I know all too well the hypocrisy of the JWs. My mom became a JW when I was 4, but my dad never had anything to with religion. My husband was also raised in a JW home as well, his parents became JWs when he was also 4 years of age. Both our parents became JWs for the exact same reason because they were told that Armageddon would happen in the fall of 1975. They were actually teaching that lie at their assemblies, conventions, meetings, and publications. My husband was never interested, but he went along with what his parents to an extent, but was quite rebellious, and also was on the wrestling team at his high school. He made the mistake of getting baptized (at the age of 19) because of pressure from all his JW friends and family. A few years ago both he and I decided we didn't want to have anything to do with the JWs and we sent in a letter informing them of this decision. It was called Dissociation. Those who did this are treated the exact same way as those who are Disfellowshipped, with the shunning and all.
A couple of years after my husband and I left the JWs, one of his great uncles had a 75-year birthday party, and there was a lot of relatives there, including my husband's mom, dad, brother, and sister, all who are active JWs. His dad was even an elder at the time. What put a very bitter taste in my mouth was when it came to my father-in-law was he celebrated, and sang the happy birthday song right along with everyone else, but still that the balls to act like a "proper" JW in making a point in shunning us. I so wished I had a cell phone at the time and recorded him doing that, and see him in the hot seat. I was not the only one who took notice to that, all the other relatives there know that those people are JWs as well. That man has always been like that, he even celebrated Christmas. Yet he acts like I'm the one who's slime under his feet.
The JWs don't realize it, but they are in a cult, you can see that first hand on the way they label people who are not of their religion as "Worldly People". They say this to make those individuals as something that is bad for you. When I was in school, I use to know a few kids who played sports, although they were far and few. I move around a lot growing up, 63 different times, and 14 different schools from Kindergarten to my senior year. But one thing I did notice was those who wanted to do something that was not wrapped up in the JW world was looked down on. Some did go off to college, and the witness would say why would you waste your time doing that, the end is "Right Around The Corner". Assuming those kids are still alive, they would now be retired from their chosen profession or getting very close to retirement.
My biggest regret in life is I fell for their lies till I was 32. Looking back there were things I wished I had done instead. When I was a child I wanted to be a veterinarian, but I choose to put "Jehovah first", that still puts a very bitter taste in my mouth. I went the route of being a regular pioneer, and at that time it was 90 hours in field service a month of going to door to door, and bible studies with people, instead of doing what I wanted, and that was to fulfill my childhood dream. By the time I realized that was bunk, I check out what was required for me to make my dreams happen, but by then it was too late because I missed out on the right opportunity to make those things happen.
One thing that I'm glad that I did finally wake up at that age because my children were able to go on with their lives without the JWs telling them what they can and can't do. My youngest son is in his third year of college and doing very well. He's a very busy young man, going to school full time, working full time, and keeping his grades up. Now that your in High School, I'm not sure how much you know about this or not, but if you hear of AP classes (United States), those are Advance Placement Classes, meaning they actually give you college credit. My son took a lot of those, and by the time he was in his Freshman year in College, he already had that done. His first year in college he was actually in his second year and had all his math requirements completed. Because he was able to put his schooling first his whole College education is completely paid for, but he must still keep up his grade point average to make that happen.
I'm only telling you this to give you an idea on what's out there because you sure won't hear about it from any of those involved in the JW religion. One thing you can do is talk to your school counselor, and they can also give you some great advice on things you can do after graduation, and how to prepare for those goals. Also, talk to them about your mother's threat about pulling you from school, and back into home school. Your school counselor can also be of huge help when it comes to your education, and getting ideas on what control you have on your own education life.
