Messages to Young People

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Thorough Mastery of Fundamentals

Never rest satisfied with a low standard. In attending school, be sure that you have in view a noble, holy object. Go because you desire to fit yourselves for service in some part of the Lord's vineyard. Do all that you can to attain this object. You can do more for yourselves than any one can do for you. And if you do all that you can for yourselves, what a burden you will lift from the principal and the teachers! MYP 184.2

Before attempting to study the higher branches of literary knowledge, be sure that you thoroughly understand the simple rules of English grammar, and have learned to read and write and spell correctly.... MYP 184.3

Do not spend time in learning that which will be of little use to you in your after life. Instead of reaching out for a knowledge of the classics, learn first to speak the English language correctly. Learn how to keep accounts. Gain a knowledge of those lines of study that will help you to be useful wherever you are.—Counsels to Parents, Teachers, and Students, 218-219. MYP 184.4