Poll: Most education of a known convert

[RobinFinderson]

Consider all of the people you know who have ever joined the church. What was the highest amount of education attained by any convert that you personally know? To qualify, you need to know the person's name, and the person needs to know your name too. And to clarify a bit more, the education level needs to reflect the person's education WHEN s/he was baptized, and NOT what they did later in life.

[falafel]

Consider all of the people you know who have ever joined the church. What was the highest amount of education attained by any convert that you personally know? To qualify, you need to know the person's name, and the person needs to know your name too. And to clarify a bit more, the education level needs to reflect the person's education WHEN s/he was baptized, and NOT what they did later in life.

Why do they have to know my name? So if I saw this person speak at a Stake Conference and talk about the PhD in biochemistry they received before they were baptized, but he has no idea who I am it doesn't count?

[Art Vandelay]

Consider all of the people you know who have ever joined the church. What was the highest amount of education attained by any convert that you personally know? To qualify, you need to know the person's name, and the person needs to know your name too. And to clarify a bit more, the education level needs to reflect the person's education WHEN s/he was baptized, and NOT what they did later in life.

Phd in my current ward. His son who joined the church at age 11 was one of my favorite youth ever, he is currently serving a mission in Romania (though he was raised bilingual and speaks both English and Spanish flawlessly).

EDIT: Attending the sealing of this family has been one of the highlights of time as a bishop.

[RobinFinderson]

Why do they have to know my name? So if I saw this person speak at a Stake Conference and talk about the PhD in biochemistry they received before they were baptized, but he has no idea who I am it doesn't count?

It doesn't count for the purpose of this poll. I'm not interested in the fact that in some stake, a well-educated person has joined the stake lecture circuit in order to make other smart people feel more comfortable about their status in the church. This is about the people that we know personally.

For example, I knew a woman who joined the church when she and I were grad students. She has since left the church, but I still checked "Some grad school."

[Art Vandelay]

Not to quibble, but do you view a PhD > JD, MD, DMD, etc ?

[Indy Coug]

PhD: http://mormonwoman.org/2009/10/15/co...mily-part-two/

[MarkGrace]

We have some friends here and the husband is a convert. He got baptized as an undergrad at the UW and finishes med school at the UW this spring.

We have convert members of our ward that are phds, law grads, and one that was a rhodes scholar.

Of course I didn't know any of these people before meeting them in the ward, which is to say I didn't know them as non-members, but I do know them personally.

The most educated convert I knew as a kid was my best friend's dad. He joined the church at Yale (where he played football, ran track, and was a member of skull and bones -- his chosen nickname when he became a member was "Ammon"), left from there on a mission to Italy, went to BYU law, became our town mayor while working as a law partner, and is now a judge. Really remarkable dude and he wrote one of my letters of rec for law school.

Again I didn't know him as a non-member.

I guess the best I could come up with is a kid I knew from the law journal. He got baptized our 2L year. I did know him before he became a member and he invited me to his baptism.

[RobinFinderson]

Not to quibble, but do you view a PhD > JD, MD, DMD, etc ?

I have no idea what you mean by ">." PhD represents a different kind of education, usually more years than professional degrees, and with a different relationship with evidence and argumentation.

[falafel]

It doesn't count for the purpose of this poll. I'm not interested in the fact that in some stake, a well-educated person has joined the stake lecture circuit in order to make other smart people feel more comfortable about their status in the church. This is about the people that we know personally.

For example, I knew a woman who joined the church when she and I were grad students. She has since left the church, but I still checked "Some grad school."

Well, what's the purpose of this poll? It seems like the purpose is to show that not very many educated people join the church. Stated differently, that people who have already gained an education join the church in fewer numbers than less educated people. Or, stated even more crassly, that only uneducated people fall for that Mormon fairytale.

I'm sure you'll say that this is NOT the intended purpose of the poll, but I can't really think of any other legitimate purpose. It seems like a waste of time to start a poll to have us list our educated convert friends just to see how many educated convert friends we have.

[UtahDan]

I have spoken of her before, by my wife's friend who is our neighbor holds multiple graduate degrees and is finishing off her PhD. She teaches anthropology.

[TripletDaddy]

RobinFinderson, this is a poll FAIL.

Everyone sniffed out your transparent motives and the serious answers that you are getting don't support your biased premise.

Your best bet would be to delete this thread and start a new one. Try, try again.

[HuskyFreeNorthwest]

Sacramento, California resident Bob Miller PhD in Computer Sciences. Baptized December 1997 by Brent Barton, confirmed by Kaly Harward.

[RobinFinderson]

Well, what's the purpose of this poll? It seems like the purpose is to show that not very many educated people join the church. Stated differently, that people who have already gained an education join the church in fewer numbers than less educated people. Or, stated even more crassly, that only uneducated people fall for that Mormon fairytale.

I'm sure you'll say that this is NOT the intended purpose of the poll, but I can't really think of any other legitimate purpose. It seems like a waste of time to start a poll to have us list our educated convert friends just to see how many educated convert friends we have.

There can be no real purpose of this poll. I thought it was an interesting question, and that is all. Obviously any one of us could know fifty converts from high school, and one convert that had a PhD, and our answer would not reflect the average reality. Who knows? I just dropped what I thought might be an interesting question to see if any interesting insight came out of hte answers. That was it. As it stands, it appears that many people have known someone who has completed a PhD before they were baptized. I think it would be interesting to hear what these people had degrees in, to see if any picture of the 'educated convert' emerges.

This poll is sort of like an old polaroid, shot from the hip. We shake it gently and watch as an image appears. It will probably be crap, but who knows?

[falafel]

This poll is sort of like an old polaroid, shot from the hip. We shake it gently and watch as an image appears. It will probably be crap, but who knows?

Its crap. But don't stop taking pictures, Robin.

[YOhio]

Here's a very thoughtful article I found linked on Times and Seasons about a Stanford undergrad who converted to the LDS church.