After having some more time to think about the things stated as objections to university education, 3 points have lingered with me.
1) The example of the guy that went to university and decided he believed in evolution. I suspect this to be something that has been reported frequently. Looking at some examples close to me, and myself included, evolution was just one of the issues, besides all the false prophecies, the futile works, the flip-flopping troothz, etc. Perhaps it's since WT has printed books and brochures that they think are so convincing against evolution, but are completely full of holes and illogical. Why would god create thousands of species of blood-sucking and disease-spreading mosquitoes as a "marvel of creative design"? If evolution doesn't happen, who carried ebola and AIDS on the ark? Speaking of the ark, how could the millions of species fit on the ark? WT says that there were a limited number of 'kinds' on the ark that descended into the millions of species today... isn't that evolution? And the way that kangaroos evolved from possums in just a few hundred years is a far more radical evolutionary belief by a religion than any evolutionary biology presented by science. Yet, when such facts are expressed by a college student, ToMo can only say, "He believes in evolution. Shouldn't have let him go to university where he learns FACTS." Since WT teachings completely crumple against the force of real truth, their only solution is to keep the kids away from learning real truth that can be acquired outside the walls of WT.
2) They seem to think that going to university is all about making money and gaining status. Well, isn't WT about asking for money and the GB themselves about grasping for greater status and adoration? So they ascribe those same motives to university students and label it "evil" and "worldly". Ironic, eh? In my case, if we say that Billy went to university to get a degree to make money and gain status, would we say "That's terrible! Billy should struggle to find any job that pays almost no money... and then find the worst job possible that he'd be ashamed to talk about publicly!"? Well, nobody's ever told me that to my face. Who would say that to anybody's face? My job now is both physically and mentally challenging, but it is so much better to be out of bethel and have a degree to my name and working in the real world... words cannot describe how much better my life is now. I don't have that much money, nor do I have "status", but for me it goes very far beyond that.
3) As I recall (and I'm not going to watch it again to confirm), ToMo states that an objection to attending university isn't the expense. Well, in realistic terms I'd say that it is one of the major obstacles as far as I would be concerned. If someone isn't a particularly good student, have a desire to attend, or have a plan for where their education is taking them, it can be very expensive to attend university and leave without a degree or a career path. But when someone has a plan, the aptitude, and the desire, why object? For me, I finished with debt... but I'm on my way to having that paid back within just a few years. (It's suggested that the student debt be less than the first year's salary. My debt is less than half.) As a side note: taking classes at community colleges can be much cheaper and can be either a way to pursue a degree or just learn something new... like evolutionary biology or neo-Babylonian chronology!
