Why Mormons Are So Literate

Why do Mormons excel in school? Why do companies love Mormon employees? Answers vary, but literacy is key.

After the fall of the Roman Empire, and the rise of barbarism many institutions took a steep nosedive. The population plummeted as infrastructure fell. Exotic goods and luxuries became extinct. Literacy, our topic at hand, became sequestered in drab monasteries, only to be understood by the most esoteric of monks. This was unfortunate, although duly deserved seeing as he who does not seek wisdom never finds it. Some by the end of those illiterate ages did seek wisdom, and that in the only modes available: the surviving classics, church publications, and most importantly the Bible. Reading such weighty and vigorous material was the catalyst for every cultural revolution to follow; the Renaissance, the Age of Discovery, the Protestant Reformation, the Age of Reason, the American Revolutionary War and revolutionary Constitution, the Industrial Revolution, and much beyond. The cause being traced back to a book.

The Bible changed the landscape of human life forever. Now however, it lies abandoned. A thousand distinct versions and translations, not a soul ho can read and understand. Some Bibles have abandoned the King James language, adopting the simplified english. Some can palate this dumbed down tongue, which is a tremendous boon, but all the same, Literacy suffers. Most people can read, few can read anything of worth. If the Bible created so much wisdom in the world, why don't we return to reading it?

There is a religious group of people who are a remarkable example of literacy. They are the Mormons. They are among the few in the religious community that can safely ingest the rich food of the Bible. From a young age their children attend Sunday School classes every Sunday to read from the Bible and other scriptural works like The Book of Mormon. In the home, the family prays and read scriptures together once a day, or at least as often as an ambitious family life would allow. Children learn like snow clings to metal in the winter. They are read to, solo read, and study college level material that most of the people in this breaking world would only read if they were gunning down a masters degree in the humanities.

The Results are drastic. The rising generation of Mormons as if with machine accuracy, defy literary bellcurves all over the world. This because their young minds are fertilized with the best of books. They therefore grow up to be responsible, rational, and well adjusted adults. Other groups, are, as well holding up the pillars of literacy. Many Baptist communities are exceptionally proficient in the Bible. Some among other Christian denominations are and those of the Jewish faith are erudite to a tee. There are those with no religious affiliation who are also pristinely literate, even in a book they don't believe in as cannon.

Literacy is a marked characteristic of civilization. It is a door and window to the mind and to the infinite. The Bible is front and center of an effort to become literate. The Mormons, among others are literate exactly because they read from those ancient pages. You don't need to read the Bible to say that you can read, but it is essential to truly be called, literate.

Image Attribution: Lds.org