| I have taught a lot of Mormons- and they are great kids, but really repressed. I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. I wouldn't want my own kids wound that tight. I have an older daughter who could BE a Mormon- in terms of behavior. But we didn't do a thing to her to get her that way. And then I have a younger daughter who'd probably have joined the Weathermen, if she could have. But we aren't trying for consistency. Mormons are extremely regimented- at least the ones who are active in their church. Our city, my students have told me, is divided into "wards"- and the kids of one ward socialize with the kids in that ward. Because one day as I was getting in my car I saw a bunch of them (coming from their after school teen Mormon activities) and I asked them the next day who was there- and they explained why so and so, from another ward, didn't belong to their group. They will date other Mormons who they meet at Mormon social events, they will all go to BYU, and they will have large Mormon families. I've been to a Mormon book group; I've got some Mormon "friends", and I really like my Mormon students- but I sure don't want to live the way they do. I just can't handle the regimentation. And because I know they like things so regimented, I'm not all that happy to see them in national politics. Unlike the Catholics, who assimilated, Mormons are not assimilators. You join them, or you are the other. I've never gotten that feeling about Catholics- who certainly have their own problems, but also have the sense of security an old established religion gives you. |
