The following is excerpted from the Church News. To read the full article, CLICK HERE.
As a young sixth grade teacher, I always began the year by inviting students to write five rules for the classroom, five for the library, five for the lunchroom and five for the playground. Students obediently wrote their lists and turned them in.
Then I unceremoniously dumped the lists in the garbage and said: “Now that I know you know the rules, let’s talk about a principle: We are here to learn and teach. Anything that gets in the way of that is against the rules.”
Over the next few weeks when students did something inappropriate, I would ask: “Is that helping you learn? Is that helping me teach? What needs to change?” Soon these sixth graders began learning to govern themselves based on a principle rather than a list of rules.
With the announcement of the new “For the Strength of Youth” guide during October 2022 general conference, some wonder how best to help youth make the same transition. How do we help young people make good choices based on principles? I sat down recently with three teachers in religious education at Brigham Young University and asked for their advice.
Gaye Strathearn, associate dean, said: “Principles are eternal, but application of those principles can change over time and from family to family according to church and individual circumstances.
To read the full article, CLICK HERE.
