I approached an elder last week, and asked him if the Society was against higher education because of the comments brought out in the drama. He said the Society disapproves of higher education.
He privately told me he disagrees with the view the Society has on education - he said it should be a personal choice.
He has a teenage son who is considering going to university when he graduates high school. The son was confused by the talk and the drama, and thinks he'll be "looked down" upon if he decides to attend.
This elder told me that there are "more young people going to university than pioneering."
I asked why he thought this was the case.
"They don't want to flip burgers for a living."
He then said something very interesting, that "the Society discourages competition", which is one reason that young JW's can't attend school sports. They also "might get involved with immorality."
He sensed a contradiction in the Society's stand becausse he then said that, "the Society seems to be OK with academic competition"; meaning it's OK for a JW youth to excel in school and come first place.
As a side note, how many Awake articles have you seen, where on the back cover, some JW student won first place in some public speaking competition, talking about their faith.
From what I gather, it's OK for JW's at high school to shine scholastically and win competitions when "it promotes religion", such as why JW's don't celebrate Christmas or take blood, but it's not OK to take part in after school sports.
Regarding the dangers of immoral temptations faced by JW's who attend extracurricular activities, he said that, "if JW's want to commit immorality, they don't have to join a club or play in a team."
It seems that the Society's official view of education is that it should strongly be discouraged, whereas the private view held by some is that education should be encouraged.