Friday, June 10, 2011

Will This Be On The Test?

In my (so very many) years of education and as a teaching assistant, the question most frequently asked regardless of the course subject was "Will this be on the test?"  This question nearly made my head explode.  Why should it even matter?  Are we not in school to learn? Should we not just want to know? Or, is it really all about the grades?  Well, to many students, it IS just about the grades.  But, ask me how many times I heard a professor say, "No, I'm just running my mouth up here for my own amusement." Not once. 

This sort of reminds me of the oft-given answer to "difficult" questions one might ask about church history or doctrine. "It's not pertinent to your salvation."  Well, fuck me, but I'm the 'A' student sitting in the front of the classroom frantically writing notes then spending hours studying and trying to make connections and understand concepts.  Are we supposed to be worrying only about our salvation, or are we supposed to be preparing to be gods/goddesses ourselves? Does Heavenly Father waste His time?  Or, are we meant to actually understand all of the given knowledge pertinent to eternity?  I'm adding this to the list of mixed messages the Church is so keen on giving.  Seek knowledge and drink your milk.

"We consider that God has created man with a mind capable of instruction, and a faculty which may be enlarged in proportion to the heed and diligence given to the light communicated from heaven to the intellect; and that the nearer man approaches perfection, the clearer are his views, and the greater his enjoyments, till he has overcome the evils of his life and lost every desire for sin; and like the ancients, arrives at that point of faith where he is wrapped in the power and glory of his Maker, and is caught up to dwell with Him." Joseph Smith, History of the Church, 2:8.