Elder Eyring talks about how he regrets at points in his life when he has failed to learn as much as he could. He contrasts this to the story of the Brother of Jared who was a continual life-long learner.
In another address Elder Eyring talks about how spiritual and secular learning are connected and how any type of learning is preparation for “real life.” He talks about how the “real life” we are preparing for is eternal life.
Elder Jay E. Jensen shares how to be a diligent learner and illustrates that we can learn in any situation by relating this story:
Many years ago Elder Marion D. Hanks, while an Assistant to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, spoke of the power of making the most of our opportunities to learn. Elder Hanks told a story about Louis Agassiz, a distinguished naturalist, who was approached by an obscure spinster woman who insisted that she had never had a chance to learn. In response, Dr. Agassiz asked her to consider the chances for learning that she already had:
“ ‘What do you do?’ he asked.
“ ‘I skin potatoes and chop onions.’
“He said, ‘Madame, where do you sit during these interesting but homely duties?’
“ ‘On the bottom step of the kitchen stairs.’
“ ‘Where do your feet rest?’
“ ‘On the glazed brick.’
“ ‘What is glazed brick?’
“ ‘I don’t know, sir.’
“He said, ‘How long have you been sitting there?’
“She said, ‘Fifteen years.’
“ ‘Madam, here is my personal card,’ said Dr. Agassiz. ‘Would you kindly write me a letter concerning the nature of a glazed brick?’ ”
The woman took the challenge seriously. She read all she could find about brick and tile and then sent Dr. Agassiz a 36-page paper on the subject.
Elder Hanks continued:
“Back came the letter from Dr. Agassiz: ‘Dear Madam, this is the best article I have ever seen on the subject. If you will kindly change the three words marked with asterisks, I will have it published and pay you for it.’
“A short time later there came a letter that brought $250, and penciled on the bottom of this letter was this query: ‘What was under those bricks?’ She had learned the value of time and answered with a single word: ‘Ants.’ He wrote back and said, ‘Tell me about the ants.’ …
“After wide reading, much microscopic work, and deep study, the spinster sat down and wrote Dr. Agassiz 360 pages on the subject. He published the book and sent her the money, and she went to visit all the lands of her dreams on the proceeds of her work.”
Comments (12)
Christen Allen said
at 1:42 pm on Jan 26, 2009
I thought this presentation was absolutely amazing! I love how the creator sourced, and even hyperlinked, the talks that inspired the presentation. The pictures were well-chosen--the stones on slide 5 and the bricks on slide 16 reinforced the stories told in the talks.
The slide that really drove the message home for me was slide 8: secular learning really has no purpose without an eternal perspective. I have decided to pray for guidance and read the scriptures for perspective before each study session.
Kimberly McCollum said
at 10:10 pm on Jan 26, 2009
As Christen already noted, including hyperlinks to source material is a great idea. Using images from the Microsoft clip art library is a good way to avoid copyright complications. One suggestion to improve the presentation would be to use either photographic images or clip art consistently. The illustrated clip art on slide 14 looks out of place. Overall, very nice job.
Jenifer Hoggan said
at 11:02 pm on Jan 26, 2009
I thought it was very well done. I loved the story and the tie-in to the slideshow presentation. It really is so important to remember that secular knowledge is also encompassed in spiritual knowledge as all knowledge comes from God. Great job!
mr. ross said
at 12:02 am on Jan 27, 2009
Excellent slide presentation. You used just the right combination of words with pictures. These pictures also helped reinforce what you were trying to say in your slides. Maybe a more fluid look to the story portion might help improve on what already is a great presentation. It felt "choppy" which is understandable considering the conversation.
McKenzie Borup said
at 1:25 pm on Jan 27, 2009
I really liked the presentation. The point that I liked the most was the one on organization. Especially as teachers we need to organize everything that we learn so we can teach our students. I know that I haven't done that great of job at this. Now that I am preparing to get ready to teach I am wishing I had been more organized. It would have saved me a lot of time and stress.
Eric Pratt said
at 4:09 pm on Jan 27, 2009
Very good presentation. I liked how you used "headings" in your presentation, not at the top of a slide with a list, but as its own slide without any pictures. That really helped give direction to the presentation, especially the various points following slide 10. Well done!
Olivia Seger said
at 12:21 am on Jan 29, 2009
I also really liked the presentation. It reminded me of times when I knew I would be switching majors and did not enjoy the classes I was taking. If I had followed the guidelines in this presentation, maybe I would have learned a lot more during those situations. I especially liked the slide that says to prepare to learn. I never thought about preparing to learn before, but it really makes a lot of sense. I thought the pictures were great and I also liked the idea of heading slides to introduce the later slides.
mindyhinckley@msn.com said
at 2:11 am on Jan 30, 2009
Very well done! I agree with Christen and Kimberly about the hyperlinked sources. I just learned how to hyperlink this week, so I am doubly impressed. Also, hyperlinked material is so much easier to access, and the chances of students actually visiting the website increases. Also, I have to compliment you on your graphics. I learned a lot doing my presentation. Using pictures from Microsoft Clip Art is brilliant. Furthermore, the image quality is great. Kimberly advised using the Creative Commons Web Site to avoid copyright issues. She also told me that the quality of my images would increase. It took me a fraction of the time to redo my presentation using that search engine. Anyway, just a heads up for others still working on their presentation. Great work!
Meghan Christensen said
at 7:25 pm on Jan 30, 2009
As Christen Allen and so many others already said, "hyperlinking" the talks was a great idea. I really liked the visuals and the simple, clear wording on each slide. I especially liked the slides on how to be a lifelong learner. The slides about wanting to learn, praying to learn, and organizing what you learn really stood out to me--I especially fall short on the praying and organizing, and I really want to do better at both of those. It becomes a burden to have lots of information but to not have it organized, which is where I am pretty much at right now. I have those slides running through my head, and I'm motivated to do better now.... And thank you, Mindy for your suggestions.
Hammari said
at 6:06 pm on Feb 1, 2009
The presentation was very visually aesthetic. I like the simplicity of each slide. The last slide was just awesome to see because it help to recall back the story above. I don't think I would use the same picture on slide seven. It is a little distracting to have somebody staring at you when all of the other pictures leave the viewer independent of the scene. Overall I think it was a wonderful presentation.
Nicole Manwaring said
at 10:13 pm on Feb 1, 2009
Thanks for all your comments! Hammari mentioned the distracting image in slide 7, I didn't think about that, it is a very good point.
Kalister Wynn said
at 11:54 pm on Feb 1, 2009
I enjoyed the presentation. I liked the story because I feel that stories have a way of reaching the reader in many different ways. I specifically liked the criteria of how to become a diligent learner. If we put the criteria for that in our everyday lives... our possibilities are endless!
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