FAIR's Rising Generation

Posts Tagged ‘BYU’

Church school is what you make it.

“Dude, I could get a hold of any drug I wanted there. I have friends who’ve gotten kicked out for stuff like that and worse,” was what she told me. I had been at a BYU for a semester and wasn’t even sure where someone could buy alcohol legally in town. It astounded me that my friend could say that, because she went to a BYU, too. Were there kids like that on my campus? At the Lord’s University?

Oh, yes, I’ve since come to find out. There’s no magic escape from sin or transgression in the world, not even at the Lord’s University. You’ll always find what you’re comfortable with.

People don’t go to BYU and become Peter and Molly. They go to BYU and continue doing the same things they did in high school. They find the same friends and uphold the same standards. Where my friend found a lot of the recreational users and less-chaste to hang with, I found mostly church-going, out-of-the-apartment-at-midnight types.

Before I came to BYU, I was sure that everyone would be a straight-A goody-goody who spends all their free time volunteering or doing homework. Sure, there are a few of those, but there were a few of those in the high schools I attended and in every stake I’ve belonged to. There are also people who smoke pot recreationally. I knew several of those personally in my wards and branches back home. But the majority at BYU is exactly like me: usually pretty good, with a few mistakes on their sheet. Some are better at daily scripture reading than I am, some are worse.

Whether or not you’ll like a Church school is completely up to you. College students can act any way they want; they’re famous for being loud about the fact. How you behave and who you choose hang out with makes all the difference in your happiness. If you hate listening to authority figures and you dislike people who respect them, you might have a hard time enjoying Church-run education.

BYU can be a wonderful place. I have had innumerable spiritual experiences, in and out of classrooms, with friends, with church leaders, even with professors. BYU has been great for me, and not just because we’re all expected to be good, rule-following zombies. My friends have personalities, flaws, and quirks. They’re real people, who’ve lived, sinned, repented, and have spent their whole lives being normal people trying to do right by God. You don’t get into BYU because you have no weaknesses. I would’ve failed if that had been the case.

I have had such a fantastic BYU experience because I’ve put in the effort to respect rules like the Honor Code, the Dress and Grooming standards, and Church guidelines. The things that set any BYU apart from secular schools are what have made me love attending a Church school so much. I love the freedom here.