Maximus,

: "This is the first of three Service Meeting parts that will review Scriptural principles related to supplemental education"

"Scriptural principals" related to supplemental education?" ROFLMAO!!!

: Oh, yes. There is a four-pager in this km titled "Can You Make Yourself Available?" All about Bethel service. A "special call is going out to those can make themselves available. Are you ready to respond with a willing spirit, similar to that of Isaiah?"

Well, there you have it! The society is definitely interested in having its younger members get a higher education! After all, pushing brooms and cleaning toilets for four years is the equal of an accredited college degree. Nate said that and he would have never lied to us, would he?

Farkel

After graduating from high school, I was contemplating entering university. At the time I was living with my mom (she wasn't a JW), and she was married to a university proffesor. In the province of Ontario here in Canada, that meant that I could go to the same university that he taught at...for free.

However, the elders in the congregation I was attending, strongly discouraged me, even insinuating that I wouldn't be allowed to play baseball with them on Sunday afternoons, or hockey in the winter.

Sometimes I still feel numb from some of the things I went through while trying to be a "faithfull JW".

Peter Stride
Toronto, Canada

Maximus:

I appreciated your post – since I don’t get a KM anymore, I have no idea what current crop of crap is being served up in that not to be missed newsletter.

Though your questioned was posed sarcastically, the answer is: of course they haven’t changed, and on this topic they never will. Highly educated slaves have never been in wide demand. Although there are exceptions of course.

In my area, the game for parents who want to see their kids get an education is the old “you can go to school if you pioneer” dodge. How sad to think that many will sacrifice their children’s future to avoid looking “weak” to the congregation. Even just a few years ago, it was considered an open challenge to the authority of the slave to seek a university degree. I suppose it makes you look like you don’t REALLY believe the end is near, or at least you’re hedging your bets, ha, ha.

Yes, the WTS is a rather all or nothing bunch. If the ship is going down, it’s going down with all hands on board.

Bon Voyage.

Hello, Maximus (loved Gladiator, btw),

I'm with think41self on this issue -- this is a very touchy subject for
someone like me who was raised in the truth and has now reached
middle age. Although I finally enrolled in school last summer, it will
be years before I get a degree since I have so many other obligations,
and the degree is likely to do me no good. But hey, learning is fun, and
I love the classroom environment.

What I'd like to know is does the Society really expect the r/f to swallow
the direction to forsake a college education in this day and age? Has
there been no real growth in understanding over this issue? We have
entered the information age, and along with an economy that has forever
changed the way business is done globally, the days of getting out of high
school and going to work at the local factory is over. When I graduated
from hs in '76, there were places where one could hope to go to work and
feed a family, but many places like that have disappeared or readjusted
for the global economy. When once a hs diploma was needed, now a degree
is a must before one can even get an interview with a prospective employer.

Secondly, I wonder how the information will be received by young ones, or
by their parents. I wonder how widespread the notion is of "waiting on
Jehovah."

peace,
todd~who's been inactive for years

Whoops - wrong thread. My apologies.

the society's new views on higher education simply mean that the part will end with, 'yes, those graphic design courses that i could complete in one year will be the best way for me to get employment that will help me pioneer.' rather than having the youth pioneer straight out of high school.

mox

For most exJWs, and many currently still inside, this is the single-most excruciating issue affecting them--not only income, but intellect and personal satisfaction.

It's about hypocrisy, however subtle.

How many times have you had persons tell you, "Show me, chapter and verse, where the Society says it is not in favor of higher education. That's another lie apostates have made up." The whole district convention this year would have outsiders think it's all about education.

A poster above says the service meeting outline is purposefully vague. Of course it is. The Society can point back years from now and say it was your decision to make. But read it carefully. You've heard it all before.

It's about control, isn't it.

::What I'd like to know is does the Society really expect the r/f to swallow
the direction to forsake a college education in this day and age? Has
there been no real growth in understanding over this issue?

Yes they do, and no there has not been. That's the ugly fact, no matter how much poking our heads in the sand. Go for it, teejay.

Maximus

Thanks for the post Maximum - I don't think there are many posters who would not feel some regret about this.

teejay you wrote I also went back to study and eventually got a degree. It doesn't do me that much good, I'd make more money doing what I did before. But the journey of learning is wonderful just for its own sake. One thing the Borg did teach that I found helpful was the ability to study. Like the others, I say go for it, it is really worth it.

Cautious

For me it isn't a question of their policy and whether it is carried out exactingly or totally ignored.

But the Society takes the public position they are not negative on higher education. And many gullible newer ones tell you this policy is not in The Watchtower. Well, here it is.

That's hypocrisy.

Maximus

The hard-liners at Bethel absolutely support the position in the km Service Meeting cited. They have no younger children to be concerned about anyway. Others are totally insulated, and any feedback they get says, "This is just what we need."

Others are very pragmatic and understand the dilemma: a goal of all institutions of "higher education" is to develop the student's own abilities to think critically, and when that skill is exercised the young person has eyes wide open to flaws in doctrine and organizational philosophy. Sometimes the pendulum swings to a disillusioned atheism, with others there is a pursuit of other forms of spirituality. With some there is a relentless pursuit of what is really taught, say, in theological seminaries, who find out that the choice is not the false choice between a narrow fundamentalism or atheism but something far more satisfying.

The pragmatists clearly understand they must be less hierarchical for a number of reasons, if nothing more than legal protection.

I know at least one CO who left the road to have children, then when they got to the crucial age just dropped all pretense and sent all of them off to college. Paid a huge price, because the locals were very rigid. The congregational fall-out was severe, led to a witchhunt to get something on the guy. 'Must be doing something bad secretly to violate the Society's policy.' It was sick. The kids are not JWs today, but deeply spiritual. The family is very, very close.

I've talked to a lot of older COs who today are privately very bitter. One is having a real crisis with depression as the direct result, he feels, of not paying attention to the cognitive dissonance and just ignoring it. 'I stood up on that platform and said things I did not believe but did it because I was so very trapped.'

Alcohol abuse is a real problem both on the road and at Bethel. Guess why?

When you get a Service Meeting like this, hard-liners rejoice. But let me tell you the Society has a huge problem on its hands because of this attitude. MANY men on the road will take a look at stuff like this and say, "You told me things were going to get better. I deal with stuff like this every week, and you give me three weeks of unreal demonstrations and unreal approaches, yet tell me it's really up to the individual. And then you expect me to pick up the pieces when numbers fall off, bringing my butt into a refresher course and telling me it's all my fault!'

This battle has been going on internally for years. A few more liberal phrases or articles can be sprinkled on some publication, but all it takes is one hard-line piece to push the publisher guilt button. That's where the subtle control mechanism kicks in.

Hope springs eternal, for some. But that number dwindles.

Maximus