wherein he said as of last year he no longer requires his students to write a paper at the end of term. The reason being that if he did, no one would pass his classes anymore. They can't put words together to make a premise or argument. They simply cannot do it. The last time he required it he said the highest grade he gave was a B, but it should have been a D. He was worried about the human mind being able to even understand God and the gospel as it requires a certain degree of contemplation which is going out the window as distractions decrease humans abilities to focus on one item long enough to find a solution. (You can Google it...) He decries how students will pull out a phone and start thumbing through it, even when he as their professor is having a one on one conversation with them!
My own way of explaining the good we derive from putting into words what we are thinking is that our minds are like a washing machine full of clothes. ( the old fashioned washing machines that you can open the lid and add items while it agitates.) You look in it, and see the clothes all twisted, surfacing and disappearing, amidst the foam. You can't really find, or know, what has been thrown in there because it is a squirrelly mess, but telling another person your thoughts, (or putting them down on paper) is akin to when you take the tangled mess out, and pin 'em up on the clothesline. Then you can recognize at a glance what you have, and what you are missing. "Where is the match to that sock! etc.
I heard a lecture by Professor Scott Oliphant ( I believe this was it: https://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=99106132020520 )
wherein he said as of last year he no longer requires his students to write a paper at the end of term. The reason being that if he did, no one would pass his classes anymore. They can't put words together to make a premise or argument. They simply cannot do it. The last time he required it he said the highest grade he gave was a B, but it should have been a D. He was worried about the human mind being able to even understand God and the gospel as it requires a certain degree of contemplation which is going out the window as distractions decrease humans abilities to focus on one item long enough to find a solution. (You can Google it...) He decries how students will pull out a phone and start thumbing through it, even when he as their professor is having a one on one conversation with them!
My own way of explaining the good we derive from putting into words what we are thinking is that our minds are like a washing machine full of clothes. ( the old fashioned washing machines that you can open the lid and add items while it agitates.) You look in it, and see the clothes all twisted, surfacing and disappearing, amidst the foam. You can't really find, or know, what has been thrown in there because it is a squirrelly mess, but telling another person your thoughts, (or putting them down on paper) is akin to when you take the tangled mess out, and pin 'em up on the clothesline. Then you can recognize at a glance what you have, and what you are missing. "Where is the match to that sock! etc.