by Yesu Kristo Bwana Wangu 55 Replies latest jw experiences
There is nothing stopping anyone from reading books and publications about astronomy...one of the best astronomers I know is self-taught and supplements that with contacts in that field.
If you were referencing WTWizards post, he said astrology. not astronomy.
@LongHairGal,
I agree with you. The path of least resistance is very appealing, especially if you don't have a personal inclination towards higher education. Back "in the day" you could find a decent job.
If an adult doesn't want to get extra education, that's their choice (and frequently it is). I really do think a lot of people my age used religion as an excuse for lack of ambition. Their choice.
But, I hate to see kids not get an education because of lack of ambition on the part of their parents. If they try hard (like I did) they can make it up later. But it won't be easy, especially if they can't even read at a high school level, and have no math skills.
SPIRAL:
Yes, it's a sad state of affairs when children don't get the basics of education.
I can't compare myself because I wasn't raised a Witness and I, at least, got an education. The religion has a lot to answer for because Jehovah's Witnesses have the distinction of being the least educated. The irony is that children learn easily and soak up knowledge like a dry sponge, so childhood is the ideal time to learn.
I'm glad you were able to make it up when you got older. It is harder but I'm sure it was worth it.😊
In the 40 years I attended the meetings,here are following occupations from my two different congregations :
lots of landscapers
bricklayers
electricians
heating and air-conditioning
janitors
car mechanics
roofers
carpenters
factory workers
truck drivers
painters
secretaries,typists,office workers
production line workers
grocery workers
I don't remember seeing any Doctors,Professors,school teachers,musicians,bankers,investors,C.E.O's of a company,Dentists,or any job that needed a degree.I did see many young teens that worked with computers and have tech jobs.They seemed to understand basic computer skills without going to college.
Hi Long Hair Gal,
Yes, it was worth it, although I have to say if I had felt I had choices when I was younger, I would no doubt be in a different (read: more interesting to me) field of work. But, I do take responsibility, I should have just "put my foot down" and gone to college as soon as I graduated high school. I still have bad dreams about feeling left behind when my high school friends all went on to college.
But, as bad as that is, I think as far as education goes, the JWs are sliding even farther downhill. Sad.
With their education level, JWs
will always be able to find a job.
Saethydd 14 hours ago
There is nothing stopping anyone from reading books and publications about astronomy...one of the best astronomers I know is self-taught and supplements that with contacts in that field.
If you were referencing WTWizards post, he said astrology. not astronomy.
--------------No I wasn't referencing any post, definitely ASTRONOMY.....
Many jws start their own very successful businesses.
Did Ray Kroc go to college?
Many jws were licensed electricians, carpenters, plumbers, etc., all without going to college but not without further education and training through the unions.
8 more
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/249683
Steve Jobs
Richard Branson
Dave Thomas
David Green
Larry Ellison
Kevin Rose
Michael Dell
Rachael Ray
(That was educational for me)
Today, I'm enjoying this film : "Accepted, 2006"
I am new here, I honestly stumbled upon this site - about 2 hours ago - for the first time in my life due to generalized searching for, and reading of, the news after the Russian results. I'm not really sure how well this forum does regarding notifications when someone comments on a, nearly, one month old thread and thereby I have no idea if this will be seen. Anyway, I digress... I am - most likely will - not be getting too engaged in discussions over all. However, this was the thread, this was the topic, that piqued my interest enough that it warranted account creation. * Please Note: I am apologizing now for the breadth & depth of this post. I know this is regarding JW's and their respective level, or lack thereof, educational or academic achievement/completion and its demographic juxtaposition with geographic factors, proximity to centers for higher education, other socio- or communal groupings and the personal, professional (if it can even be considered 'professional') successes therein or, again, a lack thereof. I promise that my contribution in this regard is contained herein but I ask your collective patience with my overall post as I am of the belief that, contextually speaking, it is prudent to provide my background; to whit, I believe it will prove warranted prior to espousal of any personal paradigm & for the forming of your own in retort. Therefore, I continue forthwith. • About me: I am a 35 year old male in Utah, USA. I was born to Jehovah's Witness parents & large JW families on both sides. *Insert stereotypical JW upbringing details here*, yada yada, 1st talk on TMS was the #2/Bible Reading (with Intro & Conclusion back then) when I was 5 years old, Unbaptized Publisher when I was 6 years old, Baptized at 14 years old, Auxiliary Pioneered every July, etc. I was Appointed as a Ministerial Servant when I was 16 years old (to be fair, it was 6 days prior to my 17th birthday), blah blah blah, interviewed (starting on the actual date I was baptized) on 6 District Conventions & 7 Circuit Assemblies/Assembly Days, had 2 different 15 minute District Convention talks (ages 18 & 21) & 3 different 10 minute Circuit talks (ages 18, 19 & 20), you know the drill. I'll apologize in advance for the braggadocio here but I was "The Golden Boy" of JW's, lol. I was the one that my parents friends look at and say "Hey, BXXX, can you please wait until our daughter is old enough so she can marry you?" (Let's put a pin in that statement please; weird doesn't always demand dissection, am I right?) In amongst all of those details was the fact that I was one of two Ministerial Servants in our congregation and the other was a 90 year old blind man with two hip replacements; anyone want to guess which of the two MS's did 'all the congregational work'? If there was a problem, yo' I had to solve it. 
 Ultimately, it meant that I had the *Privilege* of being responsible for every department - I mean *every* department: Literature coordinator for 3 congregations, territories, magazines, accounts, sound, attendant, Assistant TMS Overseer, TMS Scheduling & Assignments, Assistant Congregation Book Study Overseer, Public Talk Coordinator, cleaning & maintenance, hospitality coordinator, field service coordinator for a Service Overseer with health problems, the Presiding Overseer delegated the scheduling of the Service Meeting to me as well scheduling the chairman & WT readers. One final detail is that I also gathered, formatted, put together & distributed binders containing: All source or study material, created my own table of contents, an index that I took time to create, loose leaf notepaper, 1 blue, 1 black, 1 red pen & 1 highlighter for every Kingdom Ministry School for Elders & Servants. Once completed, I provided a binder to every Elder & MS in the District (and the DO & CO) along with shipping some to various family & friends around the country; NOTE: every aspect of this *privilege project*, from supplies, toner cartridges, driving all over to deliver them, shipping the very long distance binders, was all done out of my own pocket & at my own expense. Lest we forget to *count the cost* that would be MY TIME to do the work. (It was no less than a 4 month project every year) (P.S. All of that congregational stuff began immediately upon my appointment as a Servant when I was 16, I began making those binders when I was 14 years old) Finally, when I was 23, I pretty much "snapped" from burn out. I, quite literally, walked up to the PO after a Tuesday night meeting and said "I'm stepping aside as a Ministerial Servant, effective immediately, please find other arrangements. This will help you transition..." and I handed him 3 CDs I had burned that evening before the meeting which contain all data for everything I was responsible for. I walked out to my car, and I was done. *With that out of the way, the last statement to make is that I will be seeking to limit the conversations in which I engage within the forum. I'll freely admit that there is a side of me that does indeed maintain *some* strong agreement for aspects of the organization; notably, there are also plenty of areas in which I have *never in my life* agreed with as well as yet other topics upon which I feel are truthful in the strictest sense of doctrine & even find the accuracy of the foundation to biblically supported yet I know they are implausible or even impossible in a real world setting. Thus, taking that all into account, please respect that I - at times - will decline to get into hairsplitting or otherwise *heated* debates to which I see no intellectual, psychological, emotional or other type of benefit.* * If you read that entire diatribe & are with me thus far, thank you for your patience! Heretofore my remaining comments are topically on point. • Regarding the topic of Education, this is one of those areas in which I have always - even as a 'mere young boy' - had an internally vehement struggle, negative perspective and complete disagreement with. To my mind, if fundamental to ones teaching or topical 'education' - in this case, religious education - is that: '...no man knows the day or the hour..', that '...not even Christ Jesus knows...' and that '...it will come as a thief in the night...' Than, in that case, I am left with a surfeit glut of questions & comments I'd love to levy at the GB but I'll condense it down to its deepest root as a single - and, I think, a pretty weighty - question: * With those baseline scriptural references at the very core of 'the end of the system of things', HOW is it anything other than pompously far reaching & arrogantly short sighted to BOTH imply the end in 1975 and to *encourage a person's bible trained conscience* to forget about education so as to pursue greater theocratic activity? Whether it's 1975, or another example, implying ANY sort of future *possible* date as the end is simply not in keeping with 'no man shall know the day and the hour'. Furthermore, by implying such things in combination with such negative commentary on continued education, HOW are we not crippling 'the friends' to, what is now, 42 years watching as the 'scene of this world is changing'? In fact, can I not reasonably posit that the condemnation of attending College has now had a diametrically opposed effect in that many are now forced to take multiple, low paying, jobs with a higher grand total of labor hours just to make ends meet which thus deals a fatal blow to any hopes or ability to increase their theocratic activity; is not the imposition of said educational restraint the causal link to this real world, factual, problem? Is it not fair to postulate that, had these individuals been afforded the opportunity to truly 'live their lives as though Armageddon is coming tomorrow, but PLAN their lives as though it's never coming at all' and determine what educational course was best for them, personally, that they may in fact find themselves able to obtain employment of 30-40 hours per week - perhaps even working from home - and have even more time available for theocratic needs were they to have had a College Degree? Were we to exercise 'wisdom & discernment', could it not also be plausible that, by having obtained their degrees, these educated brothers & sisters would have managed to start and operate small businesses with far greater success, scope, revenue and profitability which would allow them to remain in even greater control of their work schedule so as to avail themselves to the kingdom effort on a - potentially - unparalleled scale sans working 3 different minimum wage jobs at 80 hours per week AND be able to offer the added benefit of now helping others in the congregation by hiring them & providing them a work schedule immensely more conducive to the kingdom work than anything this system provides? **I could go on and on, obviously. Nevertheless, I've made my point.** So, without any further ado, here are the final details about myself which pertain to this topic: Graduated High School at 16 by accelerating the coursework ON MY OWN. GPA at graduation: 4.0 out of 4.0 (straight A's) Through a chance encounter with the Dean of a University, he arranged for me to take the SATs and ACTs 'for fun'. Results? SATs: 1590 of 1600 ACTs: 38 of 40 Upon receiving those scores, the aforementioned Dean asked if I wanted to test my I.Q. Results? I.Q.: 162 Upon receiving that result, the aforementioned Dean proceeded to offer me a FULL Academic Scholarship to his university; COMPLETELY 'free ride' on everything: books, tuition & dorms, etc. although I lived close enough at the time that it was only a 20 minute drive from home. The name of that university? The Massachusetts Institute of Technology. You read that correctly...M.I.T.; the very bastion of scientific achievement & capability, a place where people like John Nash & Stephen *effing* Hawking can/could/did show up to lecture. The result of that offer? I turned it down because it was a 'worldly desire to pursue a college education'. AND...I was tempted to accept it but - and this is always a great thought to reminisce on - had I decided to accept said scholarship, well that's just it, there was no scenario where I would have accepted because when my parents heard of this - as well as hearing that I was considering it (even though I was 99% sure I'd decline of my accord) - they made it QUITE CLEAR that I wouldn't be accepting the offer. After all, I was 16 years old and a minor. It was ultimately their decision to control that outcome and they emphatically informed me that it was "not where a Christian belongs, a Christian 'keeps on putting first the kingdom & his righteousness' and that my good grades in high school are all that I needed in order for me to get a job and then go to Ministerial Training School so I could be sent where the need was great". End result from THAT decision? My I.Q. tested out 13 points higher, 175, only 3 years later when I was 19. However, I entered the workforce with my high school diploma and began working jobs that - although they paid 'decently' in the $50k to $70k range - were jobs that didn't just require a 'pound of flesh' through how many hours I worked but also a 'pound of my flesh' in a physical sense. The inglorious end of my tale being that I am now 35, I have a litany of medical conditions, my body is 'falling apart' so badly that I am now considered permanently disabled. I can walk (barely) and have a fair quality of life, all things considered. But, I am 35 and have been told by doctors that my body is 85, it won't get any better and they are in shock that I actually am walking still. I have had 6 surgeries in the last 2 years and need to endure at least 5 more in the next 12 to 18 months and then - hopefully - I won't need any for about 5 years. Right now I currently have 3 fractured discs in my lower back - yes, I have a broken back - along with a minor ACL tear in my right knee & minor MCL tear in my left knee and those 3 problems are the 'less crucial' to deal with. Consider that. 'Ruminate' on that. My entire Spinal column has begun to form calcium deposits which will lead to my spine fusing to a solid state but - by planning to undergo surgery every 5 years for the rest of my life - we can prolong the inevitable by *hopefully* 20 years. As if I'll be alive at 55! It's both a wonderful escape from my reality, as well as a thoroughly infuriatingly depressing exercise, to sit and think about "what if I went to MIT? What if I put my brain to real use...?". *The End*
