Education has always been a priority in the Salt Lake City, Utah. In 1847 pioneer Jane Dillworth held the first classes in her tent for the children of the first Mormon families. By 1850 many schools had already sprung up around the valley, and there were plans for a school attached to every wardhouse. In 1851 the territorial legislature passed the first public school law creating the office of the superintendent of schools. Many large Mormon families, such as Brigham Young's, had their own schools, known as "family schools".
In the last part of the 19th century, there was much controversy over how children in the area should be educated. Mormon influence in public schools created problems with non-Mormon parents, and raised issues about public school supervision. Mormons became upset about the number of private Protestant schools popping up. The schools would offer free tuition to Mormon students in order to convert them. Westminster College, although now a secular four-year college, is the last remaining example of these schools. LDS Church members also resented non-Mormon influences in the public schools and began to focus once again on efforts to develop church-run schools.
Many Mormon youths in grades 9–12 attend some form of religious instruction, referred to as seminary. In years past students would attend during school hours and even receive credit for it. Although many still attend during school hours, they no longer receive any credit.
Due to high birth rates and large classrooms Utah spends less per capita on students than any other state. Money is always a challenge and many businesses donate to support schools. Several districts have set up foundations to raise money.
Brigham Young was an American religious leader, politician, and settler. He was the second president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1847 until his death in 1877. He founded Salt Lake City and he served as the first governor of the Utah Territory. Young also led the foundings of the precursors to the University of Utah and Brigham Young University.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, often informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a nontrinitarian, Christian restorationist church that considers itself to be the restoration of the original church founded by Jesus Christ. The church is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, in the United States, and has established congregations and built temples worldwide. According to the church, it has over 16 million members and 65,000 full-time volunteer missionaries. In 2012, the National Council of Churches ranked the church as the fourth-largest Christian denomination in the United States, with over 6.5 million members there as of January 2018. It is the largest denomination in the Latter Day Saint movement founded by Joseph Smith during the early 19th century period of religious revival known as the Second Great Awakening.
Richfield is a city in and the county seat of Sevier County, Utah, in the United States, and is the largest city in southern-central Utah.
Thomas Spencer Monson was an American religious leader, author, and the 16th President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. As president, he was considered by adherents of the religion to be a prophet, seer, and revelator. Monson's early career was as a manager at the Deseret News, a Utah newspaper owned by the LDS Church. He spent most of his life engaged in various church leadership positions and public service.
The Indian Placement Program, or Indian Student Placement Program (ISPP), also called the Lamanite Placement Program, was operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the United States, officially operating from 1954 and virtually closed by 1996. It had its peak during the 1960s and 1970s. Native American students who were baptized members of the LDS Church were placed in foster homes of LDS members during the school year. They attended majority-white public schools, rather than the Indian boarding schools or local schools on the reservations.
Leonard James Arrington was an American author, academic and the founder of the Mormon History Association. He is known as the "Dean of Mormon History" and "the Father of Mormon History" because of his many influential contributions to the field. Since 1842, he was the first non-general authority Church Historian for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, from 1972 to 1982, and was director of the Joseph Fielding Smith Institute for Church History from 1982 until 1986.
James Edward Talmage was an English chemist, geologist, and religious leader who served as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1911 until his death.
Joseph Francis Merrill was a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1931 until his death.
Martha Maria "Mattie" Hughes Cannon was a Utah State Senator, physician, Utah women's rights advocate suffragist, polygamous wife, and a Welsh-born immigrant to the United States. Her family immigrated to the United States as converts to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and traveled West to settle in Utah territory with other Saints. She started working at the age of fourteen. At sixteen she enrolled in the University of Deseret, now called the University of Utah, receiving a Bachelors in Chemistry. From there she attended the University of Michigan and received her MD. She became the fourth of six wives in a polygamous marriage to Angus M. Cannon, a prominent Latter-day Saint leader during the anti-polygamy crusade. Cannon exiled herself to Europe so she wouldn't have to testify against her husband. Upon returning to Utah, Cannon worked as a doctor and fought for women's rights. She helped put women enfranchisement into Utah's constitution when it was granted statehood in 1896. On November 3, 1896 Cannon became the first female State Senator elected in the United States, defeating her own husband, who was also on the ballot. Martha Hughes Cannon was the author of Utah sanitation laws and was a founder and member of Utah's first State Board of Health.
The Church Educational System (CES) of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints consists of several institutions that provide religious and secular education for both Latter-day Saint and non–Latter-day Saint elementary, secondary, and post-secondary students and adult learners. Approximately 700,000 individuals were enrolled in CES programs in 143 countries in 2011. CES courses of study are separate and distinct from religious instruction provided through wards. Paul V. Johnson, a General Authority Seventy, has been the CES Commissioner since August 1, 2019.
Karl Gottfried Maeser was a prominent Utah educator and a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He served 16 years as principal of Brigham Young Academy. Although he was not the first principal of the Academy, he is considered its founder. The Academy later became Brigham Young University (BYU) in 1903.
The basic beliefs and traditions of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have a cultural impact that distinguishes church members, practices and activities. The culture is geographically concentrated in the Mormon Corridor in the United States, and is present to a lesser extent in many places of the world where Latter-day Saints live.
Barbara Ann Woodhead Winder was the eleventh general president of the Relief Society of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1984 to 1990.
Adele Morris Cannon Howells was the fourth general president of the Primary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1943 until her death of rheumatic heart disease. She contributed to The Children's Friend magazine, as well as the fundraising for the Children's Primary Hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah.
John Rockey Park was a prominent educator in the Territory and State of Utah in the late 19th century, and in many ways was the intellectual father of the University of Utah.
West Ridge Academy, is a youth residential treatment center based in West Jordan, Utah, USA. It seeks to provide clinical services, education, and other programs for teens, both girls and boys, that are identified as at risk. Until 2005, the Utah Boys Ranch was male-only. In early 2005, it opened new, separate facilities for girls and changed its name to West Ridge Academy. It is a non-profit 501(c)(3) corporation under the name Children and Youth Services, Inc. The academy states that it provides "quality clinical services, education, and experiences which promote spiritual awareness, personal accountability and change of heart." The facility has received criticism for past abusive practices toward residents, including facing lawsuits in 2008, 2010, and 2012 by former students. In 2016, the application to transition West Ridge Academy into a charter school, named Eagle Summit Academy, was approved by the Utah Board of Education after including caveats to keep public and private funding separate in the school's budgets and to ensure the safety of the new charter school's students.
Dr. Esther Romania Bunnell Pratt Penrose was a leading figure in Latter-day Saint (LDS) and Utah culture during the late-19th-century and early-20th-century. She is widely known for being the first LDS woman to receive an MD degree and for being the first woman to be a medical doctor in the state of Utah.
The BYU Division of Continuing Education (DCE) is a division of Brigham Young University (BYU) that oversees continuing education programs.
The First Congregational Church of Salt Lake City, Utah is a Congregational church affiliated with the National Association of Congregational Christian Churches. Established in 1865, it was the first church not a part of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Utah. The congregation started Utah's first free public schools.
Education in Utah has a long history that has led to a more efficient education system throughout the state.
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