I believe that most of the bizarre doctrines have at least some kind of theological origin - blood, neutrality, holidays, stance on homosexuality, etc.
But higher education I think is based, pure and simple, on the calculated belief that very few would continue to follow blindly after the full college experience. Not only learning how to think critically and ask searching questions, but non-WTS structured exposure to "worldly" people of all stripes and finding out they're not all bad, and realizing that there are many rewarding and challenging paths in life, and it's really cool to be able to choose one.
What other explanation is there for telling generation after generation of JWs you don't need an education because the end is right around the corner? Even with blood, they have softened a bit as some of the hardcore blood doctrine GB members have died out.