BYU

Today, I went to civ class. It opened like this:
"Did you all read the reading assignments for today?"
{faint murmuring}
And that was my cue to look the reading assignments up online and glance through them.

The first one was several statements by the first presidency on war. Knowing I could fend myself if I was called on to explain the view of the church on war, I downloaded the second reading assignment first. It is publicly available here: http://unicomm.byu.edu/president/documents/kimball.htm. This speech describes the vision of President Kimball for BYU.

Here are some highlights:

• On studies: "This time of intellectual testing must also be a time of equivalent testing and flexing in things spiritual too."
  


• "The uniqueness of Brigham Young University lies in its special role--education for eternity--which it must carry in addition to the usual tasks of a university. This means concern--curricular and behavioral--not only for the "whole man," but also for the "eternal man." Where all universities seek to preserve the heritage of knowledge that history has washed to their feet, this faculty has a double heritage--the preserving of knowledge of men and the revealed truths sent from heaven.
  While all universities seek to push back the frontiers of knowledge further and further, this faculty must do that and also keep new knowledge in perspective, so that the avalanche of facts does not carry away saving, exalting truths from the value systems of our youth."
  


• On Teaching at BYU: "This university is not the place for mercenaries. The Revolutionary War was lost by the British, partly because they employed mercenaries to fight for them. But the winning colonists had a real cause. If your salary, which we hope is adequate, should be incidental and your grand and magnificent obsession would be the youth and their growth, their vision, their development, I would hope that each of you in joy and peace and satisfaction would continue to lift the souls and carry forward the character-building program."


• "Our Brigham Young insisted, 'Learn everything that the children of men know, and be prepared for the most refined society upon the face of the earth, then improve on this until we are prepared and permitted to enter the society of the blessed--the holy angels that dwell in the presence of God.'"

So basically, I'm pretty humbled to be have been chosen to study here. I hope to be able to contribute to the prestige and success of BYU. Perhaps I should be doing better with my reading assignments...