Here's what I've never understood: Virtually every assembly has, as noted above, some experience of a teen turning down a scholarship, often to the strong protests of teachers or guidance counselors. The teen does this so he/she can pioneer. The last CA I attended even had a demo of a teen "standing firm" despite a guidance counselor telling him he had won a "free ride to to a prestigious university".
Um, hello? "Prestigious universities" don't go chasing after people waving money under their noses!
1) Unless you have taken the SAT and/or ACT tests, which are expressly and exclusively for the purpose of gaining admission to a university, the universities don't even know you exist.
2) In the vast majority of cases, you've got to actually apply for a scholarship for it to be offered to you.
So, in order to be "offered a scholarship", you've got to take at least 2 very firm & solid steps indicating a 100% desire to actually attend a university.
Does no one ever stop to think, "if this oh-so-spiritual teen, who was baptized at age 10 and has wanted to be a pioneer since age 12, really wanted to be a pioneer, why on earth was he giving every indication he wanted to go to college in the first place? And then slamming on the brakes in the last half of his senior year?"
It just doesn't add up.
Of course, given the anti-education stance that has been the heritage of JW history, most in the audience don't know all this, and so just lap it up.
