Blondie posted this a month ago .................
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Here's what the WTS said about Gilead early on. I don't think this is still in force.
*** w55 11/15 p. 684 Part 22—Gilead and Congregational Ministry Schools ***
Modern History of Jehovah’s Witnesses
Part 22—Gilead and Congregational Ministry Schools
THE first one hundred students who met the qualifications were called to come to the Watchtower Bible School of Gilead by January 31, 1943. The qualifications for entry into the new school were at least two years of full-time service as a pioneer and also a basic education equal to about high school training. Inasmuch as then the second world war was still being waged, only American pioneers were extended the call to join the first class. The next day, February 1, 1943, the school was dedicated with a plain but impressive program. It was dedicated as a New World school of highest learning, with God’s sacred Word, the Bible, as the school’s basic textbook. N. H. Knorr, the school’s president, and several members of the Watch Tower Society’s board of directors gave addresses on this historic occasion. Later that day the school schedule of classes commenced. Five and a half hours of schooling are scheduled each of the five days of the week from 8:00 a.m. until 2:30 p.m. with one hour off for lunch at noon. Each day four classroom sessions and a lecture session are held. In the afternoon, from 2:40 until 5:40, three hours of domestic duties about the school and farm are assigned for diversion from school routine. Week ends are spent in doing research work and sharing in field service.
The school’s curriculum of studies is a full program offering 26 weeks of higher, college-level training equivalent to one year in secular colleges or universities. After ten years, in January, 1953, the Watchtower Bible School of Gilead was finally officially recognized by the United States Office of Education in Washington, D.C., as offering higher education comparable to professional colleges and educational institutions. This has enabled the United States Department of Justice and its Immigration and Naturalization Service since January 15, 1953, together with the United States Department of State (functioning through its consuls in foreign countries), to grant foreign students of Jehovah’s witnesses visas to enter the United States to enroll at the Watchtower School under the nonimmigrant student visa arrangement.
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clarity