Readers Do
Their Homework: Meridian Touches Hearts and Nerves
Edited and compiled by Kathy
Green
The Pure Love of Christ
Read Article
Here
Consecration Beckons, by H. Wallace
Goddard
I am writing about the article "Consecration
Beckons" By H. Wallace Goddard. Bless him and his family
for caring enough to try to help Douglas. It's possible that,
short of taking him in and supporting him, nothing could be done
for that particular individual, but there are many who can be
helped and too few who even give a thought about it. I see men
on the street corners by freeway entrances with their signs, and
don't stop because it's not a safe place to stop. I also don't
know what to offer.
Even in Sunday school classes covering
the scriptures quoted in the article, priesthood holders say we
are not supposed to help these people because they will take our
money and spend it on alcohol or drugs. I believe that the point
of the scriptures is that we are to do what we can do to help
and not to concern ourselves about judging what they will do with
that help. It is for our benefit as much as for the unfortunate
individual we try to help. But still I do less than I would like
to. Thank you for giving me a lot to think about and improve
on.
Nadine Mikkelsen
Spokane, Washington
**** **** **** ****
Person to Person
Read
Article Here
Taking the Gospel of Jesus Christ
Personally, by Darla Isackson
What a beautiful article! And so
well written. I have saved this under my favorites to refer to
again and again during my scripture study. So many delectable
tidbits and major concepts to digest. Thank you so much.
I think we all have trouble feeling
the Savior's love on a regular basis, but oh how necessary it
is to experience it consistently. I just taught a lesson in Relief
Society using Virginia Pearce's book A Heart Like His as
the topic. The response from the sisters was incredible. Such
a timely message for us all.
Thank you again for your beautiful
insights; it's just what I needed.
Ginger Dixon
Grand Junction, Colorado
**** **** **** ****
Weekly Reunion
Read Article Here
Upcoming Reunion, by Susan Law Corpany
I watch for your column every week,
and I’m always disappointed when it’s the off week. Any chance
you can crank out twice as many of these delightful stories?
Marnae Lowe
Rancho Cordova, California
**** **** **** ****
Gifted Writer
Read Article Here
Ripples of Adult Conversion: New
Gifts and Blessings, by Paul Bishop
Paul Bishop has an incredible ability
to reach my soul with truth. He is amazingly talented. He takes
the details of his life and uses them to teach others. I anxiously
await anything that he writes.
Sheryl Whipple,
Houston, Texas
**
My husband is a prosecuting attorney
in a very small county. We often know the criminal, and the victim
and their families.
When you hear of crime on the TV
in some far off city it is so easy to dismiss the criminal as
some offending animal that no one loves, and of course he/she
should be locked away forever. But when you are close to the
situation it is very different. Often bad choices are made in
the heat of the moment, and the fallout that comes after that
is more crime, more lies, more prison and jail time. Families
suffer pain, and don't understand what went wrong.
I advocate that we take a look at
those who love the offender, and try and understand. I think
it is more difficult to close our eyes and cast our vote to send
offenders away forever when we look at them as real people, who
started out as innocent babies in the arms of a mother.
People have to be held accountable
for their actions. That is the eternal law as well as the temporal
law of the land. But we as citizens should be praying for those
who have gotten off the path and into the adversary’s grip. The
answer to the world’s evils is not only to lock up all evil, but
to love the offenders — give them hope, a reason to change.
I wonder how sad we will be when
we realize the true nature of our relationship to these our brothers
and sisters who chose evil in this life.
I so appreciated this article, and
agree that we need to approach all decisions with prayer, and
the guidance of the Holy Ghost. Thank you to Paul Bishop for
giving a gospel orientated look at the REAL things that are happening
in the world.
Becky Rapier
Duncan, Arizona
**
This points out a principle that
many people never learn and gives us some understanding (I think)
into the nature of our Heavenly Father and the doctrines of justice
and mercy. It is easy and proper to make a law or standard and
expect people to adhere to it. But, when faced with individuals
and their circumstances it is just as easy to be more merciful
than the law.
It still means we should have laws
and maintain standards for society; but, it also points out why
the Atonement is as individual as if I were the only one taking
advantage of it. It was carried out and is applied and administered
to individuals, not groups.
Todd Lillywhite
Murray, Utah
**
I love Brother Bishop's article.
It is full of wisdom that could only have been generated by an
extremely intelligent Latter-day Saint who has seen both sides
of life and has come through a fire — in this case, the fire of
the Spirit. When one is converted as an adult (whether one was
born in the Church or not), one KNOWS the difference that the
gospel brings — and Brother Bishop expresses that beautifully
and fervently.
Cynthia Skousen
Salt Lake City, Utah
**
Paul Bishop's article today is very
significant on how a faithful Latter-day Saint can deal with the
most negative side of life. Spiritually instructive. We tend
to view people as the good guys or the bad guys, but they are
all children of God. I like things that change my view of the
world. This article certainly does that!
Rodney Ross
Payson Arizona
**
I always enjoy reading the wisdom
of Paul Bishop. I appreciate his insights. I can always relate
to the points he makes and the help he gives with the challenge
to incorporate spiritual aspects into every day life. They (the
spiritual and the temporal) are of course inseparable, but I appreciate
his help with the learning curve. I plan to share his article
on the Ripples of Adult Conversion with my husband, who joined
the church when he was 34.
Allie Duffy
Salt Lake City, Utah
**
I absolutely love Paul Bishop's articles!
As a convert and a police officer, he knows about the "real
world" and can speak with authority about the difference
between sleaze and spirit. As a convert myself who spent a fair
amount of time in "sleazy" pursuits before my baptism,
I can relate to his enthusiasm for spiritual experiences and the
awe of knowing you are being spoken to by God. His stories are
rich with humanity, "true life", and the Spirit, and
it's wonderful to hear him relate his experiences with both criminals
and victims and how he is allowed to see them through the Lord's
eyes. I work for the Edmonton Police Service (not a police officer)
and know what they deal with, so I always look forward to his
articles. Can't wait for Part II of this article!
Claire Helmers
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
**** **** **** ****
Home Workout
Read Article Here
Why Do We Still Get Homework? By
Orson Scott Card
As a retired teacher I loved this
article and sent it to all my kids. When I was teaching, I always
planned the work so that if they used their class time wisely,
they would finish the work, but if they fooled around in class
they’d have to do it for homework. I knew how busy our lives
were and that the lives of my students and their families were
no different. I tried to get around the class while they were
working to make sure everyone understood the assignment. That’s
why it’s so important to have smaller classes. You can’t possibly
get around to check on 25-30 kids when they’re doing something
new.
The only homework assignments students
should have are:
As adults we wouldn’t like to work
eight hours at work and then bring work home to do. Kids need
time to be kids and just PLAY!
Laurel Holder Gallegos
Grand Junction, Colorado
**
Bravo! Homework is a waste of time
in my opinion. That is one reason we homeschool. We do our studies
in 2-4 hours per day, then we have the rest of the day to live
“in the real world” actually learning more than we could ever
learn in books. The “Classroom” work IS “Home-work”! J And once
it’s done, it’s done. The rest of the day is free for self-directed
learning, creativity, exploring, serving, working and enjoying
being a child and youth in spite of today’s world.
Teri Nine
Plano, Texas
**
I have said these things for years
and been frustrated by these archaic notions as I watched my children
suffering and us right along with them. My parents and my in-laws
were all teachers and I aspired to become a teacher as well, but
I feel very strongly that there are problems that have never been
fixed in the system, and your points in this article touched on
at least 60% of what has bothered me.
Thank you! If only for giving voice
to my own feelings and validating my thoughts, thank you.
Nancy Bauer
Sandy, Utah
**
I think it is important to realize
that in most cases it is not the teachers who are ultimately responsible
for the amount and quality of homework assigned. Since the federal
“No Child Left Behind” laws have been enacted, most teachers are
at the mercy of reform models that dictate the specific homework
required by every student each day. The districts often hire on-site
supervisors from the curriculum companies to closely monitor the
homework teachers are assigning (and grading), as well as everything
else they say and do in the course of a day. I would say that
most teachers probably feel the same about homework as Mr. Card
and the parents who have responded to his article do, but are
powerless to make changes. It is the parents who will have to
stand up and advocate for their rights as parents and for the
rights of their children to enjoy the blessings of childhood.
Kathy Gerlach
Cortez,Colorado
**
When my son was in kindergarten I
got a call at work from his teacher to tell me that he had not
done his homework. I told her that she had called the wrong mom
because I did not believe that 5-year-olds should have homework.
She impatiently explained to me that this would teach him responsibility
and I told her that it was my job to teach him responsibility
and that the only person that was supposedly learning her "responsibility"
was me. I was the one who needed to remember to have him color
his picture and get it into his backpack for the next day. I
was angry that this type of burden was being placed on our family
when he was just five years old.
I have had nine children and finally
have the last two in high school, and homework has been a nightmare
for me for over 20 years. Because my children have been in the
"gifted program" they have burdened with twice as much
homework as other students. When I complained to the school that
my children were doing five hours of homework a night they told
me that my children elected to take a more difficult course and
it would require this additional effort. Most of my children
could not play sports, take music lessons or socialize because
homework took over their lives.
This past summer we took a vacation
to attend our daughter's graduation from BYU, and our two youngest
children spent most of our vacation reading assigned books and
writing papers that were due before the beginning of the school
year. Our youngest daughter was assigned five books to read and
our son had four books and a chemistry project that was due by
the first day. He ended up dropping chemistry because there was
not enough time to get the project done between the time that
we returned home from vacation and our children started school
(one day).
I have seen my daughter spend the
entire night (not sleeping at all) in order to get a project done
that would meet the standards expected of a "gifted student."
I have seen a great increase in the amount of homework assigned
by the teachers in the last few years.
I teach early morning seminary, and
every one of students is exhausted from staying up until midnight
to get their homework done (especially on Mutual night) and then
waking up at 5:00 am to attend seminary. I see students who are
overburdened, tired and fed up with the amount of homework assigned
them. They said each teacher feels they have the right to assign
an hour per night, never considering that 5 or 6 other teachers
may do exactly the same thing.
I do not know how the kids are meeting
these demands except that I see more and more of them missing
Mutual, seminary, and not getting part-time jobs to help pay for
gas and dates, and giving up sports. Time with their families
is almost a joke.
I wish there were a movement I could
join to stop the insane amount of homework being given kids today.
A man a work tells me that he struggles with his 10-year-old for
hours every night to get him to his homework. He said that is
their relationship; he thought he would be doing different things
with his son like playing ball, going on bike rides or hiking.
Instead they do homework.
Melody Salisbury
Liberty Township (suburb
of Cincinnati), Ohio
**
My daughter, who earned a teaching
degree from ASU, marched into my granddaughter’s grade school
classroom and explained to the teacher that the homework load
was not age-appropriate.
Happily, this was Tony Tobin, http://www.greatschools.net/modperl/browse_school/ca/14133
, a crackerjack school with a human dynamo principle and miracle
worker teachers. The problem was resolved on the spot.
Kathy Green
Hayden Lake, Idaho
**
True, true, true — I agree 100% about
those art projects in academic classes: in his 9th grade algebra
class our older son spent several hours every night for 2 or 3
weeks building some sort of project on a big board. It was tedious,
time-consuming, and even expensive (wood, construction paper,
glue, several little jars of paint, etc.).
I can't remember what he built, but
my husband kept saying, "What in the world does this have
to do with math?!" He got an "A" on the project,
but we withdrew our son from school shortly after.
We found that both of our sons' in-school
work and homework were mostly a bunch of useless busywork. So
we started home schooling them and have never regretted it. School
was interfering with their education (as well as family time).
They learned more than twice as much in less than half the time
in home school.
Although my own schooling days were
long ago, I have vivid memories of long miserable nights slaving
away on homework. I was supposedly a "good" student
but I hated school with a passion. After being released from
"prison" at 3 p.m., I had to lug home a heavy backpack
full of homework — not exactly the stuff of happy memories.
Sally Davis
Bryan, Texas
**
I agree 100% with Orson Scott Card.
I have had the experience with my wife of playing "Good Cop/Bad
Cop" to get our children to do their homework. I have also
had some experience (not a lot, but enough) as a teacher, and
I have a degree in adult education. Here is the (in my not very
humble opinion) only reason for homework: Skill Building. If the
students demonstrate in class that they have learned the skill
or have obtained the desired concept, then NO HOMEWORK!!
David C. Mortensen
Pocatello, Idaho.
**
This article really struck a nerve
with me. Our family has lost excessive amounts of time to meaningless
homework that would have been better spent teaching personal values,
attending cultural events, etc. I live in California and my husband
and I have volunteered in the schools for years to support our
children in their educational activities.
Far too much classroom time is spent
indoctrinating our children into a culture that is alien to our
personal values; consequently, kids are getting sex ed, diversity
training, and character education at school while parents are
teaching history, math, language arts, and other school subjects
at home.
We finally shifted to a charter school/home
school program with our youngest, reasoning that if we were going
to be teaching anyway, we might as well do it at our convenience.
My son's test scores, always good, improved significantly, and
we didn't have to work around the clock to achieve meaningful
results. Most importantly, he is now trained to be a self-motivated
lifelong learner and finds joy in the process.
Jennifer Russell
Sacramento, California
**
Yes, yes, yes. It's about time someone
started questioning the stupidity of hours of homework!
I couldn't agree more. And that
is one of the reasons I teach my kids myself. They are in the
99th percentile, are done every day by 1:00 p.m., and have the
whole rest of the day to have a LIFE.
Michelle Duker
Ottumwa Iowa
**
I homeschool, but for eight years
my kids were in the public school system . I'm a widowed, working
mother. People ask me how I can homeschool when I have to work
full time. My answer: NO HOMEWORK! (and a helpful mother/grandma)
When I come home I can spend all of my time with my kids. (Love
at Home.)
We don't waste time on things the
kids already know. My kids are more engaged in their schoolwork
because they have an interest in what they're studying. They choose
the topic. When they've gleaned all they can from one topic,
we move on. The public school system could do the same if they
cut out all the unnecessary busywork and testing that the state
imposes on them. Teachers could work with students of all levels
because the student who already understood can help the students
that don't. This would foster an attitude of caring for one another
(less school violence). Teachers would be less stressed and wouldn't
suffer from burnout. They may even start to dare I say
it — love their jobs.
The result would be (drum roll, please)
harmony (angels singing). Sometimes you need to simplify (busywork,
testing, assemblies, fundraisers, HOMEWORK) in order to live better.
This was a topic that seriously needed to be addressed and Mr.
Card did it so well.
Sherri Overby
Lehi, Utah
P.S. My kids would love to play
with their friends right now. But they're all doing homework.
**
Thank you for putting into words
EXACTLY what we have realized as we have raised our seven children.
We didn't start homeschooling them until our oldest was in 10th
grade and our youngest was in kindergarten, so we definitely experienced
every one of the things you mentioned. One of the greatest freedoms
we felt as a family as we left the public school system six years
ago was the ability to kiss homework goodbye and let our children
have a LIFE. (Sorry about the caps, but this article nailed our
experience perfectly.)
They work hard, but by early afternoon,
it's play, play, play and create, create, create, or read, read,
read and spend time together as a family; without Mom and Dad
playing drill sergeant. What a boon to family relationships.
Our kids are all their own best friends
now. No one else can play. Everyone else has homework. EVEN
in the summer! Our high school niece spent our combined families'
annual camping trip with cousins reading for an assignment due
the first day of school. Her brother had to spend his last two
weeks of a continually diminishing summer vacation completing
assignments and projects that would be due his first day back
to school.
It is true. Homework wrecks families
and kills students. (And by the way, sacrificing all that extra
homework didn't slow our kids down a bit. The first one out the
door got a scholarship to BYU-Idaho, and the second one just received
a 4-year scholarship to BYU.)
Preferring to remain Anonymous
**
I would like to draw your attention
to the Home School movement. A typical day for us contains approximately
4 hours of actual school. Our philosophy is school is life, and
life is school, so we are always learning, the children just don't
always know it.
Today is October 12th, Columbus Day.
We were in the car, driving to Utah, on the way to Colorado for
a wedding. We read a short article about Columbus, and talked
about his spiritual side, and how the storms of the adversary
tried for 15 days to keep them from returning to their home port.
That was school for today, and will probably be the most we do
for several days before we return home on the 18th. No homework
required.
The institutionalized schools monopolized
our family to such a degree, that two of our daughters are lost
"to the world" for now. Through fervent prayer, we received
the answer that homeschool was right for the other 5. We have
not looked back.
I encourage you to research this
area, and see that there really IS a better way. There are so
many quotes from Prophets and Apostles that actually support this
avenue, that they were hard for me to ignore.
I know this was not the focus of
your article, but I wanted you to know that we are happily oblivious
to the homework headaches, and follow in the footsteps of our
ancient and not so ancient ancestors, educating our own and loving
having our children around us.
Jeannetta Stokes
Roseburg Oregon
**
With reference to the article on
homework, I can agree 100% with the views of the author Orson
Scott Card, and feel school homework should be abolished.
I have four children, two with learning
difficulties. My two children with learning difficulties (reading,
writing and remembering). They have a hard enough time doing their
normal school work without being bombarded with homework too.
It does nothing but cause stress for them. I have spoken to their
form teachers about how homework affects my children and our family
time — they listened, sort of acted on it, then forgot it, and
homework started to roll in again.
It's not only homework that can cause
problems and stress; I feel school detentions too are very much
overused. With stories I've had from my own children about school
detention, I feel some teachers use it as a form of TOTAL CONTROL.
My daughter for example, had hiccups in class and I couldn't believe
it when she told me her teacher placed her name on the blackboard
for it. If her name was circled because she still didn't stop,
she was threatened with detention. Talk about dictatorship.
And to get one more grunt off my
chest, I feel school children are in many instances are also abused
without teachers even realizing it. I'm talking about those moments
of excessive shouting and fits of temper towards a child or class.
Surely, that's a form of abuse. My youngest son, who has recently
moved up to junior school used to enjoy his time at school. But
in his new school he has found some teachers shout to excess,
which has destroyed his love of school. He has even asked to stay
home on some days.
I have complained about the detention
and shouting issue on more than one occasion, even as recently
as a month ago, but all they seem to say is, “Sorry, we will see
what we can do.”
If you have no objections, I would
like to print off a few copies of the homework article and hand
them out to a few schools in my area — just to see what response
I get.
Ron Larter
United Kingdom
**
Wow! What a thought-provoking article.
I loved it and it made super sense to me as a parent who had a
relationship with a daughter ruined because of homework. It took
years to rebuild. I agree with everything you've said in the
article.
Lida Larkin
Las Vegas. Nevada
**
Very insightful article! I share
your feeling about the holy institution of homework. My daughters
who are in their late 30's were given somewhat useful assignments,
but my son (who is now 23) had a totally different experience.
He was given the insane assignment of "creating a country"
by his teacher in the gifted class he was in (4th grade). One
of the children created his own dictatorship and received a great
grade because he did all the "art" that was involved.
My son received an average grade because his art work was not
as good. Needless to say, the next year he was back in regular
school. The homework continued to be mostly meaningless and time
consuming because he understood things so quickly and was ready
to move on but couldn't because everyone hadn’t understood. One
teacher actually was on top of things enough to have Erik choose
his own words to memorize for spelling, some of which she didn't
know herself. She was his favorite teacher!
We solved the homework situation
by starting in the 7th grade to homeschool. We had a much better
experience with homework after that because we did school work
during certain parts of the day and then did fun and interesting
activities where Erik actually had some choice. We also learned
biology, chemistry and algebra. He loved biology because we actually
dissected a piglet and a heart at home. I taught my granddaughter
& Erik together and what fun they had boasting about their
dissecting adventure with the kids in regular school. His US
history was taught from the book The Making of America.
Thank You for all you do in your
writing. We enjoy your books. I think we have read most of them.
Annette Anderson
Redmond, Washington
**
Scott - this is something that I've
had strong feelings on for quite some time. I don't have children
yet (my husband and I are adopting in Russia), but I have watched
as my friends go through this exact scene every day. Then to
top it off is the drama of the morning when the kids hate school
and don't want to go and cry and such. We really need to make
some changes somehow to make the learning more effective, and
more memorable.
Another invasion of family life is
school sports. Kids get benched for going on a family vacation
in July when school and football don't begin until September.
Or they can't go skiing with the family or the basketball coach
won't play them. The football team is lifting weights or conditioning
all year long. All summer long. There are basketball tournaments
through all of Christmas break.
My question is, what for? How many
of these kids are really going to play in college or even go pro?
But we allow the coaches and the schools to dictate again our
family time. Youth miss activities and family home evening, scripture
study, and temple trips —
usually for conditioning, not practice. In our school system
they can have "conditioning" practices and that does
not go against the rules of having practices. So in the fall
the football team conditions every morning even Saturday at 5:30
then the kids have a three- hour practice after school. Throw
in homework and life is over. They stay up until midnight or later
finishing up all their assignments and then get up at 5:00 again
to be at conditioning.
Now I need to tell you that I love
sports. I played soccer and basketball in high school and had
a blast. But then it was good competition, hard practices and
we still had time to have a job and do homework. I went on family
vacations, and skiing. I had a job and wasn't benched for it.
I know kids who've had that happen to them.
So
maybe you could write an article about all of this and find a
way to help balance our lives even more.
Thank
you for your articles (and I love your books).
Casey
Boise, Idaho
**** **** **** ****
Going Solo
Read Article Here
After Divorce: A Life Still Sublime,
by Kathryn Jenkins
Thank
you for the wonderful article on divorce. Years ago I don't think
it would have been “broad cast.” There are many of us who followed
the yellow brick road and thought marriage meant walking together
forever. The author was tender and real. Her article touched
me deeply. Thank you so much for sharing it. She's an inspiration!
Name withheld by request
**
Great
article! It really encapsulated many of the same feelings that
I have had over the years since my divorce.
Beautifully
written.
Trish Henrie,
Orem, Utah
**
I
am so delighted to see this article in Meridian. Please tell Kathyrn
Jenkins that she is my hero. I had my temple marriage of almost
27 years end in divorce also. I have never found another LDS woman
married so long to whom this has happened. It is so painful and
so hard that even after remarriage one sometimes feels the loss
so strongly that it becomes hard to go on and find life to be
"still sublime."
I
am thankful for this forum and articles like this that inspire
those of us whose paths are not the norm. I absorbed every word
and truly understand what the author has written at a level only
those who have had this experience can possibly know. Thank you,
Kathryn, for your honesty and sharing your pain in order to inspire
hope for those few who know this awful heartache.
Patricia Stainbrook
Monterey, California
**
What
a lovely, and loving, and moving article. I wish she lived in
my ward, because I'm not sure whether to high-five her, hug her,
or just hand her some of my brownies.
I
did make the minor mistake of reading this after I had cleared
my desk at work and before I went to lunch. You should have printed
a "sniffles warning" so I'd have known to wait and read
it at home. On the other hand, I have a friend who is devoutly
Christian and was divorced within the past year, and I gave her
a copy (with the warning I wish I'd had).
I
do hope we'll be hearing more from Sister Jenkins.
Lynn Elliott Cary
Arlington, Texas
**** **** **** ****
Sense of Direction
Read Article Here
My Son Came Home Early From His
Mission: Becoming a Tender Mercy of the Lord
I
thought this was a beautiful article. I would like to thank the
author for his time and message. It's too bad that he feels he
needs to withhold his name. The article said exactly what is
in my heart — I believe a lot of people feel this way but the
"norms" and "expectations" are very difficult
to break. This article is a step in the right direction.
Janna Bateman Dean
Provo, Utah.
**** **** **** ****
