LDS and education | The Salt Lake Tribune

This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

I applaud LDS Apostle Dallin Oaks' warning about the effect on children of divorce, abuse, cohabitation and single parenthood ("Mormon leader decries divorce, abortion, same-sex parents," Tribune, Oct. 6). We need strong, moral voices to keep our focus on the needs of children, who don't have clout or votes to curry politicians' favors.

Our prisons and homeless shelters are full of the results of poor parenting. Child-rearing is America's future and a great moral issue.

Which is why it is surprising that the 80-percent-Mormon Utah Legislature is content with having Utah's per-pupil funding be the lowest in the Union.

If The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints weighs in politically on immigration and its effects on families, on gay marriage, pornography and booze, you'd think education would be a moral and political issue the church would be concerned with. At the least, it should have its home teachers deal with a big child-rearing issue in most Mormon homes — reading at grade level. Appallingly, two-thirds of Utah third graders, including Mormon third-graders, don't read at grade level.

That will impact their future almost as much as their parents' being divorced.

Keith McBride

Park City