A friend of mind went to Elder school recently and I convoy the following for him:
The CO asked him previously if he could assist with a demonstration showing the superiority of WTBTS education to university education. My friend holds a few masters' degrees and will be starting a PHD program soon so the CO thought he would be an excellent candidate to demonstrate the superiority of WTBTS education, but there was a little problem my friend he said NO. He could not in good faith speak in front of individuals and tell them the WTBTS education was superior because their organization skills are not superior to that of what universities teach since many of the skills he posses in his administrative job were learned in college and therefore that translated to the success he has in his secular job. He also mentioned the organizational skills he has leaned in the truth are different and serve their need but he felt they were not superior to those of an university.
He told the CO that he was not going to bash higher education and the CO told him that that was not what he wanted but instead to point out how the organization skills he has learned in the truth are better than university education and they don't have the dangers that an university education have such as binge drinking, sex, drugs....
My friend told the CO that with regards to those dangers that statistically speaking that affects most demographics the same including witnesses that don’t go to school, because we have seen and been involved with some witnesses including us that have been involved in similar behavior.
The CO thank him and they ended their conversation, but a few minutes later the PO called him and asked if he would reconsider, he said that if it involved the same dialogue he would not, and so he didn’t.
So at the Elder school the individual that took the part my friend turned down was a real kiss up to the organization. He stated that even with a master’s degree he was not prepared to tackle the business world and that the public speaking and organization skills he acquired in the truth once he converted have really helped him succeed. The speaker from Bethel asked him what percentage he believed of his university education has helped him succeed in the business world and he said 10%. The brother continued and stated his year in college were completely useless and never found a job in the area he got his degrees in. Many chuckled and then the Speaker stated “You see brother’s school helped to be 10% ready for the real world aren’t we fortunate to be taught by Jehovah’s ORG. “
At the end of the school my buddy went up to the interviewee and told him he enjoyed his part and was interested to know what he received his bachelors and master degree in.
He said:
Bachelors- Liberal Arts
Master’s- Ceramic Arts with an interest in teaching pottery.
My buddy asked why he did not pursue a career in teaching pottery the interviewee said that he wanted to move back home and the only job opportunities were in Liberal Art’s Colleges on the East Coast and he wanted to live in a Metropolitan area so job opportunities were limited and very competitive.
My buddy felt the interview was a “set up” and the fact that there was no mention of his degrees was misleading.
After the session ended, my buddy purposely went out of his way to tell the Bethel Rep. he enjoyed the program (little did the Bethel Rep. know my buddy was being sarcastic) specifically about education. The Bethel Rep. pointed out that there are too many dangers in going to college and Bethel Service best serves our children.
I lived in a dorm for many years going to college with my buddy, and we saw more drinking, drugs, and sexual misconduct at witness parties than at the dorms. At least the people in the dorms did not drink on Friday night and preach on Saturday morning.