A wide array of studies of respected institutions, unconnected with the LDS Church, confirms the “fruits of Mormonism” in many areas including the following: Charity, Youth Development, Health, Longevity, Mormon Women’s Political Firsts, Education, Science, Observations of Guru Peter Drucker.
Part 6: Education
To understand the dynamic and positive impact of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) on people’s lives, it is important to understand the LDS emphasis on learning in general and on science in particular. This is underscored by a few examples.
LDS are repeatedly urged to “seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom; seek learning, even by study and also by faith,” and to “study and learn, and become acquainted with all good books, and with languages, tongues and people.”
The first Church President, Joseph Smith, made it clear that “One of the grand fundamental principles of ‘Mormonism’ is to receive truth, let it come from whence it may.” He emphasized: “We should gather all the good and true principles in the world and treasure them up, or we shall not come out true ‘Mormons’.”
(For citations for these quotes see my article on www.fruitsofmormonism.com)
Intuitively, people might suspect that sacrificing so much time and resources for the Gospel would interfere with the ability to gain a good education and earn a decent income. However, the Bible, as well as the Book of Mormon, promise blessings to those who adhere to God’s commandments. This is demonstrated by the fact that a one fifth higher share, 60%, of Mormons obtained higher education than the national average. For Mormons born in the Church, where they have typically had education emphasized from their infancy, 64% had higher education. This is 28% higher than for the general population. Also, whereas 48% of American households have income from all sources of $50,000 or higher, the figure for Mormons is 54% — which is 12 % higher than the general population. The Mormons are also somewhat higher than the averages of most of the other Christian traditions, both Protestant and Catholic. This data was developed by The Pew U.S. Religious Landscape Survey (2007) of the Pew Forum on Religious & Public Life.
Utah, which has always been predominantly Mormon with its deep rooted commitment to education, has, over the years, been at or near the top in the average number of years of education attained by its citizens.
- For example, it was reported in 1984 that Utah was highest of the 50 states in the “median number of school years completed by adult population”, with 12.8 years. Utah was also first in “percentage of adult population with high school diploma.” (Deseret News: Church News, June 10, 1984, p. 3.)
- Despite an influx of immigrants into Utah, it continued to be high. In October 1995, with 90.2 percent of adults age 25 and over having high school diplomas, Utah was fourth highest of the fifty states. (Interview with Pattie Bowles, Utah Board of Education, May 6, 1998.)
- In 1994, Utah was the top state in both Advance Placement Exams taken, and those passed for college credit, in relation to the number of high school students-and Utah is consistently at or near the top. (“Utah and National Advanced Placement Performance, 1994″, prepared by Utah State Office of Education.)
- A study showed that in 1996 Utah tied North Carolina for the highest percentage of high school students who took upper level mathematics classes. (Education Week: Quality Counts ’98, January 8 1998, p. 79.)
- In a 2006 study, Utah ranked 3rd in the nation for passing AP tests, and they continued to rank among the top in percentage of high school graduates. (Deseret News, February 8, 2006)
Over the decades, the deep rooted Mormon commitment to education has produced some remarkable accomplishments. A few illustrations follow:
Science magazine in 1974 published a study of those who had obtained Ph.D.’s from 1920 to 1961 and the institutions from which they had obtained their baccalaureate degrees. The productivity of each state in preparing future scholars was calculated. Utah ranked first of all states in overall production of scholars. Significantly, it ranked 30 percent higher than the second highest state, Iowa. In sub-categories, Utah ranked first in producing future Ph.D.’s in social sciences, first in biological sciences, second in education, third in physical sciences, and sixth in the arts and professions. (Kenneth R. Hardy, “Social Origins of American Scientists and Scholars,” Science 185; Aug. 9, 1974: 497-506.) (Sorry the words on the graph are hard to read. However, it shows that Utah’s rate of production of future Ph.D.’s was about double the average of the other States.) This leading production of scholars is one of the most remarkable examples of the fruits of Mormonism.
In the industrialized world, the growing influence of higher education, and particularly of science have generally caused a decline in religious faith and activity. Just as one example in England only about five percent of the adult members of the Church of England attend even annual Easter services. (Stan L. Albrecht, “The Consequential Dimension of Mormon Religiosity,” Distinguished Faculty Lecture, BYU, February 15, 1989, p. 28.) Albrecht’s findings are that higher education appears to have minimal deteriorating effects on Mormons’ religiosity or attendance at Church.
Mormons with college education exceed those without it in each of the following categories: high value placed on religious beliefs; prays daily; studies gospel; pays full tithe and attends church weekly. (Albrecht, Slide 36.)
A remarkably high percentage of well-educated Mormons attend Church weekly as shown by the following list. (Albrecht, Slide 35)
Years of Percentage attending Church weekly
Education Men Women
17+ 80% 76%
16 71% 82%
13-15 65% 71%
12 43% 54%
9-11 48% 52%
0-8 34% 48%
Because Mormons are generally serious students and rarely cause problems, they are welcome at prominent universities, some of which also have LDS faculty. Thus there are LDS chapels with both singles and adult wards functioning actively near virtually every major university in America. Universities that have appointed Mormon presidents include Ohio State, Minnesota, Vanderbilt, Brown, Colorado, Arizona State, Washington, UCLA and California (the overall university with ten campuses); and Harvard has appointed Mormons to be dean of the Harvard Business School (Kim Clark) and as vice president of the university (Chase Peterson) — as well as their 300th Anniversary University Professor (Laurel Thatcher Ulrich.)
Occasionally college students may disengage from the Church, but others become reactivated; and occasionally students, including at elite universities such as Yale and Harvard, join the Church. As an example of the types of lives that can emerge from blending high quality education with conversion to the LDS Church, Elder Jeffrey Holland, one of the LDS 12 Apostles, while obtaining his Ph.D. at Yale, discussed the restored Gospel with fellow Yale student, Katrina Lantos. She writes: “His brilliant exposition of the gospel played a pivotal role in my decision to join the Church.
” (Email 11-14-12.) She is a daughter of the now deceased Congressman Tom Lantos. She graduated from Yale at 18. She helped bring into the Church a Yale architecture student, Dick Swett. They were subsequently married. He became a Democratic Congressman from New Hampshire and came close to defeating Senator Bob Smith in 1996. President Clinton later appointed Dick Swett to be Ambassador to Denmark. Katrina obtained a law degree and a Ph.D. and teaches Human Rights and American Foreign Policy at Tufts University. She has co-hosted a talk show “Beyond Politics”, supported her husband’s political campaigns and has run for Congress. She and Dick were national co-chairs of Senator Joseph Lieberman’s campaign for President. Dick co-authored Lieberman’s Energy Policy, and they supported his re-election to the Senate in 1996 as an Independent. They have seven children, and all three of their boys served LDS missions. Katrina is now the Chair of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom and is CEO of the Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice. Dick is co-founder and CEO of Climate PROSPERITY Enterprise Solutions, LLC, a company that models large projects in an integrated 3D animated computer environment to help save costs in construction, energy consumption and operations. CPES is currently building projects in Turkey and Africa, and modeling projects using their Enterprise Solution platform in the US.
Read Part One: How the World Evaluates Mormonism: Charity
Part Two: How the World Evaluates Mormonism: Youth
Part Three: How the World Evaluates Mormonism: Health
Part Four: How the World Evaluates Mormonism: Longevity
Part Five: How the World Evaluates Mormonism: Mormon Women’s Political Firsts
Tomorrow: Science
Mark W. Cannon has a Ph.D. in Political Economy and Government from Harvard. He has been a Guest Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars; Staff Director for Commission on the Bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution; Administrative Assistant to Chief Justice Burger (13 years); Director, Institute of Public Administration, New York; Chairman, BYU Political Science Department; Staff, Senator Wallace Bennett; Administrative Asst. Congressman Henry Aldous Dixon.
