Higher Education - is it really the end of the WT?

by OutsiderLookingIn 15 Replies latest jw experiences

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  OutsiderLookingIn

  As a non-JW, before I started looking into things, I must say I only encountered intelligent JWs. So I was quite surprised to read here and in the PEW report about their low overall educational achievement. Granted, my exposure was limited (less than a handful of people over a lifetime) but I met TWO of them in post-college education (graduate school) at a very good school. I was friendlier with one during school (Dub A) and I got to know the other better after we graduated because we were in the same city (Dub B). Dub A wore it as a badge of honor--she’d drop the occasional “Jehovah God”, she chuckled and proclaimed that she was a JW when I suggested going to church together, and when I told her that I got to go to a Prince concert she didn’t hesitate to say “oh, you saw brother Prince.” I would forget that JWs don’t celebrate birthdays and invite them to my birthday celebrations. They wouldn’t come and Dub B even told me that she’s a JW so she doesn’t “do the whole birthday thing.”

  
  Then last summer, I met a current student who was out in service. I asked a question and she gave me her email address, a school email for another good graduate school. I emailed her and have yet to receive a response.

  
  I say all that to ask, why do people believe that higher education is a sign of trouble ahead for the WT? Is it because they’re going against official stance on education? If they still hold up the party line (no birthdays, pride in being a JW, even field service), then what is the excitement about? It’s a great personal achievement for sure, but in my experience, it doesn’t mean they’re moving from the WT. I’ll add that this was all within the last 10 years in case that makes a difference to your analysis.

  
  
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  OneEyedJoe

  Cults rely on immersion. That's why the word cult often evokes an image of an isolated commune wherein members only leave to recruit or sell fruit or whatever to fund the cult. In reality, cults needn't be quite so completely immersive, but they still rely on heavy involvement of the members so that they don't have time to explore other ideas or ask questions. When completely immersed in the cult, it is also more threatening to question it. When it's your entire life, you're less likely to explore the possibility that it's false. If it's only a small piece of your life, you may be willing to examine it. College can give a fulfillment that has nothing to do with the cult and therefore lessens it's importance. It also teaches critical thinking, and exposes you to other cultures and ways of thinking. All this can lead to more introspection, which can lead to awakening.

  It's a numbers game, though. You've met 2 JWs that have extended education yet remain JWs. That's called anecdotal evidence. The fact of the matter is that the more education someone has, the less religious they're likely to be. It won't destroy the faith of every one that goes to college, but a healthy percentage will leave. So regardless of the 2 examples you gave, the more JWs that get an education the fewer will remain JW.
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  hybridous

  Like the OP, my own experience belies the general trend.
  
  My parents had 3 kids, all born/raised in the WT cult religion. All 3 of us graduated from college. I am the only one out of the WT cult religion. One of my siblings has a graduate degree. Did that valuable graduate degree help my sibling to really question our upbringing and indoctrination? Did it really help in vetting the ideas and prejudices foisted onto us by our parents and their peers?
  
  No. Not that I've evidence of such, anyways.
  
  I believe OEJ gives a good analysis in citing the power of immersion. I think my mom (despite being a fan of college), doubled down on the 'immersion' so as not to have her kids walk away despite the education. I found it suffocating. My siblings conceded. My mom's strategy was 2/3 effective.
  
  Another family from the hall had 2 young sisters. One was academically inclined, very smart & studious. The other one -ahem- academically 'contraindicated', shall-we-say...? Well. the smart one went to college, graduated, got a high-paying professional job, and is still a devout JW. The other one barely graduated high school, drifted through an assortment of menial jobs, and finally became an entrepreneur of sorts. I believe she finally carved out a modicum of success for herself, and..oh, yes...this is the one that exited the JW cult religion.
  
  Another case, I would say, where the mom was an absolute nutcase & tyrant. Total 'immersion' (haha). One person finds it intolerable, and another is broken. Who can predict these things?
  
  Anecdotes aside, I have no doubt that the general trend is true. Religiosity wanes while education waxes.
  
  Just kinda wish my family wasn't so much an outlier...
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  ctrwtf

  The WT is playing the numbers. Yes there are those that will remain "loyal" even with an education. But most, after being taught critical thinking skills, will not. Ironically, thanks to the "internets" the same people that access their website are expanding their thinking skills by browsing TTATT.
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  wisdomfrombelow

  The thing about most higher education is it teaches critical thinking. Also, people might start to realize that they are smarter than their religious "bosses" so they are harder to control. When people start to get a measure of independence it spreads and it infects others.I know many well-educated witnesses but there are even more who have left later on because they can connect the dots.
  
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  Half banana

  The essence of the word "education" means "to be led out"!

  The governing body of JWs insists, "We are not against education, in fact we are for education but of the right sort".

  This  statement shows that they don't understand the meaning of education. It really means to be shown how to think not what to think.

  Constructive, useful-to-mankind thinking can only come from analysis of testable things but JWs can't distinguish between reality and myth...and their leaders want it to remain that way.
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  adjusted knowledge

  Maybe the type of degree will have different impacts. If a person were to study the liberal arts at the graduate level, I'm not sure how they wouldn't be able to see the WT as the mind controlling cult it is. Then again I know an Elder that is a lawyer, an Elder that is a high school teacher, and so on. There are those that stay for family or the easy social network that comes along with the religion. Or if you own a business the kingdom hall is a nice supply of cheap labor.
  
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  JW_Rogue

  Yes, you would be surprised that some very educated people do stay JWs. I think some like the challenge of "defending the truth" against the non-believers. Some can even argue points better than the WT does using their own reasoning.

  You also have to remember that there are many who know there are issues but fall back on "This is the best way of life" or "Where else would we go?" type thinking.
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  Mum

  One of my Philosophy professors once said, "An education doesn't 'take' on everybody." If these people grew up as JW's, they've been brainwashed since they took their first breath. It isn't easily undone when people are brought up with the "them and us" mentality; i.e., "we" (JW's and other cults) possess the ultimate truth, and everyone else ("worldly" people, meaning anyone who's not a JW, regardless of their Biblical scholarship or degree of religious devotion) is deceived and under Satan's deceptive power.

  I commend your friends for being rebellious enough to go to college. I hope they catch the learning bug and are awakened to open-mindedness and acceptance of their fellow human beings.
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  OnTheWayOut

  I say all that to ask, why do people believe that higher education is a sign of trouble ahead for the WT? Is it because they’re going against official stance on education? If they still hold up the party line (no birthdays, pride in being a JW, even field service), then what is the excitement about? It’s a great personal achievement for sure, but in my experience, it doesn’t mean they’re moving from the WT. I’ll add that this was all within the last 10 years in case that makes a difference to your analysis.

  In many cases, a good education will not wake someone up to the fact that Watchtower is a doomsday cult. But the statistics suggest those will be the minority as the level of good education increases.
  
  First of all, properly educated people learn that man really did evolve from lower life forms, and they learn that the earth could not have had a global flood thousands of years ago, let alone that a small group survived that. Going beyond learning that the Bible is a fairytale, properly educated people learn to question everything. EVERYTHING. The only stronghold Watchtower has over that is lifelong training to tell it's members to question everything EXCEPT THEM. So smug JW's getting an education will fool themselves into believing that they do question everything, and they will allow God to be the exception and they will allow Watchtower to be God's mouthpiece.

  The reason that often doesn't hold up is because most JW's are not smug, many who get an education value the education over strict obedience to the letter of Watchtower's commands, and education teaches them that there exists flawed thinking. When members discover that flawed thinking, they see some of it within the pages of Watchtower magazines.

  Philosophy can destroy a faithful JW also. Philosophy will help them understand that if God wants to aid strangers to the "truth," God can do better than sending goofy people to their door on Saturday morning. And philosophy will further teach them that God should not see people as inherently bad because they don't become JW's. Philosophy is a huge part of a proper education.