seminary assessment 2019

[The Nehor]

3 hours ago, The Mean Farmer said:

 

The composition and sanctity of marriage has been a constant and repeated theme in the D&C Seminary teachings this year.

They apparently really want the kids to know what TCOJCOLDS believes in the matter.

 

 

Good.

[Bernard Gui]

On 5/13/2019 at 4:14 PM, blueglass said:

Here is the 2019 end of year seminary assessment my kids received yesterday. Would love to hear your thoughts on the questions, the probable answers, and the doctrine taught.  Don't forget the last 4 questions pertaining to the Explain Doctrine section.  

Assessments can take various forms. This one looks like a normal multiple-choice assessment of basic catechism-like teaching and knowledge - unless you don’t like such tests. I don’t see anything objectionable. The doctrines appear to be topical and sound. 

Do you find it lacking?

I suppose they could have a testimony meeting where the kids are given grades based on their fervency.

Edited May 15, 2019 by Bernard Gui

[cinepro]

15 hours ago, The Mean Farmer said:

 

The composition and sanctity of marriage has been a constant and repeated theme in the D&C Seminary teachings this year.

They apparently really want the kids to know what TCOJCOLDS believes in the matter.

 

 

I don't know if I'd say "really want", since I'll bet you there wasn't a single Seminary class in all the church that went past verse 29 in Section 132.

[The Nehor]

12 minutes ago, cinepro said:

I don't know if I'd say "really want", since I'll bet you there wasn't a single Seminary class in all the church that went past verse 29 in Section 132.

Mine did. We spent a whole week on plural marriage. I would guess that is the norm.

[Tacenda]

4 minutes ago, The Nehor said:

Mine did. We spent a whole week on plural marriage. I would guess that is the norm.

Did you discuss Joseph Smith marrying other men's wives or marrying a 14 year old? Because those are the ones most have a problem with.

[The Nehor]

6 minutes ago, Tacenda said:

Did you discuss Joseph Smith marrying other men's wives or marrying a 14 year old? Because those are the ones most have a problem with.

Definitely the former. Not sure about the latter but I think I remember Helen Mar Kimball mentioned but it has been a long time.

[The Mean Farmer]

1 hour ago, cinepro said:

I don't know if I'd say "really want", since I'll bet you there wasn't a single Seminary class in all the church that went past verse 29 in Section 132.

If they used the manual if only for a pacing guide they did.

 

https://www.lds.org/manual/doctrine-and-covenants-and-church-history-seminary-teacher-manual-2014/section-6/lesson-140-doctrine-and-covenants-132-1-2-34-66?lang=eng

 

 

[Calm]

2 hours ago, cinepro said:

I don't know if I'd say "really want", since I'll bet you there wasn't a single Seminary class in all the church that went past verse 29 in Section 132.

I have been told in recent years the Church essays are significantly used by a couple of seminary teachers. I don't remember if I discussed this with anyone this year.

[bluebell]

2 hours ago, Tacenda said:

Did you discuss Joseph Smith marrying other men's wives or marrying a 14 year old? Because those are the ones most have a problem with.

We talked about JS marrying other women, but I honestly don't remember if we talked about the 14 year old or any wife specifically.  

[Tacenda]

20 minutes ago, bluebell said:

We talked about JS marrying other women, but I honestly don't remember if we talked about the 14 year old or any wife specifically.  

I didn't go all four years, and don't remember any lessons on JS's wives, I guess that is why I had such a shock in my forties when I learned he did. Good thing the youth are getting inoculated!

[bluebell]

8 minutes ago, Tacenda said:

I didn't go all four years, and don't remember any lessons on JS's wives, I guess that is why I had such a shock in my forties when I learned he did. Good thing the youth are getting inoculated!

I don't know if there were lessons on them or if our awesome Seminary teacher (who was not a CES worker) just taught us about them on his own, but I'm glad either way.  Though, it wasn't a shock to me when I learned about it even then.  I think i had just always assumed that he had multiple wives since he was the one who restored polygamy.  

[Stormin' Mormon]

3 hours ago, Tacenda said:

Did you discuss Joseph Smith marrying other men's wives or marrying a 14 year old? Because those are the ones most have a problem with.

I'm a seminary teacher in my stake, and I definitely covered both of these.

[Danzo]

1 hour ago, Tacenda said:

I didn't go all four years, and don't remember any lessons on JS's wives, I guess that is why I had such a shock in my forties when I learned he did. Good thing the youth are getting inoculated!

Were you shocked by everything you learned in your forties?

Do you consider yourself inoculated every time you learn an new thing?

[Danzo]

5 hours ago, cinepro said:

I don't know if I'd say "really want", since I'll bet you there wasn't a single Seminary class in all the church that went past verse 29 in Section 132.

Seminary was too long ago for me to remember which verses we covered in Section 132, but I don't ever remember being told to stop at a certain verse.

I was aware of polygamy in my teens (How could you not be, it probably was the only thing non members knew about the church). 

[Rain]

5 hours ago, cinepro said:

I don't know if I'd say "really want", since I'll bet you there wasn't a single Seminary class in all the church that went past verse 29 in Section 132.

I have a senior who took the test yesterday and missed 2 questions. I just asked him if they covered these things in class.  He said yes on this.

5 hours ago, Tacenda said:

Did you discuss Joseph Smith marrying other men's wives

He said yes

5 hours ago, Tacenda said:

or marrying a 14 year old? Because those are the ones most have a problem with.

He said no, but...

2 hours ago, Calm said:

I have been told in recent years the Church essays are significantly used by a couple of seminary teachers. I don't remember if I discussed this with anyone this year.

He said yes here, so I don't know how in depth they went or how well he paid attention. He is bright and pays attention most of the time, but last year he was surprised to learn some basic doctrine that I had talked with him about for years so it could go either way of how much these things were discussed in class.

[Okrahomer]

2 hours ago, bluebell said:

I don't know if there were lessons on them or if our awesome Seminary teacher (who was not a CES worker) just taught us about them on his own, but I'm glad either way.  Though, it wasn't a shock to me when I learned about it even then.  I think i had just always assumed that he had multiple wives since he was the one who restored polygamy.  

We had Home Study Seminary in Oklahoma, and my own amazing mother was our teacher.  She is a proud descendant of Plural Marriage, and this part of Church history was never hidden from us as children, so it was only natural for her to incorporate it into her Seminary lessons.

[Scott Lloyd]

I only glanced over the assessment, but what I saw strikes me as essentials that well-informed Church members ought to know. I would hope the rising generation in the Church will be better informed than prior ones have been, and if they master the things covered in this assessment, they will be. We might thus have fewer members complaining, for example, that they were never taught that Joseph Smith practiced plural marriage. (Why someone would know he received a revelation instituting it in the Church yet feel blindsided to learn that he practiced it himself has always seemed rather enigmatic to me.) 

As a parent of teens, I’m far more anxious that, at this early age, they grow up knowing these essentials than I am that they be challenged to “think critically.” This is Church seminary, and these are teenagers. They need to learn to recognize and identify orthodox doctrinal teachings before they are pressured into the “think critically” stage. 

Edited May 20, 2019 by Scott Lloyd

[Scott Lloyd]

6 hours ago, Calm said:

I have been told in recent years the Church essays are significantly used by a couple of seminary teachers. I don't remember if I discussed this with anyone this year.

Totally non sequitur to the discussion, I’ll admit upfront, but in a sacrament meeting talk I gave last Sunday, I read one of the essays in its entirety.