BYU’s
biggest problem is that there is too much agreeing. I was a debater in High School, and some of
the greatest learning that I achieved was due to challenging my ideas against
another. BYU has some disagreement, but because we (almost) all share some common ground in the Church. Some of the best learning experiences of my
life have come from meeting someone who I have almost nothing in common with,
and finding common ground.
One such
example includes my roommate and I: I
come from a conservative family, and my roommate comes from a liberal
family. During the election and throughout
the entire 1st semester was one of the best things for me. I learned so much just from trying to
accommodate my political views with his.
BYU has
differing views, don’t get me wrong. But
for the majority of BYU students can all agree on something. And to me, the
situations where we learn the most about ourselves are those where we are
confronted with someone who operates from an entirely foreign paradigm.
This problem
affects everyone at BYU, but particularly those BYU students who haven’t served
a mission (a small number, I know). A
mission can provide some of that learning through disagreement that I speak
of. Understand that I present this
argument from the point of a freshman, and that my experience at BYU might be
disproportionate to the entire population.
In closing,
I don’t feel that this problem will ever be solved. BYU will always be a center of people who
have at least a little common ground.
Honestly, I feel like the good outweighs the bad in this case, and that
BYU’s higher standards will always be a benefit.
I totally agree with you there. We all agree too much. Maybe it's because we try to be peaceful people and not argue. Maybe it's because we don't like causing problems. Either way, it is odd that agreeing too much can be a problem, but it can. So, essentially, not having any problems, is a problem. But we learn all throughout life that facing difficulties makes us stronger and smarter. So, the point that you made that we learn the most about ourselves when we have to face someone with different views, possibly even different cultures is spot on. While the university has a very diverse student population, there is still that basis of agreement that lingers there no matter what we try to change to eradicate it.
ReplyDeleteI'm having a split reaction to your argument. Half of me agrees with you, and the other half doesn't.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, I agree with what you said about people at BYU having common ground in the Church. It's true that the students here tend to share a lot of common views of life and value similar things. In some ways. This makes it hard to people to learn tolerance and to strengthen their own beliefs.
However, I also partially disagree with you. I think it's nice to be in an environment where I can freely express my beliefs. Aside from religious beliefs, there is a lot of diversity to be found on campus, people just need to look for it.
Thanks for the input guys, but Leslie, in response I will say this: I agree that having an environment free to express your beliefs is great; the ability to pray in class and such is an awesome privilege. That being said, I think we learn better if those beliefs are challenged.
ReplyDeleteI agree also that there is plenty of diversity of BYU, but my point is we ALL (for the most part) have something to agree on, which means all arguments can be solved with that difference. If you are faced with a total theological/philosophical stranger, you find yourself more than in an environment like BYU.
Matt, I did as well meet many, especially in my mission, that had many different views than I and I was able to feel my testimony and personal opinions grow through those experiences. I do however come from Bloomington Indiana, the home of Indiana University. It is a very liberal arts school with so much "free thinking" and "diverse opinions" that if anyone ever tries to mention God or Christianity that person is immediately shot down by professor and student alike.
ReplyDeleteIt's great to have a diverse campus, but I've been on one and I've been here, and this campus is much better. A student can learn a lot from listening to other's opinions that differ from his or her own, but when those opinions of others are so "broad-thinking" that one can't express his or herself without being ridiculed and belittled how does that help the student body?
I don't advocate those so called "free thinking" opinions, because they rarely are. I think that Indiana University would be the other end of the spectrum, and we need to find a balance. Ironically those "unbiased" thinking grounds are usually negative towards religious opinions, and favor progressive opinions. The ideal learning environment in my world would be one where you can express what you think and every argument is a "blank slate", where anything can be believed. My high school debate community this sort of discourse. I think Indiana University didn't live up to their "free thinking" title. True broad thinking hears every argument/testimony out, they don't stop you short.
ReplyDeleteWhat's wrong with having something in common? The similarity of being part of the same religion doesn't necessarily make everyone be brainwashed into thinking the same thing all the time. Like you said you had differences with your roommate and you learned a lot so what makes all other students different than your roommate? We all have unique opinions and it seems that you think by being at this campus we are all restricted to a small box of thinking or train of thought that we all follow. So I agree that we have religion in common but sometimes that's the only thing.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely love your post! Good points and very well written. Todd makes a good point and I agree that attending BYU is much better than a highly-liberal school. Being told you're close-minded is hard to take, especially when you truly have researched and developed your own opinions. There is a balance though, one which for me, is slightly more diverse than BYU. Ultimately, BYU does fulfill my overarching needs or I wouldn't have chosen it.
ReplyDeleteWhat's wrong about having something in common is that disagreement inspires debate/discussion which is impossible unless there is core disagreement. I'm not claiming that we are all the same person, but this is one of the most concentrated Universities in the world. Not only in religious matters; we are EXTREMELY conservative. I want more students to be like my roommate, who have different views than I do. But BYU definitely has more of a group think than most other Universities.
ReplyDeleteOne other problem with this high concentration of paradigms is that when disagreement arises, sometimes people don't know how to deal with it. My roommate put up an Obama sign during election week, and people literally came from other dorms to ask him "How are you a democrat." "Seriously, I've never met a democrat before, what's wrong with you." That kind of pestering is something that occurs usually in high concentrated areas. BYU is great, but disagreement needs to be more common here, it's part of life. I want to make it clear again that I don't think everybody is in a "small box of thinking", but it is MUCH MUCH MUCH less diverse of a place than I wish. It has diversity, just not quite as much as I would like.