College and home schooling statisctics

land walker

Hello everyone!

I am looking for college attendance and home schooling percentage official statistics for Jehovah's Witnesses. Does anybody know?

Thanks

Valis

This might be a good place to start your search for statistics, but I doubt you are going to find that kind of detailed info..hope this helps..

Sincerely,

District Overbeer

144001

Valis,

I've looked at that site as well, and found it to be biased in favor of home schooling. I wonder if there are any sources of objective information on this subject.

IslandWoman

Hi Land Walker,

I don't think you will find statistics for college/home schooled JWs, no one is keeping a record.

Officially, college in general is discouraged among JWs unless of course it is used to enable a publisher to pioneer.

I would think that a home schooled JW would be as likely to attend college as a public schooled JW. Not too many of either group most likely do though, especially among those who tow the Watchtower line. Just speaking from my own experience.

IW

Valis

I think homeschooling is a terrible idea. There is little if any social maturation...my brother is a prime eaxmple of what homeschooling can do if done half assed and for reasons like the notion that he could get a better education away from worldly influences.....I found this article, which may give a more objective look at several studies done on homeschooling...Its way long, so I'm not gonna embed it...

http://npin.org/library/2000/n00430/n00430.html

Sorry about that...I had a homeschool moment..*L*

Sincerely,

District Overbeer

Edited by - Valis on 28 June 2002 14:40:51

NotBlind

If I'm not mistaken, I believe I recall reading that the level of JW's with at least a bachelor's degree is 4.7%. That's just from memory, so don't quote me on it. I DO know that the numbers were recently released in a USA Today article (within the past year), and JW's were at the bottom of the list, making them one of the most uneducated religions in the world....

zenpunk

I have many homeschool moments as well Valis, though I was fortunate enough to have parents who shuttled me off to public school. Those in my old congregation who were homeschooled were not only had an incredibly limited knowledge base (I remember one girl didn't know what World War II was) but they were emotionally stunted - 17 year olds having temper tantrums like they were 5! It was disgusting and sad all at the same time.

zenpunk

Not Blind - That 4.7% statistic (yes, at the bottom of the list) is from 1993. I wonder if it has improved since the "new light" on college has become available. Does anyone know?

Scully

I would imagine that there's a distinct difference in the outcome of homeschooling depending on the reasons for embarking on it in the first place.

For instance, there's a large homeschooling movement in Canada and the US where the parents involved plan activities for the children, like field trips, social activities and so on. The parents have the time, dedication and ultimately concern for their children's welfare, and their experience is not to their detriment.

On the other hand, many JWs who embark on homeschooling their kids, do so for very different reasons:
- keeping the children socially isolated (away from "worldly" influence) and easier to keep brainwashed
- to fulfill the bare minimum requirements for education set by law (in other words, the children do an hour of "school work" daily, while the rest of their time is spent "pioneering" and being inculcated with JW mind control)
- freeing the parents from social responsibility to help children with schoolwork, or keeping them from "religious" confrontations with "normal" people who question the practices of JWs

There were a few families in our former congregation who homeschooled their children. The level of distrust and outright paranoia that these kids had for non-Witnesses was incredible. One of them had a fear of approaching "strangers" (non-JWs) that was so severe, she wouldn't even tell the coffee shop waitress what kind of donut she wanted. I have no idea how she had the guts to go in service, but she must have felt that unless she was going door-to-door, Jehovah wasn't protecting her. Very sad.

Love, Scully

InquiryMan

I am indeed happy that home-schooling is not an option in my country.
Very few indeed homeschool.

What I find valuable about school is that kids interact, get trained socially, and meet different people with various backgrounds.

I oppose home-schooling esp. when done with "dub"-ious motives.

It seems to me, judging from my experience as a witness for many years,
that extreme positions and attitudes are less likely in some cultures than others.
I guess it depends a lot on the individual as well.

Personally, I did sacrifice a college education when growing up,
due to guidance provided by the Watchtower society.
I am really bitter about it, cause Ive managed very well still.
Having the choice today, however, I would have chosen differently,

Most witness parents I know, emphasize the need for their children
to get a proper education. In fact, quite a few have taken education themselves
as grown-ups.

Please keep in mind that people have various experiences growing up as witnesses,
all not necessarily being negative. Not all have been deprived normal pleasures
or not allowed to being kids, or pushed hard in the service etc.
My impression, is that the majority have a rather relaxed attitude.

Id definitely say that the majority of witness parents are less one-sided than previous
generations of witnesses.

(When e.g. one hears about some witness kid not allowed to play with non-witness kids
most witnesses here find that rather extreme).

College and home schooling statisctics

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