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This story originally appeared in the Daily Universe on Oct. 12, 1979
Members of BYU branches have recently been instructed to limit family home evenings to an hour and MIA to an hour-and-a-half.
?The family home evening was being abused,? said DerMont Bell, president of the BYU Second Stake. ?Students weren?t spending enough time on their studies.?
The policy is nothing new, added Bell. Rather, it is a reiteration of the ?old standard,? he said.
According to David H. Yarn, president of the BYU Eighth Stake, ?it used to be the students would spend all of Monday night on family home evening, Tuesday night on MIA, Friday and Saturday nights on social activities and Sunday night going to church. This left only Wednesday and Thursday nights for studying.? The General Authorities recognized the purpose of coming to BYU is primarily to get an education, Yarn continued. Church leaders realized MIA and home evening activities were infringing on the time needed to gain academic competence, he added.
Yarn said the Church sent down a General Authority to meet with the stake presidents. ?We were given explicit instructions,? he said.
A sampling of family fathers and MIA coordinators showed most of them are in agreement with the time limitations.
Larkin Le Suer, a family father in the 34th Branch, said he thinks an hour is about right.
?If you go over an hour, things start to happen,? said Le Suer. ?You lose the spirit.?
?We used to go an hour-and-a-half, but since we limited ourselves to an hour, the quality of our family home evening has improved,? he added.
Richard Peterson, MIA coordinator for the 43rd Branch is ?in complete agreement with the policy. Sometimes our MIA will last only an hour because studies are important.?
All of those interviewed said they were able to study two to three hours more a week since the time limitations went into effect.
In addition, they said the restrictions had little or no effect on the quality of family home evening and MIA activities.
