- "3:25 Beware of Overconfidence! "
So that's part of the reason why my confidence was shot to shit. This is the ONLY time I've ever heard of confidence being a bad thing.
2009 Circuit Assembly Program - Devil's crafty acts in "education"
by truthseeker 52 Replies latest jw friends
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Nosferatu
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yknot
Actually, you're absolutely right: It is no different than the work place. Holy christ, that'll be the next agenda on the Circus ASSembly:
Symposium
9:30-12:00 noon: Satan's Crafty Acts: How He Tries Seducing You
- in the workforce
- at the movie theatres
- at the McDonald's drivethru
Mary you are a riot !!!!
Excellent !!
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zagor
University teaches you how to think critically, how to examine a belief by starting with no preconceived ideas and in your essays you are expected to research A LOT from various sources, not just the Craptower literature. The end result of course, is usually that the person comes to realize that the Organization is a cult and they leave. That's why they are constantly coming up with these ridiculous symposiums linking higher education with "Satan".
I agree with you, in principle that is the idea. But I've seen many people who leave university and never learn how to think critically for themselves, I've got some of them in my closer family. On the other hand you can meet people who "lack" university education but are very much natural geniuses who learned to THINK through their life experiences. I've recently met someone who is just like that and every day I'm in awe of this person's wit, intellect, character and depth of thinking.
What university does for you at best, (unless you go for PhD, but even that again, is not a license per se), is focusing on honing your technical skills of whatever sort you chose, it doesn't make you a better man or a woman, nor is the diploma a proof positive that someone has well build cognitive abilities. While I completely agree with you on WTS needing to f... off as far as freedom of choice is concern (in any field) I would strongly disagree that University education necessarily leaves one with ability to think critically.
It is really up to person's character in the end whether they love to be spoon-fed or are of the sort that don't hesitate to question anything. These are the kinds of people that paved the way through the history and made changes that very often challenged established and accepted way of thinking bringing freshness and uniqueness that was so often also a mark of their character.Academia is a very conservative place of its own that doesn't easily allow for changes, and many great ideas have gone unnoticed precisely because of that hardened attitude. So even within academia setting some of the greatest ideas, lets say in physics, took years to be fully accepted. In early, 1900, great majority of physicists didn't even believe atom existed. Which in the end led Ludwig Boltzmann, one of the main proponents of atomic theory to commit a suicide, being only one example but there are so many more.
I think entire educational system will need a shape up in coming century if we are to prevail as a civilization, we teach kids technical way of thinking be it engineering or art and basically educate them out of creativity and freedom to question established and accepted ideas.
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Mrs. Fiorini
Several posters mentioned that colleges are not the only place where you will find immorality, drugs and alcohol and I agree completely. I think the real issue with drugs, sex, etc. is age. Most college students are in their late teens and early 20's and are experimenting with different things, learning to be adults and making their own choices. Wherever you find large groups of young people you will find the same thing. When I was in my teens and 20's and worked in restaurants there was plenty of it. Parents aren't protecting their kids from it by keeping them from college. Their kids are going to be exposed to it anyway. The WT uses this as an excuse to scare parents and their children from going to college for there own manipulative purposes.
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WTWizard
I remember when I was in college. Back then, beer was about it. They had a bar on campus, and people would get drunk all the time. However, I never did see illegal drugs on campus. It also seems the people that got drunk all the time wound up flunking out--most people only got drunk after major exams.
These days, you would be hard pressed to find beer on campus. Most people living there are between 18 and 22; the legal drinking age is 21 in all 50 states. Back when I was in college, it was 18. All that was needed then was university ID--with it, you could get all the beer you wanted. But now, those on-campus bars are closed because it's too much of a hassle to check to make sure people are at least 21. That makes it that much harder to get beer on campus--also, the beer parties (where anyone can get beer) are gone.
Along with the demise of the beer party, the "dry" parties have popped up. They serve things like ice cream and soda pop instead of beer. Oh yes, you are still going to find people that manage to bring beer in and have beer parties. But they have to watch out for the residence advisors (another name for those who are assigned to check up on things) that usually do not want to see the alcohol or do not want to see it served to underage people. That tends to keep things in check.
Ditto for smoking weed. I never saw anyone smoking weed while I was on campus (I have, however, seen people smoking weed right in the territory). I guess either they didn't smoke weed or they kept their weed to themselves and didn't get caught. Actually, the penalties are pretty stiff. Anyone getting caught with drugs (or alcohol, if they are underage) can get separated from the university. That is a pretty serious deterrent to most people bringing in drugs. That is not the case with the neighborhoods where most witlesses live and preach in.
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VM44
Why does The Watchtower when writing any "a balanced view" article on any subject always ephasizes the negative aspects?
Is that really presenting a "balanced view"?
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kzjw
Someone took notes of this assembly and posted it on another site...can anyone help me find this information?
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cabasilas
A mp3 of the symposium of lectures has been uploaded (with permission of Shepherd Book) to the Internet Archive:
http://www.archive.org/details/StandFirmAgainstDevilsCraftyActs
The section on Education is particularly repulsive!
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jabberwock
I really liked your post zagor and even though it's 8 months later I would like to respond.
But I've seen many people who leave university and never learn how to think critically for themselves...What university does for you at best...is focusing on honing your technical skills of whatever sort you chose...I would strongly disagree that University education necessarily leaves one with ability to think critically.
Unfortunately, I have to agree with you. When it comes to a college education you only get out what you put into it. Many young people are only looking for job training, which is very important, but they ignore many of the other learning opportunities that can be had. Fortunately, many universities and colleges require that all students enrolled in a degree program take a certain number of credits in the humanities, social sciences, and the "hard" sciences as well. The more exposure to these subjects a student gets the less likely they are to be taken in by pseudo-scientific or pseudo-historic claims. Once a student, especially one who is a Witness, understands how scientists, historians, and other scholars arrive at their conclusions they are less likely to believe that they are all prejudiced know-nothings with hidden agendas.
Whatever the field of study you will most likely be required to consider a subject from a variety of viewpoints and draw information from a variety of sources. Oftentimes, you will also have to review these sources critically.
Academia is a very conservative place of its own that doesn't easily allow for changes, and many great ideas have gone unnoticed precisely because of that hardened attitude
This is a valid point. Academics may, at times, favor old ideas rather than challenging new ones, but they can be convinced of new ideas, even if it means they are personally wrong. Great ideas may sometimes go unnoticed, for awhile, or unappreciated, but where are such ideas better served? It seems to me that for all its faults academia contributes to a well-rounded knowledge and understanding of ourselves and the world better than other similar institutions.
This reminds me of an old Awake article (g90 1/22 5-7) entitled, "Fraud in Science—Why It’s on the Increase". The article criticized the peer review process for inadequately dealing with fraud. It seems to me that such an article criticizes the scientific community's sincere, though imperfect, efforts to root out fraud, but offers no alternative except to treat all of science with suspicion, which is hardly a palatable alternative. I find this article and the attitude that it promotes to be extremely frustrating.
I think entire educational system will need a shape up
I unequivocally agree.
jabberwock