Gems from the Watchtower of October 15, 2013, page 16, paragraph 15:
What is the atmosphere in many of this world’s institutions of higher education? Are they not at times hotbeds of political and social unrest? (Eph. 2:2)
WTF? When was the last time an "institution of higher education" was a "hotbed of political and social unrest"? I can recall the Kent State massacre which occurred at Kent State University in the U.S. city of Kent, Ohio. That was May 4, 1970. Students had beenprotesting US involvement in Vietnam and Cambodia.
By contrast, Jehovah’s organization provides the highest form of education in the peaceful setting of the Christian congregation. Each of us has the opportunity to benefit from the weekly Theocratic Ministry School.
Okay, I'm calling bullshit on this. The Theocratic Ministry "School" is not really a school, especially since the WT geniuses forbid the TMS Overseer from giving anything but "praise." The "Work-on-it" option at least allowed some semblance of teaching, but with that gone the "school" is nothing more than an indoctrination session where individuals parrot WT theology, often using verbatim quotes. Original thinking is most definitely NOT encouraged; in fact, it could get you into trouble.
I've posted this before, but whenever I see the WT perpetuating the completely erroneous and delusional notion that "studying" WT publications is somehow equivalent to a university education, or--as this particular WT article ridiculously asserts--is even higher than a Higher Education, I just gotta' call bullshit!
Here once again for your edification and enjoyment is my short editorial on the subject:
DEAR POOR MISGUIDED JW: You Are Not a Teacher:
Teachers, that is to say real, professional teachers, are highly trained and go through a rigorous program of education relative to their area of subject matter expertise and also undergo an intensive supervised internship program before they are allowed to teach a kid how to add 2 + 2. Consider this:
How many years of formal training in subject matter content have you had? Have you studied Language, Math, Science, History and the Arts at a post-secondary level? How many university level courses have you taken on child-development? Best teaching practices? Curriculum development and implementation?
Were you observed for a year on a daily basis by Master teacher? Did you have a doctorate level professor evaluate that internship and advise you on your strengths and weaknesses? (All of this, or similar, is required in most states in the U.S. before a teacher can be licensed).
After you were hired for your first assignment, did you then have an on-site colleague serve as your mentor for another year, observing you on a regular basis and providing written evaluations that were also submitted to the school administration and the county office of education? Were you additionally evaluated by an administrator periodically to look for any other weaknesses that might have been missed in any of the previous processes?
Did you participate in a two-year long post-graduate program run by the state department of education to oversee all new teachers and ensure that you were thoroughly familiar with and well-versed in all the best-practices known to the profession?
I'm guessing the answer to all these questions would be, "No."
As I said, unless you can answer "Yes" to all of the above, then you are NOT a teacher.
