Move Over Stacy.. It's Akua's Turn - a guest take on the YW manuals

Well, it's that time of year again... time to get all nostalgic about packing away Manual #3 tenderly in the plastic peanuts until 2011, and instead bring out Manual #1. This year we have the much-touted new supplement for the YW manual (in lieu of a new manual, mind you). I got my hands on it on Sunday, and I have to say it didn't live up to its hype. Yes, it will give the hidebound literalists written permission to depart from The Manual now and again, and it draws on current educational theory by asking several "essential questions" for each lesson. But it doesn't do what today's guest asks it to do, which is update the stories, or at least diversify the names. Natalie is a YW president in an urban ward in PA. Thanks Natalie for the post, and keep 'em coming.

She writes...

I feel a rant about the general usefulness of the YW teaching manual is in order. I am currently a YW leader in a city ward. Over half of our girls are from families that are refugees from the civil war in Liberia. All but a couple are recent converts to the church. Similarly, all but a couple face serious economic challenges, and live in areas of our city that members of the “suburb” wards won’t step a foot into. Putting together a 30-minute lesson that will be meaningful and realistic for these girls is hard enough for me. Unfortunately, I’ve sometimes found that its easier to teach them when I ignore the manual and improvise my own lessons.

A few weeks ago, I was supposed to teach a lesson about “Encouraging Enjoyable Family Activities”. One of the discussion topics was this scenario: “Paula has her work schedule for the week. She has only one night off. Her father is planning to take the family to a special cultural event that night, but Paula is planning to go to a show with her friends.” Okay girls, what should she do? Duh! I feel like this “story” and other fictional stories and scenarios like it add very little to the lesson. My girls are dealing with gun violence in their neighborhoods, drug abuse in their families, divorcing parents, failing schools, health problems, etc. etc. etc., and I’m supposed to read them some made up story about how Nancy, John, and Tim made a nice meal for their mom and fixed all the family’s problems? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!

I definitely alter the lessons to fit my girls and their needs. As someone who was a young woman not that long ago, I remember the meaningless fake stories with trite happy endings. Last week, I taught about family unity. For some reason, they included another sugary sweet made up story. I just couldn’t bear to have it read aloud and then to have its overly didactic morals analyzed by girls that are much smarter than the manual gives them credit for. So instead, I talked about the Jaredites and their boats. I talked about how the boats were “tight like unto a dish” just like our families should be, and how that tightness is what helped them overcome the winds and the waves (read: life’s challenges) and pushed them towards the promised land (read: eternal salvation). Instead of a trite little story, we had a deep experience with exploring the scriptures. I definitely think it is appropriate to use your own inspiration, being called to be a teacher, to convey the lesson your audience needs.

I am also a youth seminary teacher. I am disheartened often by how shallow the YW lessons are compared to the spiritual depth we reach in seminary. They rarely delve seriously into doctrine, and are scarcely even focused on the fundamentals of the Gospel - like the Atonement of Christ. I get a spiritual high off of thinking up and teaching my seminary lessons that are taken completely from the scriptures, and it is just disappointing to open the YW manual and read something that I feel is devoid of real meaning. (Often, not always.)

At times, I get very frustrated about the church materials that seem to apply solely to the Wasatch Front. All the made-up people have names like Ann, Susan, or Mary. What about Oretha, Remel, Decontee, and Blessing? To have a truly worldwide church, we need some truly worldwide materials to work with. My own coping mechanism is to adapt the lessons as much as I need to, as long as I stay within doctrinal bounds. The point of the lessons is to help the girls. If the lesson is dumb (and sorry, but some of them are) it’s not going to be very helpful.

Just my (fervent) two cents.

Well, what do you say, ladies? Have at it.

Lesson 3-47 "Messages of Latter-day Prophets"

I'm curious about how many of our readers are actually using this lesson? Each week I read the blog stats about what Google searches you used to find our blog, and that gives me only a vague sense of which lesson you are on. Many of you are probably not going to be using every lesson. I assume that you'll all be doing a Christmas lesson this week, yes? And then one more lesson before the end of the year? In our ward, that "one more lesson" will be lesson 47, which invites you to remind the girls of what counsel the prophets have given to youth.

The manual lesson is based on President Benson's talk in the 1986 General Women's Meeting for girls 10+, YW and RS (I was a Mia Maid at the time, that's how long ago THAT was), which contains some of the exact same language and counsel as his talk to youth in the April 1986 General Conference priesthood session, "To Youth of the Noble Birthright." The Church's supplemental material for this lesson recommends that you start with (or perhaps substitute??) a more current talk, President Monson's "Be Thou an Example," from the April 2005 Young Women's broadcast. I suppose they could have just said in the manual that for lesson 47, you should find and prayerfully adapt a recent talk for youth by the current prophet.

The main elements of President Monson's 2005 talk are

• You have a heritage; honor it.

• You will meet temptation; withstand it.

• You know the truth; live it.

• You possess a testimony; share it.

Love this - just so simple and straightforward, easy to adapt to any group. I'll just leave you to do that while I go off on a tangent.

It strikes me as noteworthy that instead of saying in lesson 47 something like "please prayerfully choose a recent talk by your current prophet" like they do for the HT/VT lessons in May and November, the anonymous curriculum people left President Benson's mid-1980s talk in the manual. Now, why? - maybe as an example of how to adapt a talk into a lesson, you say? Well, no, those instructions are in "lesson 48." Is it just because it's like that box in your attic you keep conveniently forgetting to clean out, and they've just never got around to it because the manuals haven't been revised or significantly overhauled since the late 1980s? That seems pretty likely, actually. I want to know who the curriculum people are. I imagine a boardroom in the Church Office Building with a bunch of suits around the table, maybe with a token pink suit or two. But maybe President Benson's talk is still there because what he had to say seemed especially valuable, no matter who is the prophet? Are prophetic counsels generic and timeless like that, or are they linked to who said them and the time period he said them for?

Anyway, reading this talk got me thinking about President Benson and my experiences with him. President Benson loved to tell the youth that we were especially valiant spirits who had been reserved for the latter days, and that we were engaged in a battle to the death between good & evil. We were his royal army.

Benson was a dedicated Cold Warrior himself, a public servant in the Eisenhower administration, and a forthright anticommunist crusader throughout his whole life. He was the prophet during my teenage years, so I took for granted that the Lord's political party must be Republican and that the Lord's politics must be far-right - in fact I assumed that God himself must have orchestrated it so that Benson would be the prophet during the Reagan years, so that there would be an inherent congruence of political and religious messages in the United States (I grew up in a red state, let's put it that way). Benson authored patriotic books like God, Family, Country: Our Three Great Loyalties, This Nation Shall Endure, and The Constitution: Heavenly Banner, as well as the anticommunist political tract An Enemy Hath Done This in 1969. It took me long into my adult years to figure out that all of our prophets have politics and personalities. It took even longer for me to be comfortable with the idea that I could love and sustain a prophet while not agreeing with his politics. I guess in an odd way, that's something I learned from President Benson, and it's turned out to be a valuable and useful life lesson.

LDS (-Themed) Private HS - a good idea?

No, it's not a church school in same way that some of our church-run schools in the Pacific islands are. But it claims to provide a LDS-centered private HS education at a reasonable price, and it just scored a new building. Here's the article - see for yourself.

It's Pleasant Grove UT's Liahona Preparatory Academy, founded by Brent and Kolleen DeGraff. DeGraff is described on the UHEA website as "passionate about history and the principles of freedom. His credentials include Instructor for the Church Education System, International Director of Schools for the Center For Educational Restoration, Operations Director and Distance Learning Coordinator for the Center For Alternative Education. He also co-hosted the weekly radio show "Education Circus" on KSTAR. " Liahona Prep is doing very well, with 185 on-site students, and a distance-education enrollment of 1850. That last number made me curious - is that another way of saying homeschoolers? Where do they live? How "distant" is distant? Later in the article it suggests they are "conservative families around the nation."

Conservative, indeed, and I would say quite outside the educational mainstream - the Civics texts are H. Verlan Anderson's The Book of Mormon and the Constitution and Threads of Liberty, authored by DeGraff himself. He also wrote the history textbook, with the sexist title Wise Men Raised Up. The Junior science text is Christian Kids Explore Earth and Space; nearly all the books on the list are self-published by Liahona Publications.

What I want to know is, how an entire school based on self-published books that appear to be the philosophies of men of the political far right, mingled with scripture, has earned the term "LDS-themed" from the press? Hey, stop libeling my faith by using it to mis-label shoddy, financially shaky and pedagogically unsound experiments! And please, save me from a future facing my college classroom of young people "educated" under such a system.

While there's value in comparing gospel values with those of any particular form of government, I just do not see the benefit of only learning US (or any other country's) history through one single religious perspective. I live in what Diana Eck has called the most religiously plural society on earth, and I've got to get along with all of them. And if I wanted to send my kids to a private school I would sure as heck choose one that broadened their horizons instead of simply reinforced church teachings, and introduced them to the best that literature, science, history, and every other academic field had to offer, rather than to the singular rantings of an uncredentialed CES instructor. But that's just me.

More discussion on it here and here.

Lesson 3-46 "Money Management"

Well, this one is certainly timely and relevant. Both because of the current financial crisis, at least part of which is attributable to poorly-managed personal and corporate finances, and because of the season, in which people often get in over their pocketbooks and rack up vile amounts of consumer debt.

I don’t think you really need advice from me about how to teach YW to be good financial managers. I posted a bit about this last year and I think a checkbook-balancing exercise (or instruction in using a computer budget/home money management program like Quicken) would be super-practical.

I loved the heading “The Lord Has Given Sound Financial Advice.” That made Him sound like Charles Schwab. Of course what the lesson means is that LDS Church leaders have given a lot of counsel about staying out of debt, off the dole, and within your means over the years, since Jesus is not actually referenced or quoted in any of the lesson's six principles of financial management. (Of course, being human, some church leaders have endorsed financial institutions outright, & Mormons are noted for having gotten involved in various rather reckless financial schemes too). I have heard quoted in church several times that Utah has the highest rate of personal bankruptcy filings, but I haven't been able to confirm that independently (American Bankruptcy Institute stats from 2006 have Georgia as #1 and Utah down at #31, and CreditCards.com's map of 2007 and 2008 filings seems to suggest that post-industrial economies of the Deep South and steel belt are the hardest hit, not the Mormon Culture Region). Nevada is currently tops in the rate of home foreclosures, with Utah down around #16. I think it's fascinating that Mormons tell ourselves we are among the worst offenders in finances, when that doesn't seem to be the case - except anecdotally.

The basic principles of current church counsel are clear: put spiritual things first; be generous in giving to the Lord in time and resources; live within your means; avoid unnecessary debt; be a wise steward of your money; and avoid being dependent on a government for the means of your support. Undoubtedly some of this thinking draws from the Depression-era experiences of our church leaders' childhoods - hard-won lessons in thrift, hard work, entrepreneurship, faith in capitalism, and terror of the dole.

Jesus's financial advice, by my reckoning, is actually somewhat enigmatic and includes the following stories to puzzle over:

Matthew 17:24-27
24 And when they were come to Capernaum, they that received tribute money came to Peter, and said, Doth not your master pay tribute?
25 He saith, Yes. And when he was come into the house, Jesus prevented him, saying, What thinkest thou, Simon? of whom do the kings of the earth take custom or tribute? of their own children, or of strangers?
26 Peter saith unto him, Of strangers. Jesus saith unto him, Then are the children free.
27 Notwithstanding, lest we should offend them, go thou to the sea, and cast an hook, and take up the fish that first cometh up; and when thou hast opened his mouth, thou shalt find a piece of money: that take, and give unto them for me and thee.

(In other words, unless you stretch the interpretation that the fishing was work, there's something rather haphazard or even magical about how the money was obtained, and a certain level of indifference towards tax obligations)

Matthew 25:26-29 (in the parable of the ten talents, an allegory of the Second Coming, but presumably also indicative about some elements of financial practices in Jesus’s day & time)

26 His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed:
27 Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury.
28 Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents.
29 For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath.

(Usury was condemned by Islam, Hinduism, and early Christians, and often used as a charge against Jews, but here the master punishes his servant for not earning enough interest on the investment).

John 2: 13-16
13 And the Jews’ passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem,
14 And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting:
15 And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew the tables;
16 And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise.

(So, should I be even mildly uncomfortable about the Beehive Distribution center in the basement of my temple?)

Mark 10: 24-27

23 And Jesus looked round about, and saith unto his disciples, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!

24 And the disciples were astonished at his words. But Jesus answereth again, and saith unto them, Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God!

25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.

26 And they were astonished out of measure, saying among themselves, Who then can be saved?

27 And Jesus looking upon them saith, With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible.

Mark 6: 7-8
7 And he called unto him the twelve, and began to send them forth by two and two…
8 And commanded them that they should take nothing for their journey, save a staff only; no scrip, no bread, no money in their purse...

Which for me, all raises some interesting questions. Just what DID Jesus himself say about money and financial management? And how have LDS leaders interpreted what he said? And what have our more recent leaders given as counsel for our times? And is there value in trying to understand what Jesus said & did during his lifetime, or only in reiterating current counsel?

One idea: I know a group of women (and fMh does this too) who pool some money for a Kiva.org micro-loan. This might be a very instructive & useful activity for a YW group, and they needn't put in much - even $5 or $10 if gathered from a dozen girls would be more than enough to make a loan to someone. They can decide who it should go to, track that person's progress, and once the money returns, re-invest it. The return on their investment isn't guaranteed, but it's almost always repaid, and it may help your girls understand how people make good financial decisions and how money that would have gone for frivolities can make a positive difference in the world.

News flash: Virtue is now the 8th YW Value

The leaders were buzzing about this in the hall today... although the word hadn't gotten to us in time to make the change this week, there is an 8th value: Virtue. This change was made in a First Presidency letter dated Nov 28 and we should change the theme accordingly effective immediately. The letter is not to be read in Sacrament Meeting, I take it, but distributed through P-hood channels and down through ward councils to YW leaders. It's to be said at the end of the current list, and we'll be getting information about adding Virtue projects to Personal Progress to incorporate the value. Its color will be gold.

Based on Melissa's comment to my last post, I gather that other wards knew about this sooner & got a head start on making a big fun deal out of it. We did give out golden ribbons after Sister Dalton's talk on the second Sunday in October and I know our girls have hung them in various places as personal banners to the world. Mine is tied to the visor of my car - it's a wide silk ribbon and my husband says that when he sees it out of the corner of his eye it looks like I stuck a banana peel there. But I like to see it there, even though it doesn't flutter in the wind.
(photo of the General YW presidency from lds.org).

It was funny, one of my Laurels said she was surprised they could change the YW program, just like that. I told her that's the beauty of being in a church based on revelation & inspiration - anything could change at any time. The fact that things usually don't change shouldn't make us complacent that they can't. Not that this is a big change, but it does mean new opportunities, a bit of scrambling, and probably some fumbles in saying the theme for a few weeks. I think it's a good change.

How else will you celebrate the addition of a new value?

And why are we the only place in the Bloggernacle talking about this? (Oh: right, because fMh's post on her talk back in October raked the idea of "virtue" over pretty well already).

Lesson 3-45 "Choosing a Vocation"

What, you thought these manuals weren't progressive? Sometimes you doubted that they deal with subjects of relevance to millennials and digital natives? You were deceived by the pinkness of the cover and the sentimentality of the stories into thinking that Mormonism had abandoned its lengthy heritage of commitment to women's educational, vocational, and political advancement? Well, bless your heart. You were so, so wrong.

Oh, wait. I spoke too soon. I started singing the "Sister Suffragette" song from Mary Poppins ("cast off the shackles of yesterday... shoulder to shoulder into the fray...") and marching around the room before I read the lesson. But by paragraph 2, I have been put firmly back in my place:

"Explain that as women, the class members should have two vocations in mind: first, being a homemaker; and second, doing something that will allow them to earn money to support a family if that should become necessary. Many women also find that before they are married or after the children are reared, there is time to be productive in a vocation."

President Howard W. Hunter is quoted in 1975: "There are impelling reasons for our sisters to plan toward employment. … We want them to obtain all the education and vocational training possible before marriage. If they become widowed or divorced and need to work, we want them to have dignified and rewarding employment. If a sister does not marry, she has every right to engage in a profession that allows her to magnify her talents and gifts."

I know that not everyone will agree, but I would just say boldly that the modifying clause at the beginning of that last sentence should be dropped at this point in time. And I mean no disrepect to President Hunter or any other church leader. But I believe we should update our language not just because of current financial uncertainty, but as an unequivocal recognition of the inherent value of all women. Each person of both genders should reach her/his own fullest potential and contribute to the greater good according to her/his abilities, talents, circumstances, and desires. "A sister has every right to engage in a profession that allows her to magnify her talents and gifts" PERIOD. Regardless of her marital status or whether she is a mother.

Of course, having the "right" to do that, and making it work in practice, are two completely different things. It's hard, very very hard, to develop & advance in a career while childbearing and childrearing, especially if you are a single parent or are supporting your family on your income. But it's also hard, very very hard, to re-enter a career or start training for one later in life when children are older or if your family circumstances suddenly change. I would love to hear from people in countries with more supportive parenting policies in place than the US. In many fields women are still not experiencing employment parity & corporate/federal policies are often stacked against succeeding in balancing work and family. People talk a lot about career "stages" for women, but not all fields really lend themselves to easy access ramps for graceful exit and re-entry. In my field (academia), we've worked hard for policies that encourage the participation of women at various life stages, but the reality is that you get on a mommy track or an advancement track, and it's just tough all around (Mama PhD is a good blog for that, by the way).

So I guess a frank discussion of that issue would serve young women well. That should be one of the guidelines in the lesson to consider, along with "learning about ourselves" and "learning about vocations." Sometimes YW have an unrealistic idea that choosing a vocation is just about following their bliss, but they need to consider the practical side too & make a plan for themselves (not just one that is contingent on marriage & having kids).

We are lucky in our ward to have two women who are HS guidance counselors, so we have an abundance of riches when it comes to good examples of career women who are totally plugged into school & career options. In one recent career planning night for the Laurels, they brought stacks of resources, handouts, parachute-color quizzes, all to help the girls broaden their horizons on what their future possibilities could be, and how to realistically plan to train for the career they want. But if you don't have the pros to draw on, some places you could point them include:

Quintcareers.com

College Board.com - especially the "My Road" section

JobDoggy.com - aimed at teens getting their first job, but written by teens for teens

Career Planning - overview of the process on About.com - here's another similar one

Princeton Review Career Quiz - does ask you to register, free, but YW should do this anyway to use their online tools

Career Interest Game - developed by University of Missouri Career Center


One little article I liked was "Ten Myths about Choosing a Career" by Dawn Rosenberg McKay - the myths are:

1. Choosing a career is simple
2. A career counselor can tell me what occupation to pick
3. I can't make a living from my hobby
4. I should choose a career from a "Best Careers" list
5. Making a lot of money will make me happy
6. Once I choose a career I'll be stuck in it forever
7. If I change careers my skills will go to waste
8. If my best friend (or sister, uncle, or neighbor) is happy in a particular field, I will be too
9. All I have to do is pick an occupation... Things will fall into place after that
10. There's very little I can do to learn about an occupation without actually working in it

I also really like that the lesson title uses the word "vocation" rather than "career." Somehow vocation, to me, implies a lifelong passion for something, which you are likely to pursue or follow in some form even if you're not getting paid for it at all stages of your life - something you want to contribute to the world, something that brings you joy and fulfillment. Motherhood does that too, and motherhood is a vocation, and a worthy one, but not the only possible one. While, to me, career seems more commercial, more instrumental, the "job" you hold rather than the person you are.

What are your thoughts? I think that in some ways like the chastity lessons, the way we talk about education, employment & lifelong career development can make a big difference for the young women we teach - and can be almost as fraught with emotion & ambivalence among the leaders.