, but also teach him there can be despair in success.

Teach him to scoff at cynics and to beware of too much sweetness. Teach him to sell his brawn and his brains to the highest bidder but never to put a price tag on his heart and his soul.

"Teach him to close his ears to the howling mob. Teach him to stand and fight if he thinks he is right. Treat him gently, teacher and world, but don't coddle him because only the test of fire makes fine steel. Abraham Lincoln once said, `to sin in silence when protest is good makes cowards out of men.'

"Let him have the courage to be impatient, but let him have the patience to be brave. Teach him always to have sublime faith in himself and complete faith in God. Do you mean to say this is teaching religion? Why, this is teaching truth, because then he will always have sublime faith in mankind. And teach him to love his fellow men.

"This is a big order, teacher and world, but see what you can do for my little boy. He is such a nice fellow -- my son!"

God bless all teachers, that parents and sons and daughters will not be disappointed in you, and that you will be able to lift them to the highest level. Yes, even beyond their own natural abilities. That is real teaching. May God reward teachers with the glad sense of their eternal worth as teachers.

O Lord, in the heat of day, show them the spring by the wayside that flows from the eternal silence of God and gives new light to all who drink of it. May God give you teachers the brave heart to teach what is true, even to your own hurt, following in the footsteps of the great Creator of our life, Jesus Christ, the Savior.

I bear testimony to you that God is our Father, that we can partake of his Spirit, that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, that the gospel is the greatest power in the earth. This testimony I bear to all men everywhere regardless of your station in life. I pray that you can understand the restoration of the gospel because if it is made a part of your life, and if you can realize it and accept it, that God still governs in the affairs of men--I bear testimony to you that if you will accept that, you will have more peace and comfort from this source than from any other source in the world.

Thorpe B. Isaacson, CR, October 1964, p.54

Recently, there was published the following editorial in the Deseret News, and I quote:

"This nation's reliance on a Supreme Being has been acknowledged in such historical documents as the Mayflower Compact and the Declaration of Independence. Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, our National Anthem, and the constitutions of 49 of our 50 states all included direct reference to God.

"More recently the words `under God' have been added to our Pledge of Allegiance.

"Now there is a proposal before Congress to acknowledge the divine guidance of our nation's Constitution by adding these same words--'under God'--to its preamble. This would be a proper change.

"Lately there has been altogether too much talk about eliminating any reference to deity from our public life. Those who support this notion have received considerable encouragement from the recent United States Supreme Court rulings against Bible reading and the use of the Lord's Prayer in public schools.

"But this must not be allowed to make us forget that we are a nation under God and a nation founded on vital Christian principles. Indeed some 2500 years ago a prophet declared that America will remain free and prosperous only so long as its people are righteous. . . .

"Adding `under God' to the preamble to the Constitution would be a fitting reminder of the need of spirituality in our public affairs." (Editorial entitled "One Nation under God," Deseret News, August 29, 1964.)

Ezra Taft Benson, CR, October 1964, p.56-60

Some years ago President Joseph F. Smith, a prophet of the Lord, warned that "There are at least three dangers that threaten the Church within. . . ." (Gospel Doctrine, p. 312.) He also counseled the Authorities of the Church to warn the people unceasingly against them.

These dangers are:

Flattery of prominent men in the world,

False educational ideas,

Sexual impurity.

I should like to comment briefly on these three dangers.

First, the flattery of prominent men in the world:

The Master warned, "Woe unto you when all men shall speak well of you!" (Luke 6:26.)

As Latter-day Saints we have been driven, mobbed, misunderstood, and maligned. We have been a peculiar people. Now we are faced with world applause. It has been a welcome change, but can we stand acceptance? Can we meet the danger of applause? In the hour of a man's success applause can be his greatest danger.

There is, of course, nothing wrong with being honored by men, if one is being honored for a good thing, if one comes to these honors through righteous living, and if, while holding these honors, one lives honorably. One should strive to have wide influence for good.

However, virtue is not the only basis for being singled out and promoted. As the world gets more wicked, a possible way to attain worldly success may be to join the wicked. The time is fast approaching when it will require great courage for Latter-day Saints to stand up for their peculiar standards and doctrine -- all of their doctrine, including the more weighty principles such as the principle of freedom. Opposition to this weighty principle of freedom caused many of our brothers and sisters in the preexistence to lose their first estate in the war in heaven.

We are far removed from the days of our forefathers who were persecuted for their peculiar beliefs. Some of us seem to want to share their reward but are ofttimes afraid to stand up for principles that are controversial in our generation. We need not solicit persecution, but neither should we remain silent in the presence of overwhelming evils, for this makes cowards of men. We should not go out of the path of duty to pick up a cross there is no need to bear, but neither should we sidestep a cross that clearly lies within the path of duty.

We are in the world, and I fear some of us are getting too much like the world. Rather than continue a peculiar people, some are priding themselves on how much they are like everybody else, when the world is getting more wicked. The Lord, as he prayed for his Apostles, said, ". . . the world hath hated them because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world." (John 17:14.) As Latter-day Saints, we too have been called out of the world.

Some things are changeless -- priceless. We must anchor ourselves to the eternal verities of life, for life is eternal. The honors of men more often than not are fleeting. Anxious to run after the honors of office or succumb to the pressures of public glamour and worldly acclaim, some of us are no longer willing to stand up for all the principles of the gospel. We seek to justify our unrighteousness by claiming that if only we can get title or position, then think of the good we can do. Hence we lose our salvation en route to those honors. We sometimes look among our numbers to find one to whom we can point who agrees with us, so we can have company to justify our apostasy. We rationalize by saying that some day the church doctrine will catch up with our way of thinking.

Seeking the applause of the world, we like to be honored by the men the world honors. But therein lies real danger, for ofttimes, in order to receive those honors, we must join forces with and follow those same devilish influences and policies which brought some of those men to positions of prominence.

More and more the honors of this world are being promoted by the wicked for the wicked. We see this in publicity and awards that are given to movies literature, art, journalism, etc. We see in our own newspapers widely read columnists carried who advocate one world socialism who have been consistently caught in falsehoods, and who continually parrot the communist line. Less and less we see the virtuous rewarded by the world, and when they are, ofttimes it almost seems to be done insidiously in order to get us to swallow the many evils for which the wicked are even more profusely honored.

Yes, President Joseph F. Smith was right. Today we are being plagued within by the flattery of prominent men in the world.

Second, false educational ideas:

During the past several years many of our institutions of learning have been turning out an increasing number of students schooled in amorality, relativity and atheism -- students divested of a belief in God, without fixed moral principles or an understanding of our constitutional republic and our capitalistic, free enterprise economic system. This follows a pattern which was established years ago at some of our key colleges that produced many of the teachers and leaders in the educational field across the country today.

The fruits of this kind of teaching have been tragic, not only to the souls of the individuals involved but also to the parents and even to our country. We saw these tragic fruits with some of our boys in Korea.

When a survey was recently made among students asking which they would prefer, nuclear war or surrender to the communists, those campuses scored highest for surrender who had been most permeated by these cowardly teachings of false economic principles, atheism, and amorality. On one very liberal college campus over 90 percent favored surrender. Other surveys on moral standards are equally alarming. More disturbing is the fact that the more college courses the students take on these campuses, the worse their thinking seems to become. Freshmen who have just left home or work do not seem as fully permeated with the brainwashing as the seniors.

Some alumni of various schools have expressed concern. One alumnus from Yale wrote a book a few years ago entitled God and Man at Yale. Another group (which includes Teddy Roosevelt's hero son Archibald) from Harvard University established the Veritas Foundation and wrote a book, Keynes at Harvard, explaining the degree to which the destructive Fabian economic philosophy has permeated educational institutions and government. Concerned educators have begun to write books. Professor E. Merrill Root authored Collectivism on the Campus and Brainwashing in the High Schools. Dr. Max Rafferty, now state superintendent of schools in California, wrote Suffer Little Children and What They Are Doing to Your Children.

In the school history textbooks of recent years, some of the greatest phrases in American history have been dropped. This Week Magazine recently surveyed history books issued before 1920 and since 1920. Patrick Henry's famous words, "Give me liberty or give me death," appeared in twelve out of the fourteen earlier texts, but in only two out of the forty-five recent texts. Perhaps this might help explain the percentage of students who are willing to surrender to communism.

The whole process can be quite insidious. Young people know that the best jobs are available to college graduates. They want to do well at school. When exam time comes, they must give back to the teacher what the teacher wants. Now under the guise of academic freedom -- which some apparently feel is freedom to destroy freedom -- some teachers reserve to themselves the privilege of teaching error, destroying faith in God, debunking morality, and depreciating our free economic system. If questions reflecting the teacher's false teachings appear on the exam, how will the student answer who believes in God and morality and our Constitution? One student put on his exam paper what he knew the professor wanted to see, but then the student added a little p.s. which said, "Dear Professor So and So: I just want you to know I don't believe one word of what I just wrote above."

These kinds of professors are not concerned about the truth or even giving both sides of a question that only has one right answer. They weight the scales on the side of falsehood. If they can see there is another side, it usually gets but passing and belittling reference. To give the impression that they are objective, these professors often invite someone to present a different point of view in one lecture, while the professor spends the whole semester pointing out the other side.

Now truth, if given as much time and emphasis as error, will invariably prove itself. And if our young students could have as much time studying the truth as they and some of their professors have had time studying error, then there would be no question of the outcome. The problem arises when under the pressure of a heavy course of study and the necessity of parroting back what certain professors have said, the student does not have the time or take the time to learn the truth. If he does not learn the truth, some day he will suffer the consequences. Many an honest student after graduation, has had to do some unlearning and then fresh learning of basic principles which never change and which he should have been taught initially.

Now these false educational ideas are prevalent in the world, and we have not entirely escaped them among teachers in our own system. There are a few teachers within the Church who while courting apostasy still want to remain members in the Church, for being members makes them more effective in misleading the Saints. But their day of judgment is coming, and when it does come, for some of them it would have been better, as the Savior said, that a millstone had been put around their necks and they had drowned in the depths of the sea, than to have led away any of the youth of the Church.

The Lord has stated that his Church will never again be taken from the earth because of apostasy. But he has also stated that some members of his Church will fall away. There has been individual apostasy in the past, it is going on now, and there will be an even increasing amount in the future. While we cannot save all the flock from being deceived, we should, without compromising our doctrine, strive to save as many as we can. For as President Clark said, "We are in the midst of the greatest exhibition of propaganda that the world has ever seen. . . ."

Parents, stay close to your children; you cannot delegate your responsibility to the educators no matter how competent they may be. Parents have a duty to train their children, to talk over their problems with them, to discuss what they are learning at school. And it is neither wise nor safe, as President Stephen L. Richards stated, to leave the determination of our educational system and policies exclusively to the professional educators.

Students, study the writings of the prophets. Fortunately, the consistent position taken over the years by the prophets of the Church on vital issues facing this nation have recently been compiled in an excellent book entitled Prophets, Principles and National Survival [by Jerreld L. Newquist].

Students, pray for inspiration and knowledge. Counsel with your parents. Let Sunday be the day to fill up your spiritual batteries for the week by reading good church books, particularly the Book of Mormon. Take time to meditate. Don't let the philosophies and falsehoods of men throw you. Hold on to the iron rod. Learn to sift. Learn to discern error through the promptings of the Spirit and your study of the truth.

Yes, false educational ideas are a serious threat today.

Third, sexual immorality:

Sexual immorality is a viper that is striking not only in the world, but in the Church today. Not to admit it is to be dangerously complacent or is like putting one's head in the sand. In the category of crimes, only murder and denying the Holy Ghost come ahead of illicit sexual relations, which we call fornication when it involves an unmarried person, or the graver sin of adultery when it involves one who is married. I know the laws of the land do not consider unchastity as serious as God does, nor punish as severely as God does, but that does not change its abominableness. In the eyes of God there is but one moral standard for men and women. In the eyes of God chastity will never be out of date.

The natural desire for men and women to be together is from God. But such association is bounded by his laws. Those things properly reserved for marriage, when taken within the bonds of marriage, are right and pleasing before God and fulfil the commandment to multiply and replenish the earth. But those same things when taken outside the bonds of marriage are a curse.

No sin is causing the loss of the Spirit of the Lord among our people more today than sexual promiscuity. It is causing our people to stumble, damning their growth, darkening their spiritual powers and making them subject to other sins.

Recently, a young man commented that if he quit reading books, watching TV, seeing movies, reading newspapers and magazines, and going to school, there was a chance he might live a clean life. And this explains, in large part, the extent to which this insidious evil has spread, for the world treats this sin flippantly. These evil forces build up your lust and then fail to tell of the tragic consequences. In so many movies the hero is permitted to get away with crime so long as he can joke about it, or explain he was powerless to do anything, or else at the close of the movie show forth one minimal virtue that is supposed to cover over the grossest of sin. Many of our prominent national magazines pander to the baser side, but then try to cover for themselves by including other articles, too.

So garbled in values have our morals become that some youth would not dare touch a cigarette but freely engage in petting. Both are wrong, but one is infinitely more serious than the other.

Parents should give their children specific instructions on chastity at an early age, both for their physical and moral protection. Years ago President David O. McKay, God bless him, read a statement written by Mrs. Wesley to her famous son John. I commend it to you as a basis for judgment pertaining to the matter of chastity. "Would you judge of the lawfulness or unlawfulness of pleasure? Take this rule: Now note, whatever weakens your reason, impairs the tenderness of your conscience, obscures your sense of God, takes off your relish for spiritual things, whatever increases the authority of the body over the mind, that thing is sin to you, however innocent it may seem in itself."

May I suggest some steps to avoid the pitfalls of immorality:

(1) Avoid late hours and weariness. The Lord said retire to your bed early (D&C 88:124), and there are good reasons for that. Some of the worst sins are committed after midnight by tired heads. Officers in the wards and stakes branches and missions should not keep our people, especially our youth, up late at night even for wholesome recreation.

(2) Keep your dress modest. Short skirts are not pleasing to the Lord, but modesty is. Girls, do not be an enticement for your downfall because of your immodest and tight-fitting clothes.

(3) Have good associates or don't associate at all. Be careful in the selection of your friends. If in the presence of certain persons you are lifted to nobler heights, you are in good company. But if your friends or associates encourage base thoughts, then you had best leave them.

(4) Avoid necking and petting like a plague, for necking and petting is the concession which precedes the complete loss of virtue.

(5) Have a good physical outlet of some sport or exercise. Overcome evil with good. You can overcome many evil inclinations through good physical exertion and healthful activities. A healthy soul, free of the body-and-spirit-dulling influences of alcohol and tobacco, is in better condition to overthrow the devil.

(6) Think clean thoughts. Those who think clean thoughts do not do dirty deeds. You are not only responsible before God for your acts but also for controlling your thoughts. So live that you would not blush with shame if your thoughts and acts could be flashed on a screen in your church. The old adage is still true that you sow thoughts and you reap acts, you sow acts and you reap habits, you sow habits and you reap a character, and your character determines your eternal destiny. "As a man thinketh, so is he." (See Prov. 23:7.)

(7) Pray. There is no temptation placed before you which you cannot shun. Do not allow yourself to get in positions where it is easy to fall. Listen to the promptings of the Spirit. If you are engaged in things where you do not feel you can pray and ask the Lord's blessings on what you are doing, then you are engaged in the wrong kind of activity.

Yes -- avoid late hours; dress modestly; seek good associates; avoid necking and petting; have a good physical outlet; think good thoughts; pray.

May the Lord bless us as a people. We have taken upon us sacred covenants. We must be faithful. We are in the world, it is true, but we must not partake of the evils of the world. Let us be ever on guard against the flattery of prominent men in the world, false educational ideas, and sexual impurity, I humbly pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

David O. McKay, CR, April 1965, p.8

Where there is an indifference toward Christian churches, we shall have to place next to the home, not the church, but the public school as the most influential factor in lessening delinquency.

I believe with all my heart that the most paramount objective of the public school system from kindergarten to the university should be character building and the evolving of true, loyal citizens of the republic. The teaching of the three R's, of the arts and sciences, even the delving into research work should be but a means to the development of true manhood and noble womanhood.

True education is awakening a love for truth, a just sense of duty, opening the eyes of the soul to the great purpose and end of life. It is not to teach the individual to love the good for personal sake; it is to teach him to love the good for the sake of the good itself; to be virtuous in action because he is so in heart; to love God and serve him supremely, not from fear, but from delight in his perfect character.

Upon the teacher rests much of the responsibility of lifting society to this high level. Ralph Waldo Emerson, reputedly the wisest American, said, "Character is higher than intellect . . . . A great soul will be strong to live, as well as to think." (Nature, Addresses, and Lectures: The American Scholar.)

Harold B. Lee, CR, April 1965, p.14

We are hearing of and reading constantly of the alarming increase of juvenile delinquency and major crimes among the youth, particularly sex crimes. An eminent educator, the Superintendent of Public Instruction in California, made this statement recently under the subject heading: "Don't Saddle Schools with Sex Cleanup." He said, "At first glance it would seem that today's children need instruction in sexual matters as much as Custer needed more Indians. From morning until night, they are fed an almost unmixed diet of high-calorie, highly commercialized sex. . . . The so-called legitimate stage has achieved a condition of such sheer filth as to merit the adjective `indescribable.' We are the first generation since time began which has allowed its playwrights and its actors to wallow in vileness. . . .

"So a lot of people are urging schools to step in and clean this mess up by giving the youngsters a good stiff dose of sex education. . . .

"People are not discouraged from becoming safecrackers by learning how to manipulate tumblers in the dark. They avoid a life of crime because they are taught from infancy that crime is evil. The only way society has ever found to discourage misconduct is to label it clearly as either a crime or sin, or both, and then punish it accordingly."

Then the superintendent of schools concludes: "Only when we adults, in our homes, our churches, our businesses, decide that we are going to set a decent example and demand decent behavior from the young, will the children start growing up to become the kind of people we want them to be, and should have been ourselves." (Dr. Max Rafferty, The Salt Lake Tribune, 1964. Copyright 1965, Los Angeles Times Syndicate.) How wise the words of this great educator!

Alvin R. Dyer, Conference Report, April 1966, p.127

Scientific, religious, and educational thought that is bent on revising and supposedly amplifying man's knowledge and that does not keep alive the fundamental concept of the eternal nature of God and his Beloved Son and their relationship to man in eternity creates only secular concepts and mere rationalization. Such indoctrination imposes false direction, retarding man's natural response to the truth.

Ezra Taft Benson, CR, April 1966, p.130

No nation rises above its homes. In building character the church, the school, and even the nation stand helpless when confronted with a weakened and degraded home. The good home is the rock foundation -- the cornerstone of civilization. There can be no genuine happiness separate and apart from a good home, with the old-fashioned virtues at its base. If your nation is to endure, the home must be safeguarded, strengthened, and restored to its rightful importance.

John H. Vandenberg, CR, October 1967, p.77-78

There are further comments that advise us that economic factors indirectly play a part in the absence of parental discipline. Working mothers are not at home during most of the day, and they are unaware of what their children are doing before or after school hours or with whom they are associating. Usually when the working mother is at home, her waking hours are filled with the usual domestic chores of washing, ironing, and general household duties. The school, therefore, during five days of supervision each week, must play a serious part in teaching morality. Admittedly, this is a poor substitute for a mother's duty, and the evidence stares at us.

Sorrow and unfulfillment will lie at the end of the career of a working mother who has neglected her family. While it is understood that some mothers must work because of no other income coming to the home, there should be no excuse for supplementing the husband's income for the purchase of so-called luxuries and conveniences.

David O. McKay, CR, April 1968, p.90-94

Education to be complete must include spiritual growth. In this sense, youth need religion.

I shall offer only three reasons this evening for giving proper religious training to youth.

First: Youth should have religion in order to stabilize society. Goethe has rightly said that "the destiny of any nation at any given time depends on the opinions of its young men under five and twenty."

On this same thought, Roger W. Babson many years ago had the foresight to comment as follows:

"Although the airplane opens up boundless opportunities, it also threatens limitless perils. All depends upon whether we can match this flood of new material powers with an equal gain in spiritual forces. The coming generation can see in a minute more than the former generation could see in a week. The coming generation can out-hear and out-travel the former generation. Horsepower has expanded beyond all dreams. But what about man power? What about spiritual power, and the power of judgment, discretion, and self-control? Unless there is a development of character equal to this enlargement of physical forces, there is sure trouble ahead. Twenty-five years ago, an intoxicated man might tip the buggy over, but commonly the old horse would bring him home. Today, a driver under the influence of liquor, maims and kills. Tomorrow, therefore, is something to ponder over. Without moral progress, in pace with physical progress, the airplane will merely make dissipation more disastrous, immorality more widespread, and crime more efficient. As one result of the automobile has been to put hell on wheels, the airplane will put hell on wings unless righteousness, too, is speeded up. On the development of character depends whether the airplane shall bring prosperity or calamity." (Forum, April 1931.)

Science, says Millikan, "without religion obviously may become a curse rather than a blessing to mankind. But science dominated by the spirit of religion is the key, to progress and the hope of the future.

Hayden gives a similar warning, as follows: "Today, as seldom if ever before, human society is threatened with disintegration, if not complete chaos." Why? "All the ancient evils of human relationships, injustice, selfishness, abuse of strength, become sinister and terrible when reinforced by the vast increase of material power. The soul of man cowers, starved and fearful, in the midst of a civilization grown too complex for any mind to visualize or to control. Joy and beauty fade from human living. Yet life abundant, beauteous, laughing life has been our age-long labor's end. What other conceivable worth has the mastery of the material world, the exploitation of the resources of nature and the creation of wealth, except as a basis for the release of the life of the spirit?" And then he adds: "We are witnessing either the crumbling of civilization under the weight of its material mechanism, or the birth of a new organization with a spiritual ideal."