President Monson has 'Great Expectations'

When he taught a college course years ago, President Thomas S. Monson

of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints noticed some

students who worked hard to achieve their goals.

"Others," he said

Sunday night during a fireside broadcast for college-age church members

around the world, "were drifting on a sea of chance with the waves of

failure threatening to engulf them. First they became lazy, then

discouraged, then indifferent, then they dropped out."

Referring to the classic Charles Dickens tale, President Monson said he

has "Great Expectations" for young adult church members, and he

provided advice to those completing their educations, encouraging them

to prepare academically and spiritually for the rest of their lives.

School is critical, said President Monson, who earned two business

degrees and became a business executive at the Deseret News, because

the modern human resources director wants to know more than whether

someone will work hard. He or she asks potential employees about

degrees and computer experience and the contributions an applicant can

make to the firm.

"Learn the lessons which will help you meet the challenges of this

changing world in which we live," he told an audience of 17,926 people

at the Marriott Center on the campus of Brigham Young University.

Thousands more watched the Church Educational System broadcast via

satellite at church locations in North, Central and South America and

around the world on BYU-TV, BYU-International and lds.org.