This picture comes from a collection of illustrations from a French artist named Villemard, showing the year 2000 as he envisioned it in 1910.
He invisioned that every classroom would have a giant blender. It’s a smoothie machine for learning, if you will. But the ingredients aren’t fruits, they’re books! Throw some books in this magical blending machine, and the knowledge is fit to be pumped out, travel through pipes, and enter the minds of school children.
According to Merriam-Webster, moralize is a verb that means to explain or interpret something morally, or to give something a moral quality or direction. It can also mean to make moral reflections (Webser Dictionary online). By contrast, the same dictionary defines application as “the act of applying or putting something to use. The thing applied; close attention.” Application implies activity; moralization denotes drawing a conclusion.
“Application takes place when a student accepts in his or her heart and mind what is taught and then acts and lives according to those principles” (Teaching the Gospel: A Handbook for CES Teachers and Leaders [1994], 14). Simply stated, moralization may be doing for our students what we suspect they cannot or will not do for themselves.
Each of the following statements is made in an attempt to distinguish the activities associated with application from those associated with moralization. T
THE RESPONSIBILITY FOR APPLICATION RESTS WITH THE STUDENTS WITH GUIDANCE FROM THE TEACHER
Truthfully, we are not very skilled at applying the scriptures to students’ lives. We know arguably little about their challenges, frustrations, and concerns. Letting students apply the scriptures, however, requires trust. Before each school year starts, I re-read "The Charted Course" by J. Rueben Clark. It has always helped me to focus my attention to where it should be when helping my students to come closer to Christ. He said:
“The youth of the Church, your students, are in great majority sound in thought and in spirit. The problem primarily is to keep them sound, not to convert them. The youth of the Church are hungry for things of the Spirit; they are eager to learn the gospel, and they want it straight, undiluted” (The Charted Course of the Church in Education, rev. ed. [1994], 3; or Charge to Religious Educators, 2nd ed. [1982], 4).
If we don’t believe President Clark’s statement, we may be tempted to do the application for our students. We may worry that they are not really capable of application on their own. This can lead to replacing application with our own conclusions.
APPLICATION REQUIRES STUDY
The ability to lead students to faithful application of the scriptures requires a teacher who has studied by faith (D&C 88:118). This study by faith will promote our ability to present the scriptures in relevant context without overly moralizing the scriptures. I have always loved the quoate by President Benson:
“Before you can strengthen your students, it is essential that you study the doctrines of the kingdom and learn the gospel by both study and faith. To study by faith is to seek understanding and the Spirit of the Lord through the prayer of faith. Then you will
have the power to convince your students. This is not just good advice; it is a commandment of the Lord” (The Gospel Teacher and His Message [address to religious educators, 17 Sept. 1976], 4; or Charge, 49).
Excessive moralization would suggest that the teacher studies by learning only and adopts the responsibility of telling what a scripture means. In certain situations, however, the teacher does teach the judgment of the scriptures themselves and the judgment of the Brethren.
APPLICATION IN CLASS ALLOWS STUDENTS TO PRACTICE USING THE PRINCIPLES OF THE GOSPEL
When students become skilled at application, it simultaneously empowers them with the ability to use principles of the gospel on their own. In this sense, they become independent gospel scholars and keep the commandments on their own. Again, from J. Reuben Clark Jr.
“These students crave the faith their fathers and mothers have; they want it in its simplicity and purity. There are few indeed who have not seen the manifestations of its divine power. They wish to be not only the beneficiaries of this faith, but they want to be themselves able to call it forth to work” (Charted Course, 3; or Charge, 4).
Excessive moralization robs students of the opportunity to practice using gospel principles. When teachers do the applying, students may fail to learn how to apply specific gospel principle to specific life experiences.
CONCLUSION
The truth is, our students are smarter than we give them credit for. And here’s a crazy idea: they can think! They can make decisions! They can apply gospel principles without us feeding them every answer like we’re on some sort of heavenly game show. “And for 500 points—What Would Jesus Do?”
Our job, as teachers, is to guide them. To help them explore what it means to live gospel principles—not just because we said so, but because they’ve felt it, thought about it, and applied it in their own way.
in short, we need less sermonizing, and more empowering. Let them wrestle with the principle. Let them ask questions. Let them feel the Spirit speak to their hearts.
Because trust me, when they discover it for themselves, the testimony that grows will last a whole lot longer than the one that comes from the smoothie machine.
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