Those Written/Oral Reviews

by WTWizard 13 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

• 

  WTWizard

  I can remember those written reviews. You got them in the Kingdumb Misery inserts (potential to cheat on them). Of course, when you got to the Kingdumb Hell that night, you were supposed to write the answers on a separate sheet of paper. You were allowed to use the Bible but nothing else during the review. Of course, if you gave answers based solely on the Bible and not on Puketower litter-ature, you would get them wrong.

  I remember taking those things. You had 20 minutes to complete them. And what a waste of time it was! I used to go through the ones I was sure of, and then complete the others. The ones I didn't know, I would guess at the end of the time. That had to be the biggest waste of them all. Then, you would switch papers and correct them. Later, they had us correct our own papers. I couldn't figure out the purpose of doing this (aside the possibility that an apostate might take it and put blatantly incorrect answers on it, and then the person correcting it would get the doubts sown in them).

  Following this, they would go through the answers. That was a further waste. People in the audience were supposed to give the stock answers as comments, usually with little or no additional commentary. The conductor would give further commentary in the words of the Puketower Society. This was absolutely a waste of time, since there was no room for individual learning. The Tower has done all the thinking, and now they want us to recite it.

  How it has changed, I am not familiar. They did change it to an oral review, to which I have never been to a single one. I can imagine it is another comment session where the people are asked the questions by the conductor and they poll the audience for the correct answers. To me, that would be even worse of a waste of time. No wonder no one shows up for those things!
• 

  Bonnie_Clyde

  I remember when the written reviews were graded, we put our name on it and turned it in. The conductor would announce the highest score, don't think he gave the person's name. We didn't have an opportunity to study ahead of time, so our score depended on well we studied over the previous weeks and listened at the previous meetings.

  That made a few people stay home.
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  mrsjones5

  The only time you could sit in a silent hall and not hear someone say something stupid.
• 

  OnTheWayOut

  The Oral Review is a take-home test inserted in the Kingdom Ministry complete with where
  to find the answers. That way, you are expected to study and write down and then hear the
  exact answer they want you to think is the correct understanding. Reinforcement of doctrine.

  The Oral Review just skips the silent test-taking part of the meeting, as they are supposed
  to bring their answers with them (just as they did with the Written Review, anyway).

  The parroting of answers makes the participants feel so smart. They agree with whatever the
  WT literature told them.
• 

  drew sagan

  As people have mentioned, the only differance between this "test" and the Watchtower study is that you have to look up the answers you are going to repeat.
  
  It does a great job at making you think you have actually done real study!
• 

  kifoy

  I can remember those written reviews. You got them in the Kingdumb Misery inserts (potential to cheat on them). Of course, when you got to the Kingdumb Hell that night, you were supposed to write the answers on a separate sheet of paper. You were allowed to use the Bible but nothing else during the review.

  OMG! I had forgotten about that!
  
  I thought it was lots of fun, and looked forward to those meetings. No boring talks. Just a quiz, and I'm a playing person. I was not very old, so I don't remember the details, but I remember how disappointed I was when they changed it.
  
  Does anyone have to upload an example of how it was?
  
  kifoy
• 

  inkling

  ahhh, my favorite meeting. I miss the silent part. It was so peaceful, with all the rustling of papers and click of pens.

  I could let my mind wander without disstraction.

  I felt almost Quaker

  [k]
• 

  NeonMadman

  I guess it means I'm REALLY old, but I remember when the Written Review was more like a school test. It was a separate, printed form that was not included in the KM, and you received it when you showed up for the meeting. So there was no opportunity to prepare your answers beforehand, you just had to know all the material (much like a test in a real school). I don't recall that they were turned in for grading, but we did swap papers with someone nearby and grade each other's. There was, of course, the obligatory oral review afterward, and, as I recall, the TMS overseer was provided a separate answer sheet with additional commentary to be brought out. So in those days, there actually was some thought process involved; it wasn't just a matter of copying answers and reading them off like it is now.
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  kifoy

  Neon, do you remember when they changed it?
  
  I actually do remember that it was handed out at the meeting (that was the most fun, being given the questions beforehand was cheating, i thought ), but the room I remember sitting in when having these "tests", is the class room we used for our meetings in the 80s (maybe early 80s).
  
  But I can't remember exactly when they changed it. But I do remember that it was no fun anymore.
  
  kifoy
• 

  Steve_C

  Does anyone have to upload an example of how it was?

  Wow, I moved a couple of months ago, and during my packing I found one of my mom's old written reviews; I think it's dated from the late 60s or early 70s. I was a youngster at that time, and I remember liking those meetings, as it was more like school (somthing normal) and not like a regular meeting (something always unnatural feeling to me as a child).

  I'll have to look in my storage unit and see if I can find it. If so, I'll scan it and post the image for fun.