I went to community college but I always wanted a linguistics degree from University. I speak Spanish French Portuguese Hebrew Ethiopian you name it, just not Chinese.
How important do you believe education and knowledge is?
by new hope and happiness 56 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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snare&racket
Not as important as the skill to critically appraise the knowledge you are being educated with.
Learn to critically apraise information first, after all, Watchtower had knowledge on offer and an education.
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DJS
I don't like educated snobs either, but I like uneducated, prideful and stubborn people less. I also think a humble disposition and humor are greater attractions than education and vocabulary, but they aren't mutually exclusive. I know a lot of educated people who are humble and funny. I know of a few academic snobs but I don't keep such as friends. The only problem I have with the comments to this OP is that they seem to focus on the tail ends of bell curves as if they are applicable to everyone. There are just as many uneducated, stubborn and prideful people as there are educated snobs. There are just as many people with education who are humble and funny as there are humble, funny uneducated people.
I learned a long time ago that not all poor people have hearts of gold and not all rich people are mean.
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new hope and happiness
Memphis, your deleted i thought it wonderful. ( our shared secret)
Can i expand on my origional O.P and add this question, as i think it relevent to some of those that posted.. " HOW does your education/ knowledge" better allow you to lead a happier more self fulfilled life.
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nonjwspouse
Important to learn HOW to learn. Important to help underatand things you might not be exposed to otherwise. Important to be able to help recognise false claims based on emotion and not actual data.
The ability to filter information and apply what you have learned is the MOST important.
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Frazzled UBM
Education and knowledge is very important. It gives skills such as critical thinking and gives you an understanding of the world which makes navigating life and making sound judgements and decisions easier. It tends to make one more open-minded and tolerant. Still you can have a good education and knowledge and still be an a_hole or have little education and be the most open minded accepting person on the planet. This is not a matter of outward appearance such as vocabulary and accent but a state of mind. A person's attitude and outlook is of critical importance.
Humility has its place but should not be overemphasized as it is also important to be assertive and stand up for what you believe in and challenge authority when necessary. In Australia we have the tall poppy syndrome - that is cutting people down to size if they give the appearance of being a show off. But this has the negative side effect of discouraging children from developing their talents or demonstrating what they know or asking questions in class. Anti-intellectualism can be as bad as intellectual pomposity. If you have a good vocabulary why would you not use it for fear of being criticised. Good vocabulary is often a matter of finding the best word to express the idea you are trying to communicate.
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Oubliette
NHAH: HOW does your education/ knowledge" better allow you to lead a happier more self fulfilled life.
- I learned to recognize the fraud, lies and hypocrisy of the WTBTS and other cults.
- I earn more money now than I could have ever made if I'd stayed with the WT approved trade that I had as a young JW.
- I seek out and enjoy the company of people that love me for WHO I am and not WHAT I (pretended to) believe.
- I enjoy being able to understand and do things that were previously beyond my capacity.
- I have learned to think and express myself more clearly
All of the above are still very much works in progress!
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nonjwspouse
I agree with fraz. A good vocabulary means better communication. It also signals the level of exposure to reading. Reading leads to intelligence.
Intelligence is not always due to reading but vocabulary is.
I know a guatemaulan man who has a limited primary education that I consider the most intelligent, brilliant person I know. He is only two years older than my oldest daughter, a university educated engineer. Yet he has abilities to learn that far surpass hers, and she graduated with honors and is advancing quickly in her job by catching decades long mistakes .
How you learn snd apply is extremly important.
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new hope and happiness
Oubliette:- I think reading your post we need add the word WISDOM.
And most of us here uneducated and / educated aquired the WISDOM to see that ,vocabularly, education,intelligence,even sexuality, ethnicity and gender are seen in a negative light in W.T world.
There are some great caring people i know who would make great DOCTORS but were prevented by the cost of an education. Ironically there are some great caring people i know who would make great NURSES but are put off by terrible pay. Sad really because thats why our health care system in the U.K is in tatters.
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adjusted knowledge
I have several degrees but admittedly my English grammar is poor. I get corrected often but I don't mind it. I try to learn from the correction regardless of intent. In a forum like this, I expect some to correct me. I used to use the word "irregardless" in my speech all the time. I was corrected that this word was not standard and I should just say/write regardless. I appreciated the feedback and now notice even news casters use the word.
A degree is meaningless if you lack the skill in communicating your ideas. I remember sending an email to Gawker site some time ago and wrote it in less than twenty minutes. It was very detailed but I took no time in editing or proofreading. In my mind it was just an informal email to provide some details on an issue they were covering. To my surprise it was listed on their site and was the top topic for several days. The problem was the letter was poorly written and many attacked the grammatical inconsistency of the letter and ignored the content. Since then I've been working on improving my written grammar.
Education and knowledge is very important. Just remember it needs to come from www.jw.org