Is the student more qualified than the teacher?

by John Aquila 5 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  John Aquila

  What does the Bible really teach page 110…

  Why Does God Allow Suffering?

  The WT uses the illustration of a math teacher who is challenged by a student that the math problem can be worked out a different way. The math teacher steps back and allows the student to solve the problem on his own to show the class that the student is incapable of solving the problem. The student fails. The math teacher is vindicated and everyone is happy.

  Jehovah in like manner allows humans to rule independently without his involvement to prove they are incapable of ruling themselves. And that my friend is the reason why humans have killed thousands with atomic bombs, and hundreds of thousands have died in tsunamis, and millions are born with all kinds of defects, and thousands are killed in terrorist’s acts, etc.

  Aren’t you glad you know the TRUTH?

  But wait----------- the illustration is not correct.

  No one gets hurt in the math class.

  The illustration should be more like a Chemist showing students how to build a bomb with Sarin Gas. The student with no experience challenges the Chemist that the bomb can be built faster and better his way. The Chemist-Teacher allows the student to prove his point and steps out of the room and out of the building. The student blows up everything killing 50% of the students, maiming 25% of the students, and scarring the rest of the survivors with all kinds of sicknesses.

  The Chemist is an irresponsible idiot to allow an inexperience student to take control of the class and would be prosecuted by the authorities for allowing such a thing to happen.

  When you have time to think about it, the Watchtower’s illustrations suck.
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  maksutov

  Spot on.
  
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  prologos

  Besides, in the long run, the student always outsmarts the teacher, if not, we would be still swinging in the trees (apologies to evolutionists).

  The illustration proves the opposite. innovation spells progress, unless you want to have only "overlapping" natural law discoveries.

  or: have you heard of all the child prodigies, at Carnegie Hall, the math fests, the chess tournaments? by far surpassing all their teachers, who only dreamt to reach such achievements? and bask in the glory of their students?

  The illustration is meant to sift out critical thinkers, that wt does not want in their rank(s) and file.
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  NewYork44M

  As a professor I am highly offended by the illustration. Teaching is not about showing how much more you know than the student. The teacher should encourage experimentation. The student should work until the he or she gets it right. Eventually the student may figure out something that the teacher never thought of. - That is what education is all about.

  If the teacher is confident he or she will be thrilled to have a student figure out a new way of thinking.
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  TTATTelder

  It's even worse when you read it straight from the book:

  Let us consider an illustration. Imagine that a teacher is telling his students how to solve a difficult problem. A clever but rebellious student claims that the teacher’s way of solving the problem is wrong. Implying that the teacher is not capable, this rebel insists that he knows a much better way to solve the problem. Some students think that he is right, and they also become rebellious.What should the teacher do? If he throws the rebels out of the class, what will be the effect on the other students? Will they not believe that their fellow student and those who joined him are right? All the other students in the class might lose respect for the teacher, thinking that he is afraid of being proved wrong. But suppose that the teacher allows the rebel to show the class how he would solve the problem.

  Prologos may be right. Either they are trying to get rid of critical thinkers or trying to dumb down whoever gets a bible study.

  It is an insulting illustration either way.

  -TE

  
  

  
  
  
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  John Aquila

  Prologos may be right. Either they are trying to get rid of critical thinkers or trying to dumb down whoever gets a bible study.

  Or maybe the leaders of the WT are just stupid, ignorant fools.