I have exciting news! For the FIRST time ever I am having a guest post on my Blog. It is done by one of the greatest, smartest, most talented people I know. Cody Thompson wrote an opinion piece that I just had to share(partly because it is for his persuasive writing class:)). Attending BYU was one of the best experiences of my life but often had a negative stigma attached to it... I wasn't really experiencing college because I was in the dreaded "bubble" of Provo, Utah, but I always thought I was experiencing it more because unlike most college students across the country at least I can remember it. I always disliked the stigma and Cody does a great job of shattering this misconception. Or maybe I am just biased because he is my husband. But either way it is worth a read.
There has long been the idea that Brigham Young University students are close minded people who live in the Mormon bubble of Provo, Utah. This stigma may stem from the fact that BYU students are expected to live up to the strict honor code of the university. It may also come from the fact that the vast majority (98%) of students are of the Mormon Faith and are narrow minded due to lack of religious diversity.
 |
| ...Because skin and hair color are the only variables of diversity (Sarcasm) |
Well, I admit I shared those same ideas about BYU. But after an unexpected turn of events I found myself enrolled as a full-time BYU student. It wasn't long before I realized that the stereo-type was false. Completely false. If you know anything about the Mormon church you may know that many of 18 and 19 year old Mormon males serve 2 year missions while a large number of females serve 18 months. While across the whole church less than a third of young men serve missions, among BYU students it is much higher. In the year 2013 about 86% of male students and 13% of female students had served missions.
These missionaries serve in places throughout the whole globe. From California, to New York, from Hong Kong to Moscow. They reach every continent on the globe. These missionaries experience a wide variety of different cultures. And I'm not talking about your typical tourist who walks up and down old town Paris snapping a few pictures of The Eiffel Tower and spending an afternoon at a museum. These missionaries live among the people. They experience the real culture of the people within their homes. In a lot of cases, they even learn the language of the country they are serving in. I would like to see the open-minded and cultured students of Berkeley make that claim...Good luck.
 |
| Cody in Lithuania |
Any how... The assumptions that BYU students aren't free thinkers has no basis other than they are all the same religion. During my time at BYU, I have met some of the most diverse and open minded people than anywhere else I have been.
