Utah high school blasted for sermon-like video blaming "sin of laziness" for mental health struggles

A Cedar Valley High School administrator used Christian rhetoric to spread bad information to his students

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A few weeks ago, at Cedar Valley High School in Utah, a video was shown to the entire student body featuring an administrator preaching a quasi-religious message. And it only got worse after that.

Assistant Principal Scott Mansfield told students that their biggest problems in life boiled down to them not working hard enough. His monologue, packed with Christian references, was part of a video that featured the school’s logo; in fact, Mansfield filmed it in the school’s production studio. It was later posted on Instagram by the official accounts for the high school and its AV department.

Hey, everybody. I’m so excited. It’s Friday afternoon at the end of school, and don’t we all love Friday nights and Saturday?

You guys, I’m going to talk about something really important today. In fact, it’s so important, I think I might get a little emotional when I talk about it, but here we go.

Guys, I am really imperfect. I am not the greatest human that’s ever lived. I have all sorts of weaknesses and flaws. I joke with [fellow assistant principal Bill] Sivert that I’m a loser. What do I mean by a loser? I lose things. I set things down and they disappear. I have all sorts of other flaws that I will not go into. However, I like to joke with people I know that I have a virtue, a strength that has helped me do all sorts of wonderful things in life.

My joke is that if there is a Heaven, when I get up to Heaven and they go to see if I can come in or not, they’re going to look at my list of sins and problems and weaknesses and say, “You’re not welcome here.” But on that list, the strength that I will have that might save me will be that I know how to work hard.

In other words, I will not have the sin of laziness on my list.

Now, that sounds a little arrogant, but there’s a truth about it. I can work with the best of them, and I know that for this reason. I have two full-time jobs, and I’m successful at both. You know, in ancient times, when they tried to make a gold crown or a gold ring or something, the gold was very imperfect. It was filled with flaws. And what they would do is they’d put it in a big pot and cook it at a super-high temperature, and all the impurities would float to the top, and then they would skim that off, and the resulting product would be purified gold or refined gold. But it took a lot of heat, a lot of work, to create that refined gold. That’s a process we call going through the refiner’s fire.

Work has enabled me to overcome almost all of my weaknesses and flaws. The simple ability to get out of bed and to get things done, to keep moving and pushing hard. You guys, you need to work hard. It will cover up almost all your weaknesses.

If you ever go to bed depressed or sad, guess what? You probably haven’t worked hard enough. If you’ve ever gotten a bad grade, you probably haven’t worked hard enough. If you feel really bad about yourself when you look in the mirror, you probably haven’t worked hard enough. If other people don’t think you’re awesome, it’s probably because you haven’t worked hard enough.

In summation, if you want to start fixing yourself, the easiest way to do so is to get out and do something. Get moving. It might be simple working out your body. It might be reading a book, which is a way of work. But it’s also in just getting things done—mowing the lawn, washing the dishes, making your bed, getting your homework done, getting a job, and just working hard.

I promise you that if you do that, you too will go through the refiner’s fire and be made perfect.

Thank you.

I can’t decide if I’m more offended as someone who supports church/state separation or as someone who has worked in a high school and cares about the mental well-being of students. Either way, it’s a horrible message.

Let’s start with the religion problem. While Mansfield wasn’t directly proselytizing, it’s downright weird to hear him deliver what appears to be a sermon (stripped of Bible references) about being an imperfect sinner who can still find his way into Heaven. Was anyone asking for that? No. Would the problem be more apparent if he didn’t make references to Christianity? Of course.

But the bigger issue here isn’t about the religious framing. It’s about the substance of what he’s saying. He suggests that any kind of mental health problem is the result of a bad work ethic—and nothing else.

There are kids who struggle with depression and you’d never know it.

There are kids who get low grades despite studying their asses off.

There are kids who feel bad about themselves when they look in the mirror because they’re teenagers and it’s awkward.

And there are kids who are not told they’re awesome because other kids are often bullies and assholes.

Assistant Principal Scott Mansfield delivers some very bad advice (screenshot via Instagram)

How can you be an administrator and not know any of that?!

How can a video like this be played for the entire student body without other adults stepping in to say, “Hey, maybe this is a very bad idea…?”

Even when the video was posted, a student chimed in with this message:

Okay i’m a student at [Cedar Valley] and i feel like this was the worst possible way to address this. So many people in my class when we had watched this looked around like what the heck. Like this and a bunch of other reasons is why kids leave CV and go to other schools.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation has now written a letter to the school district demanding answers and calling on administrators to make sure this doesn’t happen again. Though, sticking to their mission, they focus on the religion aspect and not on the irresponsible mental health rhetoric:

Here, Cedar Valley High School’s and Mr. Mansfield’s actions display blatant favoritism toward religion over nonreligion, and Christianity over all other faiths. Mr. Mansfield’s direct references to God, Satan, and “sin” cannot reasonably be interpreted in any way other than a promotion of Mr. Mansfield’s personal religion. Showing this video to students during class and posting the video to school social media violated students’ First Amendment right to be free from religious indoctrination and coercion in their public schools.

… Alpine School District must investigate and ensure that Cedar Valley High School promptly removes the video of Mr. Mansfield promoting his religious beliefs from the school’s social media. The school must additionally refrain from creating or showing students videos promoting religion going forward.

As I said earlier, the religious references aren’t the biggest problem with Mansfield’s message. The school should be ashamed if this is what one of its leaders is saying to students—you have to wonder what the counselors and social workers at Cedar Valley have to say about any of this.

This would have been bad enough if Mansfield just said this to a student in his office. But the entire institution broadcast the damn thing to children—with the school’s branding and through social media—so that it came across as authoritative. That stamp of approval matters. When a school elevates rhetoric that equates depression with laziness and suffering with a lack of effort, it doesn’t just miss the mark; it actively endangers vulnerable students. It tells them that if they’re drowning, it’s their fault for not swimming hard enough.

The religious overtones only deepen the damage. Even without overtly Christian messaging, the sermon logic is still there. It says that your pain can be erased if you buy into a certain brand of bullshit.

What’s sad is that most public schools do so much work to make sure students and staff are well-versed in mental health awareness. Just because someone looks happy on the surface doesn’t mean they’re okay on the inside, and just because someone’s depressed doesn’t mean there’s a quick fix to help them. You can’t meaningfully claim to support students’ well-being while platforming messages that erase trauma, dismiss depression, and reduce human suffering to a mere discipline problem.

Mansfield should apologize immediately and the district should apologize for allowing this message to go out to students. And all the people involved need to explicitly tell students what they plan to do for anyone seriously struggling with mental health issues. The answer better not include putting them to work.

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