Missionary Age Change - More Practical Consequences

[_quaker]

Not that many missionaries complete a year of school before leaving. Of all the former missionaries I know who I still follow from afar (on Facebook) the large majority only started post secondary education after serving missions.

My own experience in engineering was horrible after I returned from a 2 year hiatus. Had I not completed the first year courses prior to the mission I would have been fine because first year science content is mostly based off content introduced in high school. But second year was killer. Especially after the 2 year break. The only thing that saved me were my awesome study habits from learning a second language as a missionary.

And as for university for today's youth, it's almost irrelevant unless the degree is a requirement for entry into a professional organization or unless the student knows they want to pursue graduate studies. Otherwise it is an inefficient (economically speaking) exercise in self improvement. If a young person is uncommitted to learning and working in a certain profession then they are better off to get a variety of work experience, become skilled in a trade and do some introductory courses as enrichment on the side. After a few years they will know what they want to do and then dedicate themself.

There's certainly nothing wrong with learning a trade. As an engineering graduate I wish I had done that prior to becoming the idiot engineering at a job site who is unacquainted with reality.

I know manual labour and skilled trade jobs are less demanded in the States because it's so easy to take advantage of illegal immigrants. But in other places youth are unacquainted with handiwork and labour so the demand for workers has certainly elevated the profile of many trades. The journeymen who run their own businesses make a lot of money.

All that said, I think the biggest impact this will have on young people is to give them a little more breathing room to explore options without feeling they need to immediately jump into a course of schooling that they may not stick to. I certainly felt that when I arrived home at almost 22 years old I needed to finish school asap so I started into something without doing any proper exploring to see if that was the best course of action.

[_Aristotle Smith]

Not that many missionaries complete a year of school before leaving. Of all the former missionaries I know who I still follow from afar (on Facebook) the large majority only started post secondary education after serving missions.

If your experience is representative, then that would mitigate a lot of my concerns.

My own experience in engineering was horrible after I returned from a 2 year hiatus. Had I not completed the first year courses prior to the mission I would have been fine because first year science content is mostly based off content introduced in high school. But second year was killer. Especially after the 2 year break. The only thing that saved me were my awesome study habits from learning a second language as a missionary.

My question is how much less likely you would have been to start college after a mission, rather than re-start it. A 2 year hiatus can be difficult to recover from, especially in the hard sciences (though in my case I found the opposite effect, I think I understood upper division math courses better after a mission). But I still think it's a lot easier to pick it back up after putting it on hold, than starting from scratch.

All that said, I think the biggest impact this will have on young people is to give them a little more breathing room to explore options without feeling they need to immediately jump into a course of schooling that they may not stick to. I certainly felt that when I arrived home at almost 22 years old I needed to finish school asap so I started into something without doing any proper exploring to see if that was the best course of action.

I disagree with this. I don't see how this gives people more breathing room to explore options. Most people change majors after the first year, not after a certain age. I think having young men take two years out of their lives is going to pressure them to hurry up and do something, no matter what it is, at whatever age you have them serving missions.

I do think that Mormon men are at times forced into careers they may not enjoy or have chosen all other things being equal. But I think this is mainly due to pressures on LDS young men to be sole providers, marry young, and have children earlier. Changing the mission age is not going to alter this. The only way to change this is to change LDS culture and doctrine.

[_aussieguy55]

I think that having an 18 year old, whose pimples are probably just clearing up come to ones door and talk about religion and faith is crazy. For all the money and time spent the numbers gained AND retained is small.

[_Madison54]

All that said, I think the biggest impact this will have on young people is to give them a little more breathing room to explore options without feeling they need to immediately jump into a course of schooling that they may not stick to.

Maybe for some that's true, but I really do not agree. I have a son who is 18 years old and is in his first semester of college. He's taking his general required courses (credits that are necessary for any major). That's all any Freshman really needs to do and it's nice to have a year of those done prior to going out on a mission. I do see your point though, quaker.

Aristotle, I agree with so much of what you have written. I have mixed feelings about this change of age for missionaries. I mainly feel it's not a good thing for most boys (I'm not sure how I feel about the girl's age change). I agree with others opinions regarding how it gets the boys on their mission straight from High School, seminary, and the Young Men's organization before they have a year out from under the structure and control.

Like I mentioned above, my son is 18. I have already seen a huge difference in him just being in college one semester from when he was fresh out of high school. I think that year is an important year for them to mature and pull away a bit from all the controls previously put on them (church, parents, and so on).

He no longer attends church but all of his close friends are very active. They are at all different stages of the mission experience. Some have already gone. One is just sitting home biding his time so he can leave in a couple of months (he already has his call). He would have loved to go when he was 18 because he had no interest in going to college before his mission. He's just mad now because he has a brother only 1 year younger than he is and he'll be able to go within months after he leaves.

My son's best friend is at school with him for this year. But now he's saying he'll be coming home in December and not completing the year because he can leave on his mission earlier. This has not made my son happy at all of course.....but that's the way it is now. So instead of having a year of college under his belt, this friend will only complete one semester.

He has another very good friend who is still a senior in high school. He just learned that he has a full ride scholarship (he is a very sought after athlete) and is already accepted into a very prestigious college back east. He's not happy about this announcement. Does he now just give up this scholarship and the acceptance at this university and go straight from high school on his mission? That's what his parents want.

What about scholarships? Do universities hold them for 2 years? Will none of the boys get scholarships that leave straight from high school? I just don't know how that works.

Anyway....my son is just kind of watching all the different reactions from all his active friends and is just so glad he's already made the decision not to serve a mission.

[_Harold Lee]

My scholarship didn't carry with me after my mission. Of course four years had passed, but it might be better with just two if you leave at 18. Although I doubt any college that's not church-run will set it aside for two years, especially athletic. Not a week goes by now I don't look at where my life is now and realize how much of it was wasted saving, serving the mission, and having to rebuild from scratch after it in faith it would pay off. Similar friend of mine just graduated at 28 with a biology degree from a no-name college, in high school he had over a 4.0 GPA, top ten in his class (out of 1500), loved and studied physics and wanted to go MIT and get a doctorate. Ambitious academics after a mission becomes a gamble if you don't have parents with deep pockets or apply at a church school.

Athletic and academic scholarships being awarded is such a rare privelege, the fact throwing it away is even considered is a dang shame. Go on a mission after college kid, you'll graduate when you're 22 and be better at it. Graduate with a masters when you're 24/25 and you can still go.

[_Madison54]

Athletic and academic scholarships being awarded is such a rare privelege, the fact throwing it away is even considered is a dang shame. Go on a mission after college kid, you'll graduate when you're 22 and be better at it. Graduate with a masters when you're 24/25 and you can still go.

I agree. Sounds like LDS boys won't be accepting (or applying for) scholarships if they plan on leaving straight out of High School for their missions. How sad.

Also, most won't even be thinking of which college to attend, etc., during their senior year like most seniors do. What a change in mindset for these boys. Like Aristotle also mentioned, will they even take their ACT or SAT or just wait to deal with all of that until they get home?

[_Tchild]

Athletic and academic scholarships being awarded is such a rare privelege, the fact throwing it away is even considered is a dang shame. Go on a mission after college kid, you'll graduate when you're 22 and be better at it. Graduate with a masters when you're 24/25 and you can still go.

Once a person is educated and 24-25 years old, Most have already learned themselves out of Mormon thinking, or at least the manipulative and guilt fear based thinking. The social pressure and guilt are long gone at that time also.

If you have a masters at age 24-25, you probably already have other opportunities lined up that would represent an even higher opportunity cost to leave to serve a mission.

If the church worked on being "true" it wouldn't have to go through the whole rigamorale of a proselytizing mission -- which is a retention tool.

Sadly, the church cannot make the former a reality no matter what it does, but it could work on making itself more relevant in the lives of its young members.

[_Harold Lee]

Also, most won't even be thinking of which college to attend, etc., during their senior year like most seniors do. What a change in mindset for these boys. Like Aristotle also mentioned, will they even take their ACT or SAT or just wait to deal with all of that until they get home?

Hadn't even thought about that.

With concern of that coming up the new counsel will be, fast and pray about which college the Lord wants you to go to while you're ON your mission, and he'll take of you for putting his business first.

What? BYU? Good thing too because your other best options aren't available anymore.

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