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This topic has been touched on before by another poster, however here are the main paragraphs of the second study article, taken from the October 1 st 2005 Watchtower.
Before I begin, remember this quote taken from an article published in the 1969 Awake!
“If you are a young person, you will have to face the fact you will never grow old in this system of things”
Keep this quote in mind when you read this article!!! Just remember, in the time since the Awake writer wrote that quote, you could have completed 9 four year degrees.
Also, bear in mind the stance on higher education the Society has, and how they insidiously made it an issue in a fictional account of Timothy and his friend Jonathan.
As you read, bear in mind, that in addition to the Internet, it seems that young people, adults as well, are giving the Watchtower a brain drain.
Parents – What Future Do You Want For Your Children?
“You young men and also you virgins…Let them praise the name of Jehovah.” – Psalm 148:12, 13.
1. What parents are not anxiously concerned about the future of their children? From the moment an infant is born – or even before – the parents start worrying about his welfare. Will he be healthy? Will he develop normally? As the child grows older, there are additional concerns. By and large, parents want only what is best for their offspring.
2. In today’s world, however, it is a challenge for parents to provide what is best for their children. Many parents have gone through hard times – wars, political upheavals, economic hardships, physical or emotional traumas, and so on. Naturally, it is their heartfelt desire that their children not go through the same things. In affluent lands, parents may see the sons and daughters of their friends and relatives move ahead in professional careers and enjoy seemingly successful lives. Thus, they feel compelled to do everything they can to ensure that their children too will be able to enjoy a reasonably comfortable and secure life – a good life – when they grow up.
And here the Watchtower set the stage for why young people go to college/university. They want to live a reasonably comfortable life? Anything wrong with doing that, and attending 5 meetings a week, and making the national average in the ministry? Plenty, read on to find out.
Choosing a Good Life
3. As followers of Jesus Christ, Christians have chosen to dedicate their life to Jehovah. They have taken to heart Jesus’words: “If anyone wants to come after me, let him disown himself and pick up his torture stake day after day and follow me continually. Yes, a Christian’s life does involve self sacrifice. Yet it is not a life of deprivation and misery. On the contrary, it is a happy and satisfying life – a good life – because it involves giving, and as Jesus said, “there is more happiness in giving than there is in receiving.”
Note the deception here. An attempt is made to harmonize being a Christian in the first century as having a happy and satisfying life, with a Christian Witness of Jehovah today, as also having a happy and satisfying life. The two couldn’t be more far apart than chalk and cheese.
Jesus said, “My yoke is kindly and my load is light”
Can you honestly say that the “yoke” of the Watchtower is light? With endless meetings, ministry and study and no programs of activity for young people?
4. People in Jesus’ day were living under very difficult circumstances. In addition to making a living, they had to bear the harsh rule of the Romans and the oppressive burden of the formalistic religionists of the day. Still, many who heard about Jesus gladly set aside personal pursuits – even careers – and became his followers. Were those disciples taking a risk and endangering their future? Note Jesus’ words: “Everyone that has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands for the sake of my name will receive many times more and inherit everlasting life.” Jesus assured his followers that the heavenly Father knew their needs. He therefore urged them: “Keep on, then, seeking first the Kingdom and his reighteousness, and all these other things will be added to you.”
Notice how the Watchtower carefully inserted the word “careers” when talking about what Jesus disciples gave up. Why would they do this? Is it because JW youths want to go to uni with the view of pioneering? Or is it because they don’t want to pioneer but would rather go to uni?
I have trouble too, with what Jesus said. There are millions of starving Christians who live on less than a dollar a day. What has Jesus done for them? Why should Jehovah’s Witnesses think they will get something when millions of people can’t even afford 3 meals a day, and yet they could be serving the same God.
5. Things are not very different today. Jehovah knows our needs, and those who put Kingdom interests first in their life, especially those pursuing the full-time ministry, have the same assurance that he will care for them. Some parents, however, are ambivalent in this regard. On the one hand, they would like to see their children make advancement in Jehovah’s service, perhaps in time entering the full-time ministry. On the other hand, considering the economic and employment situation in the world today, they feel that it is important for young ones to get a good education first so that they will have the necessary qualifications for a desirable job or at least have something to full back on if needed. To such parents, a good education means higher education.
And here, we get to the crux of the matter. The Society, blinded by their isolation in their ivory tower can’t see that times have changed, that both partners have to work to support a family, that the days of getting a well paying job with only a high school education are over, and that the rising cost of living is crippling some families who were formally considered well-off. Yet, they speak with a forked tongue – while acknowledging in word that “times are hard” they make no attempt to lighten the considerable load that they place on their adherents – and the enormous peer pressure to not go to college is only making things worse.
Is it really that great to be a struggling pioneer, to not be able to fill up the tank, to not buy new clothes, to not be invited with a group of friends who have the money to do things they can’t afford. Is it good to be without health insurance, life insurance and social security or a pension?
Preparing for the Future
6. The educational system varies from country to country. In the
And there you have it in black and white. Higher education is university education, and the Watchtower doesn’t want anyone taking this up. Trade school is about the most they will allow, and there is nothing wrong with a trade school. But look at the bigger picture here.
7. The trend today is for secondary schools or high schools to groom their students for higher education. To this end, most high schools focus on academic subjects that enable the students to score well in university examinations rather than on courses that will equip the students for the workplace. High school students today are under tremendous pressure from teachers, counsellors, and fellow students to aim for enrolment in the best universities, where they will hopefully earn the best degrees that can open for them doors to promising and well paying jobs.
Let’s rephrase this a little…
Witness students today are under tremendous pressure from parents, elders, and circuit overseers to aim for enrolment in full time service, where they will hopefully do well enough so that can open for them doors leading to Bethel service, Gilead service or International quickbuilds.
8. What, then, are Christian parents to do? Of course, they want their children to do well in school and learn the necessary skills for maintaining themselves in the days ahead. But should they simply let their children be swept along by the spirit of competition for material advancement and success? What sort of goals do they put before their children, either by word or by personal example? Some parents work very hard and save so as to be able to send their children to institutions of higher learning when the time comes. Others are willing to go into debt for this purpose. The cost of such a decision, however, cannot be measured merely in dollars and cents. What is the cost of pursuing higher education today?
My goodness – parents are actually helping their children to get along in the world. What a crime. Why can’t a youth be a dentist, a doctor or a lawyer. Who says every student is in it for the money? Why can’t they be a social worker, a nurse or a teacher?
What’s the matter with this religion?
The Cost of Pursuing Higher Education
9. When we think of cost, we usually think of financial expenditures. In some countries, higher education is government sponsored and qualified students do not have to pay fees or tuition. In most places, however, higher education is expensive and is getting more so. A New York Times Op-Ed article observes: “Higher education used to be regarded as an engine of opportunity. Now it’s certifying the gap between the haves and the have-lesses.” In other words, quality higher education is fast becoming the domain of the rich and influential, who put their children through it to ensure that they too become rich and influential of this system. Should Christian parents choose such a goal for their children?
Ah, here we are, crunch time. Let’s make the parents feel guilty for even thinking of sending their son or daughter to college. Have these unlettered men on the writing committee not heard of Pell grants, loans and scholarships? Have they not read accounts of how a poor youth from the inner city made it to Harvard? Again, the whole purpose of this article is to demonise higher education. It seems obvious that few are going to listen to the whim of such self-professed biblical scholars.
10. Even when higher education is free, there may be strings attached. For example, The Wall Street Journal reports that in one Southeast Asian country, the government runs a “pyramid-style school structure that unabashedly pushes the cream to the top.” “The top” ultimately means placement in the world’s elite institutions –
and
in
, the
in the
, and others. Why does the government provide such a far-reaching program? “To fuel the national economy,” says the report. The education may be practically free, but the price that the students pay is a life engrossed in advancing the present system. Though such a way of life is highly sought-after in the world, is it what Christian parents want for their children?
Just look at the loaded and implied language used.
is it what Christian parents want for their children?
By using the word Christian, rather than just keeping “parents” the Society are trying to induce fear and guilt into the minds of JW parents. And why do they mention only
and
. There are thousands of community colleges, which save thousands of dollars on the first two years of college. There are equally thousands of universities across the world.
They conveniently forget, that many colleges and universities have chapters whereby students can do community service for the benefit of many charitites.
11. Then there is the environment. University and college campuses are notorious for bad behaviour – drug and alcohol abuse, immorality, cheating, hazing, and the list goes on. Consider alcohol abuse. Reporting on binge drinking, that is, drinking for the sole purpose of getting drunk, New Scientist magazine says: “About 44 per cent of [university students in the
] binge at least once in a typical two-week period.” The same problem is common among young people in
,
,
and elsewhere. When it comes to sexual immorality, the talk among students today is about “hooking up,” which according to a Newsweek report ”describes one-time sexual encounters-anything from kissing to intercourse-between aquaintances who’ve no plans to even talk afterward.” Studies have shown that from 60 to 80 percent of students engage in this kind of activity. “If you’re a normal college student,” says one researcher, “you’ll do it.”
So, if you go to college you’ll get drunk and have one night stands. Funny the other 20% didn’t do this. They forget, that there are students of other faiths who do not engage in these practices.
funny, the Society quote from the Time magazine a lot, yet they somehow overlooked the fact that not all students are into sex, drugs and rock'n'roll..... http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1056294,00.html Faith and Frat BoysCan devout Christians reconcile their beliefs with college culture? A look inside one campus By JEFF CHU/BLOOMINGTON
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12. In addition to the bad environment, there is the pressure of schoolwork and examinations. Naturally, students need to study and to do their homework to pass the exams. Some may also need to hold down a job while going to school. All of this takes a great deal of their time and energy. What, then, will be left for spiritual activities? When pressures mount, what will be let go? Will Kingdom interests still come first, or will they be put aside? The Bible urges Christians: “Keep strict watch that how you walk is not as unwise but as wise persons, buying out the opportunities for yourselves, because the days are wicked. How sad that some have fallen away from the faith as a result of succumbing to the demands of their time and energy or of getting entangled in unscriptual conduct at college!
Yep folks, here it is. Let’s read it carefully…..
What, then, will be left for spiritual activities?
When pressures mount, what will be let go?
Will Kingdom interests still come first, or will they be put aside?
And this really is it in a nutshell. JW youths who are college students are leaving the organization. The brain drain continues.
The alternatives to higher education were covered in a previous post.