Comments on: Vanguard Scouts: Mormon Boys in Their Mid-Teens: part 1

By: John

John — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 03:59:00 +0000

I recently acquired a couple Vanguard books and enjoyed your thoughts. I’m a Scouter of many years and have collected many Scouting books. Wish I had more.

By: Bruce Crow

Bruce Crow — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 16:10:22 +0000

I think the move away from the psychology of teaching young men in the manual is similar to the move away from teaching the history of the Church in the manual. In Sunday School the objective has become to teach the principles of the gospel, not the details of the historical events, some of which were being taught wrong anyway. I would assume that just as the manual writers were not historians, neither were they psychologists. Perhaps out of fear of getting their advice wrong the writers now provide nothing.

It is a shame. Although I can get my own historical information, I have few resources to draw upon for the hows of lesson prep for young men.

By: Ardis E. Parshall

Ardis E. Parshall — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 20:15:14 +0000

Rather than assuming people already know this, I wonder if too often we haven’t forgotten the person altogether, that we’re more concerned with the material being taught than in teaching and reaching the person. That is, we get some general advice now (“help class members understand X” and “help class members participate meaningfully,” from the intro to the Book of Mormon teacher’s manual) without any practical advice on achieving that beyond the quite general “prepare” and “rely on the Spirit.” I would find it incredibly helpful to have advice on teaching adults vs. teaching children, or teaching experienced, long term church members vs. teaching recent converts or the newly returned, etc. — because even if everybody’s reading the same chapter in Alma, teaching to their needs and participation styles and understanding has to vary, if a lesson is to be productive. IMO.

And mahana, that’s a concrete example of exactly what I mean.

By: Paul

Paul — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 17:28:20 +0000

It seems like the psychology of the mid-teen is about right here. There’s more on that theory in this manual than we typically find today. Do we assume people more generally know this stuff now?

By: mahana

mahana — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 16:31:01 +0000

I think there is stuff here that is still applicable today. Real life application, learning their interests, etc.
“Although not really an adult, the youth must in many things be treated as an adult and never as a child.” I find in my 13-year-old Sunday School class, if I call them boys as opposed to Young Men, I have lost them for perhaps the rest of the lesson.