by somebodylovesme 11 Replies latest jw friends
I was wondering if anyone has seen any kind of data related to the highest educational levels attained by JWs... don't they ask for religion and education on the Census? I seem to remember my mom mentioning something about a study awhile back that listed the percentage of each religion's followers that had college degrees - only at the time, we were looking for info on a different religion, so I didn't take note of the JW level.
Anyone have any ideas?
SLM
Dammitt! I have a Journal of religious studies around somewhere. They're at the absolute bottom of the heap, educationally. Interestingly, they are the only religion who's black members have a higher rate of education than the white ones.
I'm trying to find it online... in the meantime, I have found that Witnesses have the highest percentage of female worshippers - 71%.
Someone had posted some info or a link or something on this board about the education status of religions, and the JW's were close to the bottom if not on the bottom of the list. It broke it down too in different ways. I'll try to find it, I'm sure it was on this board I saw it a while back.
Seedy
To be average on education, the average Congo of 50 publishers aged over 15 would have to have:
* 1 or 2 Bro's or Sis's with Graduate Diploma, Masters or Doctoral degrees;
* 5 with Bachelor degrees, and
* 11 with Diplomas or trades certificates or equivilent.
That's according to the 2001 Census held in Australia. The actual numbers are: 3.2% have Post Graduate degrees (up from 1.9% in 1991); 9.7% have a Bachelor degree (5.7% in '91); and 21.8% have a Diploma or a vocational certificate of some kind (18.8% in '91)
Max BCommerce (IT) CCNA A+ ... with a law degree starting next week...
Most Jehovah's Witnesses can read and write, though they may not score too highly on reading comprehension tests.
Many have been to High School, and some of these have graduated High School, even if it took a couple of tries. ...and they did it without participating in after school sports activities!
They are filled with the wisdom and knowledge of Jehovah, and have no real need of imperfect human reckoning.
Max BCommerce (IT) CCNA A+ ... with a law degree starting next week...
What an accomplishment!
(Hope you'll help make the profession more honest and respectable...)
bebu
The average Witness with only a high school education is probably better educated than others with similar amounts of schooling, because Witness children are very shaped-up, and are expected to study and get good grades. This is supported by performances on the 10-word vocabulary test included in the General Social Surveys. Active Witnesses score as well on this test as do members of the general population who have attended college and almost as well as those who have graduated?inactive Witnesses do not perform nearly as well. In addition to being better students when they are in school, this may also reflect the emphasis the Witnesses place on speaking and writing. Observers believe that Witnesses in Africa and Latin America are substantially bettereducated, and more apt to have technical training than the average citizen
(Penton, 1985: 273).
While JWs have a lower level of formal education, their level of educational achievement is high as supported by Joker's reference from Penton. Also, despite less formal education their level of income is very close to the average. This was pointed out in an article by Stark in a religious research journal. I do not have the reference to Stark's article at my finger tips, but I will see if I can find it.
