My father would have started
college 49 years ago this week. About three months earlier, the week he
graduated high school, the Awake! Magazine came out with some very clear
direction to teenagers. The May 22, 1969 issue on page 15 stated:
If you are a young person,
you also need to face the fact that you will never grow old in this present
system of things. Why not? Because all the evidence in fulfillment of Bible
prophecy indicates that this corrupt system is due to end in a few years. Of
the generation that observed the beginning of the “last days” in 1914, Jesus
foretold: “This generation will by no means pass away until all these things
occur.” – Matt. 24:34.
Therefore, as a young person,
you will never fulfill any career that this system offers. If you are in high
school and thinking about a college education, it means at least four, perhaps
even six or eight more years to graduate into a specialized career. But where
will this system of things be by that time? It will be well on the way towards
its finish, if not actually gone!
It’s been 49 years since that
article came out. My father, along with countless others in the congregations
his age, took that article’s advice and skipped college to work in menial jobs
they did not enjoy.
Over the course of those 49
years, their non-Awake-reading peers went to college, graduated, and they did indeed fulfill a career, contrary to the
promise of the Awake magazine. They married, had children, raised their family,
and are watching their children raise families of their own. Those teenagers –
like my father – that article was directed to are now retired and drawing
Social Security.
The congregation servant used
this article to persuade my dad not to attend college back in the summer of
1969, and I know he wasn’t the only one. Looking back, those two paragraphs
were filled with false and misleading statements. No wonder the 1969 Awake
isn’t included in the Watchtower Library DVD-ROM!
The passage of time has
proven nearly every sentence in that two-paragraph quote wrong. Consider it,
sentence by sentence:
If you are a young person,
you also need to face the fact that you will never grow old in this present
system of things.
The 18-year-olds who read
this article in 1969 are now 67 years old. They indeed are growing old in this system.
Why not? Because all the
evidence in fulfillment of Bible prophecy indicates that this corrupt system is
due to end in a few years.
Shaky evidence, to say the
least. Would you consider 49 years to be “a few”?
Of the generation that
observed the beginning of the “last days” in 1914, Jesus foretold: “This
generation will by no means pass away until all these things occur.” – Matt.
24:34.
Old light.
Therefore, as a young person,
you will never fulfill any career that this system offers.
Not only did their peers
fulfill careers, many of them have now retired comfortably from those careers.
If you are in high school and
thinking about a college education, it means at least four, perhaps even six or
eight more years to graduate into a specialized career. But where will this
system of things be by that time? It will be well on the way towards its
finish, if not actually gone!
This article was written at
the height of the 1975 fervor, and many Witnesses sincerely thought the world
would end in six years. Sadly, that fiasco is nearly forgotten today, as we are
as far removed from that era as those 1960’s kids were from the similar 1925 fiasco.
Young people, lurkers, please
take note: College isn’t for everybody, but don’t take this organization’s
advice when making major life decisions, like whether to go to college or what
career to pursue. Do NOT rely on this organization for advice in making
financial decisions, either.
The leaders of this
organization, by building a luxurious Warwick complex for themselves while
selling off local Kingdom Halls, have shown that they are digging in for the
long haul. All the while, they’re still peddling this anti-education nonsense.
In one of their JW
Broadcasting shows from 2015, the university-educated legal department director
and a Vietnam veteran got on screen and told their viewers to reject getting an education because
it would damage your personality, make you arrogant, and cut you off from
organizational service. They honestly think your time would be better spent
selling their comic books and standing next to their carts for 70 hours a month
while doing low-wage menial labor.
In their opinion, the only
education you need is attending the midweek Life
of Misery meeting and reading the 48 pages a year of Awake!
Heed their advice at your own
peril.