I invite JWs reading this site to consider the following.
In contrast to the negative message about college (and seminary education) which Rutherford wrote in his Children book (copyright 1941), he wrote positive things about college (and public/common education in general) in his Harp of God book (copyright 1921, edition of 1928). The positive message about education (and an increase of knowledge) is on pages 237 - 238 (in Chapter IX called "Our Lord's Return"). There it says the following (as transcribed at http://www.strictlygenteel.co.uk/harp/harp9.html ).
'402 When, that time should arrive, what was to be
expected? Jehovah answers: "Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge
shall be increased." (Daniel 12:4) From and shortly after 1799, the date
of the beginning of "the time of the end", we should expect to find an
increase of knowledge, particularly with reference to the Bible. Prior
to that time the people had been kept in ignorance of the Bible. It was
the practice of the Papacy to forbid any one aside from the clergy class
to have access to the Bible; in fact, it was made a crime under the
Roman law, subjecting the offender to heavy penalties for having in
possession a copy of the Bible. In 1799 the beastly power of Rome,
predominated by the Papal system, received a deadly wound. The people
had been taught to believe in the divine right of kings to rule and the
divine right of the clergy to dominate the conscience of the people.
When Napoleon took the Pope a prisoner and carried him away to France,
and when later he refused to permit the Pope to crown him as king, but
put the crown on himself and treated the Papal claimed authority with
contempt, this began to open the eyes of the peoples of earth, kings as
well as people, to the fact that Papacy did not possess the divine right
it claimed.
403 A short time thereafter the first Bible
societies that ever existed were organized. The British and Foreign
Bible Society was established in 1803; the New York Bible Society, in
1804; the Berlin-Prussian Bible Society, in 1805; the Philadelphia Bible
238
Society, in 1808; and the American Bible Society, in 1817. The Bible was
translated and published in many different languages and sold at such
low prices that the poor could have access to it, and within a short
time millions of Bibles were in the hands of the people. The Papal
system denounced these Bible societies as "pestiferous Bible societies".
The time had come, however, for an increase of knowledge and the Lord
was fulfilling his promise by putting it within the reach of those who
were hungry for truth. The people began to learn that God is no
respecter of persons; that kings and popes, priests and the common
people alike must all render their account to the Lord and not to man.
404
From that time forward there has been a great
corresponding increase of knowledge in all the sciences; and in fact,
in all lines of learning. The common school, always opposed by the
Papacy, has afforded a means of general education and increase of
knowledge for people in all walks of life. Colleges and universities
have sprung up throughout the world. With the increase of knowledge on
various lines have come the numerous inventions that man now has, time
and labor-saving machines, etc.'
I invite readers to ask themselves the following questions?
Did Rutherford believe in what he wrote (and copyrighted in 1921) about colleges and universities, in his Harp of God book? If so, did he later change his view to that which he stated in his Children book (and copyrighted in 1941)? Did he ever really completely believe that which he wrote in the Children book about college education and seminary education (see an earlier post of mine)?
In determining your answers to the above questions, consider the following words of Charles Taze Russell from Volume V of his Studies in the Scriptures series (as transcribed at http://www.strictlygenteel.co.uk/atonement/atonetitle.html from an edition published in 1915 of his book copyright in 1886).
'Christian people are becoming more and more awake to the fact that a
great tidal wave of unbelief is sweeping over Christendom; — not the
blasphemous atheism voiced by Thomas Paine and Robert Ingersoll, but the
cultured kind represented in the scholarship of our day, which makes
the danger all the more insidious.
Not only are the great Colleges and Seminaries undermining the faith of
the better educated, but the Common School books, and especially those
used in the High Schools, are similarly inculcating a distrust in the
Bible, a contradiction of its teachings. For a college graduate of
to-day to declare his faith in the inspiration of the Scriptures would
bring upon him the scorn of his companions — a scorn which few would
court, or could endure. At very best, a few will be found to claim that
they believe that Jesus and his Apostles were sincere, though they
blundered in quoting from the Old Testament as inspired.
Such a belief in Jesus and his Apostles is no belief at all; for if
present-day "higher critics" are wise enough to know when and where our
Lord and his Apostles! erred in their quotations from the Old Testament,
then these wise men of our day are our proper guides, — more inspired
than Jesus and his Apostles.
Our Society, realizing the need, is seeking to do all in its power to stem the tide and lift up the Lord's "standard for the people."
It has prepared six sets of Bible Studies (of which this volume is one)
for Christian people of all denominations to use in lending a helping
hand to all perplexed inquirers with whom they may, by God's providence,
come in contact. These are supplied at bare cost, and can be had direct
from the Society's warerooms or of its colporteurs, who are gradually
reaching forth these helping hands far and near. These valuable
"studies" are supplied at little more than one penny each; — 15 of them
well bound in a cloth case, embossed in gold, for 1s.'
I have read from Russell's volumes of his Studies in the Scriptures and for me personally they (volumes 1 through 6) are not very interesting. In contrast, to me some of the books written by Rutherford are much more interesting (but some other books by Rutherford are very offensive to me and have an exceptionally angry tone), though not necessarily more correct in what they say.
