The Youth Survey is part of a multi-year study of how participation in Church youth programs affects long-term activity in LDS youth and young adults. Our unit was selected at random to participate. All active youth age 13 through 17 in attendance will have an opportunity to complete the survey.
The survey will be given to youth to complete on November 6, 2016 and November 13, 2016 during the 3rd hour. The intent is that all youth will take the survey on the first Sunday, Nov. 6. If some youth are not present on that Sunday, they will be given an opportunity to take the survey on the second Sunday, Nov. 13.
The survey will take between 20 and 30 minutes. Youth will seal their completed survey in an envelope so that their responses are kept confidential. Youth will take the survey in the [room].
A parent information sheet and form will be given to parents starting today and continuing for the next two weeks during the 2nd and 3rd block of Sunday meetings. You can also view a copy of the survey by contacting [person] at [phone number].
To me, it shows they are losing the youth when they grow up and grow a set.
Really think these are "random" or "anonymous"? Corporations & organizations have ways of tracking everything. I don't trust them as far as I could throw them.
Yeah, like the annual employee questionnaires we had to do years ago when I worked at Wallyworld - we had to take them on the clock, and on company computers. And they told us these were anonymous.
"And God said, let there be a survey taken of the youth in My church, so that I can find out whether or not they prefer Me or Beyonce. Amen." -- Book of MakeBelieve 3:42
I seem to remember another big survey, of temple going adults, a few years back...after which they significantly changed the temple rituals (like removing the death gestures). Clearly, God speaks to the LDS leaders through surveys...
With the tons of PH holders in church...there should be a lot of spiritual discerning going on. If this IS the case (and it is for some), the question of WHY they even need these surveys should come to mind... (but don't..)
"The Youth Survey is part of a multi-year study of how participation in Church youth programs affects long-term activity in LDS youth and young adults."
They have a problem with retaining people once they grow up and don't have to do what their parents forced them to do.
Its because the youth programs offer nothing beyond more diligence and obedience to the church. If you can find some fun and meaning in there, you're lucky.
As soon as they grow up and can decide for themselves, they opt out.
Contrast that with youth sports in a community. The focus is on the sport, sportsmanship, teamwork, accepting a loss, not gloating on a win, physical conditioning, etc.....all of which can really prepare someone for real life issues.
Many of those involved as youth end up volunteering as adults, being coaches, sponsors, etc....because it made an impact on them when they were young, taught them real skills and behaviors that were useful in the real world as adults.
With the church, its all about conditioning to church ideals.....nothing that helps an adult in the real world. That's why they leave the land of make believe that is mormonism when they decide to grow up.
The problem with a survey is unless you are willing to act on the results all you have is a pile of paper. I am guessing this will end up as a pile of paper.
I worked for a company that surveyed the minions once a month after a disastrous acquisition. The troops were really not happy. They would tell us that the results were NOT GOOD, but nothing ever happened. After a year of that foolishness I found a new job and left.
That's the beauty of Gawd-Appointed-Special-Witness-To-His-Name Church. They can issues surveys when everything is going into the $hitter. And then, is due time, do nothing different. Isn't it special? Isn't it wonderful!?
Weren't the 1990 changes to the temple endowment ceremony the result of a survey?
It seems to me that anyone who receives revelation from god wouldn't need any help figuring out why people hate going to the temple, or why youth go inactive. Even with no revelation, it's pretty easy to figure out.
I was at a social gathering where a TBM lady was complaining that 75% of their youth in the ward were inactive! And she just couldn't wrap her mind around that. I wonder if her teenaged kids will be taking the survey. ;-)
The clueless fossils continue to find ways to alienate and offend their own youth. Maybe I will create a corporate workshop just for them; How to Understand Pokémon Go.
Why don't they just pray for guidance? Isn't that what the apostles and prophet are there for? ;-)
Then they wouldn't have to waste all that time tabulating results or figuring out what to do about it.
But seriously: Is it really that hard to figure out that the teenagers just aren't buying it? Or that the church just isn't relevant or helpful in their lives? Or that they are tired of the conformity and guilt attempts? Or that the meetings are just freaking boring and the activities are kind of lame?
This is simply market research that is done by most large corporations.
The more interesting problem is how they will handle the answers they get.
LDS Inc has "doubled down" in its conservatism, many of us think, to coddle their largest donors. LDS Inc could have a revelation to allow homosexual persons to be married in their temples.
They will not do this, and will continue to by hyper secretive, hyper conservative, and hyper ass hats about it.
This does not sit well with their younger customer base, in a time when LDS Inc has unprecedented competition.
This will be an interesting dance for them.
Personally I think the old guys do not care that much because they know they will be dead by the time this really gets ugly.
The Church Leaks that recently came out exposed another church survey the cult had taken. The cult seems to rather like this way of operating, and if you think about it, they DO NOT like to talk in person with the peons, plus talking with a god or gods isn't happening, so I guess this is what they have left.
I'm sure they hope it gives the impression that the 15 fossilmen really, really care.
You would think they would have SOME inkling of why people are leaving in droves. They know the facts. So why bother with surveys? I don't get it. Is it so they can make the tiny, gestural changes to make it look like they give a d@mn? Like they did with the temple? Sure, just take out the death pantomime and we're good to go! That's not going to cut it here.
Edit to add: One thing I can be certain about. They won't spend a penny. No way they're going to invest in the youth.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/20/2016 05:14PM by Devoted Exmo.
My mom's visiting teacher says there are only two youth in the ward now. And the hard core old timers who moved here from Utah and retiring back to Utah. I seem to see an increase in guilting parents into keeping their kids overwhelmed with church activity and indoctrination. I think the extra push to indoctrinate the kids constantly is having the opposite effect. It's pushing them out faster. I imagine it is harming family harmony as well. Trying to make 21st century kids behave like 19th century Mormons is like asking your kids to trade-in their cell phone for two cans with a string between them. They're just laughing their heads off.
Thinking more about this survey thing, I do think the cult is between a rock and a hard place, which, of course, they and only they have created, because.....
1. Members of all sizes, shapes, and ages are leaving mainly because they now know how the church operates....with lies and more lies.
2. Youth are leaving and all the youth, whether staying or leaving, are not going to ever give up the Internet and social media.
What is the cult to do? I do think that they are hoping to come up with some rescue to their dilemma, something that they have missed and will jump out and bonk them on the head in these surveys. But, IMO, even if it hits them between both eyes and yells, the cult will not do, because it cannot still exist, doing what it needs to do.
Their controlling behavior is part of what forces the youth out. The info says Youth will be given the "opportunity" to complete the survey but it sounds like the youth who show up will be forced to take it because it must be completed in the room and everyone else will be taking it. You should let your kids know they can pretend to complete the survey, but not fill out any useful information and seal up whatever nonsense they write.
OMG! You decoded Mormon speak!!! "Given the opportunity" is code for "must do this or hell fire will be released". I find the word "voluntary service" often used to mean "mandatory drudge work". The phrase "opportunity for blessings" is another, yet stronger, code for "mandatory drudge work" but can include shunning, guilting, and heavy consequences when ignored.
Do the GA's know that their feeble attempts to disguise detestable practices with fake language has been discovered???? Who do they think they are fooling?
LDS Youth Survey--Multiple Choice! Check which answer most closely corresponds to how you think or feel:
1. When I grow up I want to be __ David Bednar's pool boy __ Mission President in East Herpes, Uzbekistan __ the first transgender Relief Society president
2. I wear my garments __ 24/7 __ three layers at a time __ on top of the male chastity belt
3. I never lie when I talk to the bishop because __ God will not be mocked! __ I'm usually hooked up to his lie detector __ lying gives me a woody
4. I want to marry a nice Mormon girl with big __ plans __ 401K balances __ jugs
5. I know the Holy Spirit is with me because __ suddenly I have to pee __ I cried during testimony without really trying __ those were great mushrooms
6. Ex-Mormon websites are controlled by Satan because __ the commenters mock that whole stone-in-a-hat thing __ the commenters have a sense of humor __ the commenters probably aren't wearing pants
"The Youth Survey is part of a multi-year study of how participation in Church youth programs affects long-term activity in LDS youth and young adults."
Can you imagine actually printing this at the beginning of the survey? Why didn't they just cut to the chase and write, "We need your help with our longitudinal study of the efficacy of various child brainwashing techniques on young adult retention for the purpose of increasing future income."
You know darn well that if a Catholic high school student told a mormon high school student that he, the Catholic, had to take a survey to see what changes would benefit the effort to keeps kids going to Mass, that the mormon kid would smirk and tell the Catholic something like, "Too bad you don't have a prophet who is in direct contact with ghawd...!"
I wonder how they spin it in defending against the accusation that their prophet must not have paid his seer stone payment?
My guess is that many of the youth will not answer truthfully. They are taking this in church. They too will live with the fear that they will be found out.
If it has to be filled out in the room, and parents are given copies prior, then most answers by most kids will be modified to fit watever narrative they already know (or are told outright), they're supposed to parrot. This improvement opportunity sounds a bit like those truth and improvement re-education campaigns the Chinese used to use, and the North Koreans still do. If you confess that you've seen cracks in the dyke, the dyke won't be corrected--but you and your thoughts certainly will be.
The problem was that I couldn't be honest with myself as an LDS youth. I was terribly conflicted between who I was "supposed to be" as a staunch LDS youth, and sometimes what I really thought and really was interested in becoming.
My point is that I'm not sure that the data they will be getting can point to whether a young Mormon person will remain active in adulthood. I, and I suspect many others posting here, were very active and tried to make things work. But, we discovered that the LDS Church had fundamental flaws that are difficult--perhaps impossible--to rectify, and that if one wants to be true to one's self and others remaining as fully committed member was not a viable option.