The speaker first starts with what he called the "alphabet soup" of degrees....A.A., B.A., M.A., Ph.D., etc.; he said they were nothing more than "sheepskins on the wall." One of his closing comments was that at Armageddon, educated people will be able to add a few more letters after their names...D.E.A.D.
Actually, I'm okay with this comment from the platform. Because the D.E.A.D. will have to include the WT lawyers who unethically (and unsuccesfully) defended the WT from child abuse lawsuits.
This is actually quite funny to me. My mother attended this convention in Tacoma that weekend, but coincidentally, attended my graduation commencement the week before. She is a very loyal JW, and I have had this conversation with her many times about higher education. She feels very differently about it than the WT. In fact, she even told me she's known several young ones recently who are attending a university (a four year university, not a technical college).
Believe me, the attitude of many witnesses has changed. I could see it before I left the borg in 2002. This is a new generation of dubs. All the seal clappers who attended will listen and nod their head in agreement, but come Monday morning, they carry on with their lives and business as usual, including attending college. The people of my generation (Gen X) pretty much do what they want. They strive for nice jobs, careers, family, cars, houses, and vacations. They only fit in the JW lifestyle as it fits them personally. This will only be more prevalent as Gen Y comes up through the JW ranks, if any of them are still in the org by then.