Awake!, September 22, 1985

Awake! — September 22, 1985

Source: jw.org

Contents

Page Two

A Look at Big-City Schools

Japan’s Educational Marathon

“Schulangst”—The Price of Achievement?

The Third World—Closing the Illiteracy Gap?

Your Child’s Education and You

Diamonds—Are They Really “Forever”?

Happiness

Incubators That Reflect Wisdom

How Can I Break Free From Drugs?

Rock Stardom Was Not Enough

What’s New on Violence in Entertainment?

A Salty Drink That Saves Lives!

Shouldn’t “Being Good” Be Good Enough?

New York City Public School for Homosexuals

From Our Readers

Watching the World

Is There Life After Death?

You Can’t Buy Happiness. Or Can You?

Page Two

Children spend many of their waking hours in school. The influence of the school and its environment is profound. Yet many parents have only a vague idea of what the schools are like. What are they like in your locality? Would you give them a passing grade? Awake! briefly surveys the educational scene in four countries, concluding with suggestions for parents

A Look at Big—City Schools 3

Japan’s Educational Marathon 4

“Schulangst”—The Price of Achievement? 6

The Third World—Closing the Illiteracy Gap? 8

Your Child’s Education and You 10

A Look at Big-City Schools

Children spend many of their waking hours in school. The influence of school can be profound. Yet many parents have but a vague idea of what the schools are like. Awake! therefore surveys the educational scene in four different countries, beginning with the United States.

IN April 1983 a government-sponsored report was released that alarmed parents and educators alike. It was ominously entitled A Nation at Risk. Compiled by a blue-ribbon panel of experts, the report began by saying: “Our Nation is at risk . . . The educational foundations of our society are presently being eroded by a rising tide of mediocrity that threatens our very future as a Nation and a people.” The evidence:

▪ “Some 23 million American adults are functionally illiterate by the simplest tests of everyday reading, writing, and comprehension.”

▪ “About 13 percent of all 17-year-olds in the United States can be considered functionally illiterate.”

▪ “Average achievement of high [secondary] school students on most standardized tests is now lower than 26 years ago.”

In the wake of this report, U.S. schools have come under close scrutiny. But perhaps nowhere are U.S. educational problems so manifest as in big-city schools. They suffer from a deadly combination of shrinking budgets and swelling classrooms. Low salaries, classroom violence, and huge student dropout rates discourage and even chase away many competent teachers. Some families react to all of this by placing their children in private or suburban schools.a

Nevertheless, books and articles about urban school problems do not give the whole picture. So with the aid of a friend who works as an educational supervisor, an Awake! reporter decided to take a firsthand look at some schools. He reports the following:

An Educational Panorama

“We are standing outside one of the largest elementary schools in the city. Dozens of truant youths defiantly ‘hang out’ on the school grounds. ‘They can’t afford to hire enough school attendants to round these kids up,’ explains my friend and host.

“The school bears the earmarks of urban decay. We check in at the principal’s office and talk above the deafening din of voices, typewriters, and ringing phones. The principal looks tired and haggard, and it is only 10:00 a.m. He is courteous, and off we go to look in on our first classroom.

“There we find an energetic young man who shows what a good teacher can do. ‘Which would you like to learn about?’ he asks his students. ‘An animal with his tongue in his nose, a walking tree in Florida, or a bird that can’t fly?’ The intrigued students opt for the first, anteaters. They eagerly open their textbooks for some routine reading comprehension exercises. However, their teacher has made them want to learn.

“Urban schools are studies in contrast. We now visit a school that, although old, is spotlessly clean and orderly. No youths are ‘hanging out.’ The hallways are quiet. ‘This school has a good principal,’ explains my host.

“Unfortunately, even effective administrators face enormous problems. Bureaucratic red tape that busies teachers with filling out forms instead of teaching. Laws that obstruct school discipline. Teachers who fear for their own emotional and physical survival. Students who refuse to study, but who demand diplomas. Money diverted from books and equipment to pay the sky-high costs of vandalism. It is remarkable that big-city schools do as well as they do!”

Fortunately, the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching says: “We believe . . . that American public education is beginning to improve.” There is only one way, however, to find out what your child’s school is like: Take a look yourself.

[Footnotes]

Private-school enrollment has increased 60 percent since 1955.

[Blurb on page 4]

“The educational foundations of our society are presently being eroded by a rising tide of mediocrity.”—A Nation at Risk.

[Box on page 3]

Problems Afflicting U.S. Schools

“Many traditional and rigorous courses have been replaced with fare best described as educational entertainment.”—The Literacy Hoax, by Paul Copperman.

“The problem of drug use is so pervasive . . . Schools have become an extension of the streets as far as crime is concerned.”—Professor Lewis Ciminillo, Indiana University Northwest.

“The nation’s school population has changed radically in the past 15 years, with large increases in the number of children from broken homes and those living in poverty.”—The Express, Easton, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.

There “has been an alarming decline in the quality of teachers.”—U.S.News & World Report.

“Student discipline, including problems of truancy and drug usage, is the most pressing issue facing the Denver Board of Education.”—Rocky Mountain News.

“Student possession of knives and guns [is] widespread, and 100 students signed a petition asking for a metal detector at the door.”—The New York Times.

Japan’s Educational Marathon

By “Awake!” correspondent in Japan

“NOTHING, in fact, is more central in Japanese society or more basic to Japan’s success,” says Harvard Professor Edwin O. Reischauer, “than is its educational system.”

Lately, though, Japan’s schools have been coming under attack. Reporter Yoshiko Sakurai says: “Japan’s system of education has been reduced to a contest to pass examinations rather than a means by which students are intellectually nourished.” Sasuke Kabe, a Japanese principal, likewise reportedly confessed: “We have traditionally emphasized the acquiring of knowledge as opposed to developing well-rounded persons.”

Many educators therefore protest that Japan’s schools have become an educational marathon—a grueling, competitive gauntlet. Why did such a situation come about? Basically because of the high value the Japanese people place on the respect of others and on success. Employment in a prestigious company or firm is thus highly prized. Usually, to get such employment, though, you must have graduated from a prestigious university.

However, unless you have attended certain high schools, your chances of entering one of these choice universities are pretty slim. But you most likely will not be in the right high school if you did not make it into the appropriate junior high school, which will not occur if the elementary school you attended did not have a reasonable number of its students pass junior high school entrance exams. Even the kindergarten you attended could one day determine how far you advance in a company!

“Examination Hell”

No wonder, then, that columnist Kimpei Shiba writes that “education-bent mothers . . . [begin] bringing [their] infants only 2 years old to be trained for kindergarten entrance examinations to enable them to enter the better elementary schools.” Competition is so intense that only one student in nine gains entrance.

After starting elementary school, the next 12 years are spent preparing for the successive examinations needed to gain entrance into the higher levels of schooling. Says columnist Shiba: “So violent [is] the competition that the expression ‘examination hell’ was coined. When children entered the sixth grade of a primary school, they rushed home with work [homework] that required about 2 hours of study. They then gulped down their dinners before rushing to private schools called ‘juku,’ which specialize in preparing students for entrance examinations into junior high, where the students were put through 3 hours of high-pressure indoctrination 7 days a week.”

You would naturally assume that, having survived such a formidable gauntlet, university entrants would all be eager-to-learn, top-notch students. Not so, says writer Kimpei Shiba. He describes the average university student as one who “can take things easy, often playing mah-jongg for half a day during school hours because he knows that it’s certain he will receive his diploma. All he needs is to obtain the required number of credits.” It seems that most employers are little concerned with how much graduates have actually learned. Jobs are for those merely graduating from the right universities.

The Fruits of Competition

Not surprisingly, all sorts of corruption and problems have arisen in this competitive environment. Every year anxious parents bribe their children’s way into universities, high schools, and junior high schools. Some parents even arrange fake divorces so that one parent and a child can register their address in the jurisdiction of a prestigious school. But when thousands of students compete for only a few hundred vacancies in a school, the majority are going to be disappointed. This has led to suicide for some. Others have vented their frustration by acts of violence.

Perhaps most distressing of all are the effects of this dog-eat-dog environment on the students. Interestingly, the Prime Minister’s Office commissioned a panel to compare the attitudes of young people, aged 18 to 24, in 11 countries. One question asked was, ‘Do you desire to be financially well off?’ Japan led the countries saying yes. On the other hand, the youths were also asked whether they would like to help people by doing social work. The Japanese youths were at the bottom of the list. So while Japan’s schools may excel academically, some would give them a failing grade when it comes to producing balanced, caring, well-rounded personalities.

Does a success-at-any-cost educational philosophy have yet other harmful effects on students? Consider a problem that has developed in German schools.

[Blurb on page 5]

“Japan’s system of education has been reduced to a contest to pass examinations rather than a means by which students are intellectually nourished”

[Picture on page 5]

The competition starts early

[Credit Line]

Japan Information Center

“Schulangst”—The Price of Achievement?

By “Awake!” correspondent in Germany

SCHULANGST—the word was coined to describe a problem that is rapidly becoming international in scope. And though a translation somehow fails to capture all the nuances of the word, it roughly means “school anxiety.”

Ten years ago German pediatrician Dr. Eckhard Schrickel said: “A good two thirds of the children I treat are not organically sick in the ordinary sense of the word. They are school sick.” The medical journal Deutsche Ärzteblatt claims that since then the number of children being treated for school-related difficulties has increased tenfold!

Indeed, if the German Association of Young Teachers is to be believed, the public school system of the Federal Republic is in a crisis. It points to the 280,000 students who annually fail to receive passing grades—almost one out of every 30—as well as to the 18,000 who for school-related reasons attempt suicide. Yearly, hundreds succeed.

Its Causes

Perhaps the most significant factor causing schulangst is the pervasive pressure to succeed. Youths in Germany are told by parents and teachers alike that if they wish to gain admission into a university or find meaningful work, they will have to have an outstanding school record. For many children, though, the fear of possible failure creates tensions that often cause them to fail! Warns German Professor Walter Leibrecht: “We parents must realize that exaggerated ambition on our part can only harm our children.”

True, grades can spur students on to do fine work and can point up areas of needed improvement. And if a parent has no interest in his child’s education, the youngster may lose incentive to learn. Nevertheless, Leibrecht condemns “the severe pressure of grades.” Too much emphasis on grades can make children of average or even above average intelligence feel inferior. “When grades become a lever for applying pressure,” says the German magazine Eltern, “leaving no latitude for personal development, when they distort the social balance, then there is something rotten about our system. Our children are the ones that suffer.”

Homes fraught with dissension or broken by divorce or separation can also breed schulangst. Children in such homes often feel confused, ill at ease, or even unloved. Interestingly, Dr. Gerhardt Nissen, director of the Clinic for Juvenile Psychiatry of Würzburg Julius-Maximilians University, explains: “It can be noticed that students attempt suicide only when grave defects exist in the parent-child relationship or in the child’s personality structure.”—Italics ours.

Yet another factor causing schulangst is revealed by one 11-year-old: “I am sure I could solve the problem the teacher is presenting, if only I could understand it.” Particularly since the late 1960’s has simplicity in German schoolrooms increasingly given way to complicated scientific and technical jargon. Schulangst feeds on the resultant frustration.

Even prolonged television watching may be a factor. One educator claims that TV-viewers tend to forget quickly what they see so that they can better concentrate on what is presented next. The result? They tend to forget schoolwork just as quickly!

At times, students are subjected to “threats, extortion and mistreatment.” The Hamburger Abendblatt thus further remarked: “Oftentimes fear of school is also the fear of the violence of one’s fellow students . . . The students react to stress with violence.”

Too High a Price?

Though the word is German, schulangst is hardly unique to Germany. It is just another disturbing indication that many schools are failing to pass the test. Academic achievement is fine. But when children develop an almost morbid fear of school, parents must ask themselves if the price for achievement is not too high.

For much of the world, though, schools are struggling to teach even the most basic of skills, such as reading and writing. To what extent is the Third World, that is to say, the aggregate of the developing nations of the world, meeting this challenge?

[Blurb on page 7]

Pressure from teachers and parents to succeed causes many youths to have an almost morbid fear of school

The Third World—Closing the Illiteracy Gap?

By “Awake!” correspondent in Nigeria

MORE than 800 million people—a third of the world’s adult population—cannot read these words. They are illiterate. And in Africa the literate population is only about 40 percent. Nevertheless, educational opportunities are increasing in African nations. Nigeria, for example, has thousands of primary and secondary schools, and more than 20 universities. Yet illiteracy persists.

North Africa has had literate communities for thousands of years. The influence of North African Muslims also brought literacy to sub-Saharan Africa. Literacy, however, was generally confined to those who did religious studies in Arabic. The vast majority of the others were unlettered.

European-style reading and writing began to be introduced by Portuguese traders as early as the 16th century. But it was in the 19th century that Roman Catholic and Protestant mission schools were established as the African territories came under colonial rule. As in Europe of that time, schooling was restricted to a few. Agricultural society was simply slow to recognize the value of book learning. Children were a vital part of the labor force, and communities were reluctant to release them to attend classes.

Religious Issues Intrude

Not wanting their children to come under a different religious influence, Muslim leaders likewise rejected attempts to introduce mission schools. The emirs of Northern Nigeria even resisted government schools, until the colonial administration agreed that religion would not be taught. Even then, girls were excluded from enrollment.

Gradually, though, improvements and expansion of the school systems came about. Girls’ schools were set up. Education penetrated into remote areas. But the bulk of the people remained untouched. Newly independent African nations thus inherited a population in which the masses were semiliterate or totally illiterate.

Recent Gains

Most governments have put forward programs for mass education. Tanzania’s population of about 20 million is now 60 percent literate. Ethiopia also reports good results. West African programs, though, have faltered under frequent changes of government and unstable economic conditions. Alfred Kwakye, a minister of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Ghana, observes that “the standard of achievement has fallen so much that the average child is hardly able to read and write any language at all after ten years in school.” Abiola Medeyinlo, a Nigerian university undergraduate, likewise laments that often “graduates from secondary schools cannot spell basic English words.”

Nigeria’s UPE (Universal Primary Education) scheme illustrates how free education plans are often hamstrung by inadequate financing as well as insufficient school buildings, teaching equipment, and qualified teachers. True, since the UPE program started in 1976, the primary school population increased from 8.2 million to 16.5 million in 1983. However, soon after the program’s inception, classes overflowed, and students found themselves either attending school on a shift system or taking lessons under trees. Many had to sit on stones or bring their own stools and other school equipment. Thousands of unqualified teachers were recruited to supplement the relatively few qualified ones. In spite of all of this, however, the literacy gap among Nigerian children is narrowing.

Similar problems plague Nigeria’s adult literacy programs. So communities, families, and teachers have had to set up their own self-help programs. Literate family members are encouraged to help illiterate ones on the basis of each one teach one. Religious bodies, social organizations, the media—radio, TV, and newspapers—are all called upon to have programs that will help people learn to read and write.

How, though, do you teach people who speak only one of the 250 Nigerian languages if the particular language has little or no reading material? And even if such people do learn to read and write, how can this new ability be sustained if they have no books or newspapers to read in their language? These are reasons why many do not bother to try to learn, and why some who do learn relapse into illiteracy. No wonder there are still some 27 million illiterate adults in Nigeria. Since such ones cannot help their children with their school lessons, these children, too, may well revert to illiteracy after leaving school.

Nigeria, nevertheless, has the rather ambitious goal of eliminating illiteracy by 1992. The past, however, has given little basis for such optimism.

[Box on page 9]

India’s Battle With School Corruption

Indian journalist Salome Parikh recently wrote: “Education in India is slowly taking on a bazaar atmosphere. It is a seller’s market and the indifference and corruption that appear as necessary corollaries of any scarcity situation are growing each year.”

A correspondent in India similarly reports: “There is wide-spread corruption. School officials enjoy a thriving business of accepting bribes and open ‘donations’ from parents who want to get their child into school. Cheating on the part of students is open and rampant. In the rural areas, teachers often disappear for 10 to 15 days at a time so that they can tend their farms. They reappear, though, when the supervisor comes to check the school. These supervisors then expect large bribes of wheat, rice, and sugar from villagers and teachers alike. In return, they write glowing reports as to how illiteracy is being wiped out in the village!”

[Box on page 9]

High School and the Third World

Writer Gene Maeroff observes that “there are not enough high schools to serve the population in many of the world’s countries. . . . The proportion of teen-agers in high school is

19 percent in Algeria,

18 percent in Brazil,

9 percent in Gambia,

28 percent in India,

20 percent in Indonesia,

38 percent in Iraq,

15 percent in Kenya,

17 percent in Pakistan,

26 percent in Thailand.”

[Pictures on page 9]

At school in Bhutan . . .

[Credit Line]

FAO Photo/F. Mattioli

. . . and Swaziland

[Credit Line]

FAO Photo/F. Botts

Your Child’s Education and You

“Your child’s ideas about education and its significance begin with you. You must be a living example of what you expect your children to honor and to emulate.”—The National Commission on Excellence in Education.

WHAT are the schools like in your locality? Whether they are outstanding or inadequate, your child likely spends a great deal of time there. What types of influences is he exposed to? The only way to know for sure is to make regular visits to your child’s school and become acquainted with the teachers. Also keep the lines of communication with your children open. Be alert to any problems or anxieties they may be having in connection with school.

True, many parents are themselves educationally handicapped. But as one principal of a New York City elementary school told Awake!: “Even an illiterate parent can be very positive in his approach to his child’s education. He can encourage his child to go to school. He can make sure that the child does his homework and that the child has the proper environment in which to study. He can reinforce what is taught in school by asking, ‘What did you learn in school today?’”

Remember, too, that the most important education a parent can give is in “the discipline and mental-regulating of Jehovah.” (Ephesians 6:4) A child so taught has strong motivation to master educational skills. (Compare Deuteronomy 17:18, 19; 1 Timothy 4:13 and 1Ti 5:8.) That child will also gain a balanced view of achievement and avoid cutthroat competition, thus being better able to cope with the stresses and strains of school.a—Ecclesiastes 4:4; Galatians 5:26.

Failing schools are just a part of the mounting evidence that human rule is inadequate. (Jeremiah 10:23) World events prove beyond doubt that soon God will take over earth’s management. (Luke 21:10-28) There will be no literacy gap or schulangst under his reign. For all earth’s inhabitants “will be persons taught by Jehovah.” (Isaiah 54:13) And “the earth will certainly be filled with the knowledge of Jehovah as the waters are covering the very sea.”—Isaiah 11:9.

In the meantime, though, take an interest in your child’s education. Then, even if schools fail the test, your child can come off a success.

[Footnotes]

The “Young People Ask . . . ” articles appearing in the 1/8/84, 1/22/84, 2/22/84, 3/8/84, 3/22/84, 7/22/84, and 8/8/84 issues of Awake! contain some helpful suggestions.

Diamonds—Are They Really “Forever”?

THE crowned heads of Europe, both kings and queens, used to adorn themselves with them. England’s Royal Scepter (see photo) boasts the world’s largest one. Its Imperial State Crown contains the second largest, surrounded by 2,800 smaller ones. The Russian treasury in Moscow houses a celebrated one worth a king’s ransom. Once the Aga Khan, venerated by Ismaili Muslims as a semidivinity, had his weight, 243 pounds (110 kg), matched in them.

It was once thought that the presence of one would cause wrongdoers to confess their sins. In addition, they could overcome poisons, end delirium and needless worry. They could curb violent feelings and thoughts of murder, and, above all, strengthen love. They could be used as an unfailing test for fidelity. Placed on the breast of the sleeping mate, one would cause the sleeper to reveal his most guarded secrets. It was thought they had the power to repel ghosts, to cause quarrels and terrors, and to bring death.

Yes, it is diamonds that have all this prominence and to which such power has been attributed. But of all the superstition and folklore that have surrounded diamonds and why people continue to seek them, one reason remains the same—they are a status symbol.

Do you possess a diamond? Hold it up to the light. Notice its brilliance and sparkle. Turn it slowly. Observe the miniature fire that appears to be burning in each of its “chambered” facets. Of all the gems discovered by man, the diamond has the greatest refraction and dispersion of light. And you are holding in your hand the hardest substance known to man, natural or artificial.

But here is a mind-boggler: Take a piece of lead from any ordinary pencil and hold it up to the light. Does it sparkle? Does a fire appear to be burning from within? Do you observe a diamantine luster? Are you impressed with the hardness of it? Yet the diamond and the pencil lead have something very much in common—they are of the same element—carbon. And so is graphite, and yet graphite is so soft it is used as a lubricant.

Even though diamonds are the hardest substance known, they can be shattered and reduced to dust. Although some have thought that the swallowing of diamond dust was supposed to be fatal, others have ascribed magical and curative powers to it.

The uses of the diamond in industry, however, are unmatched. Consider this, for example: The hardest steel can cut a five-mile-long (8 km) groove in a length of ordinary bronze before needing to be sharpened. A tungsten-carbide tool will remain sharp for 21 miles (34 km), whereas the diamond will make a cut 1,200 miles (1,900 km) long. Heavy-gauge copper wire can be pulled through a tiny hole in a diamond for 15,000 miles (24,000 km), reducing it to fine metal thread, before the diamond requires reshaping. Diamond-edged tools are often the only things that will cut today’s superhard metals. The value of industrial diamonds is undisputed.

A Status Symbol

If you, however, own a diamond, either as an object of adornment or for investment purposes, it is not of industrial quality. It was specially cut, faceted, and polished to bedazzle you and others with its sparkling brilliance. For the majority of the multimillions of women who own diamonds, the engagement ring probably came first. Since young men buy over 90 percent of all engagement rings, most purchases are made with the idea that diamonds are a gift of love—the larger and more expensive the diamond, the greater the love.

Some experts believe that at least 80 percent of all engagement rings sold are mounted with diamonds. But why not with a ruby or an emerald? Certainly these are often more colorful. Ah, but has it been said that rubies or emeralds are “forever”? Or that the sapphire or the topaz is “a girl’s best friend”?

The fact that diamonds have become for the most part a symbol of love, romance, and marriage is not without design. It is the result of a well-orchestrated advertising campaign, subtle in its approach, that marriage and diamonds cannot be separated. Particularly since 1947 has this subtle approach been used in movies, magazines, and television.

The advertising scheme had far-reaching goals in mind—to bring even the poorer wage earner into the diamondfold. One agency wrote: “We spread the word of diamonds worn by stars of screen and stage, by wives and daughters of political leaders, by any woman who can make the grocer’s wife and the mechanic’s sweetheart say ‘I wish I had what she has.’” With the diamond on her finger even the “grocer’s wife” can take her place alongside the more well-to-do women as she strolls through the marketplace.

But what about the mechanic or the grocer who provides this new status symbol for his mate? The diamond must be seen in a dual role that will also sweeten the status pie for the man. “Promote the diamond as one material object which can reflect, in a very personal way, a man’s . . . success in life,” it was noted additionally.

While the diamond push was on in the United States, and had been almost since the turn of the century, now it was determined that the advertising arm should reach across the sea to Japan. From 1968 to 1981 the number of prospective Japanese brides receiving a diamond engagement ring rose from 5 percent to 60 percent.

What was the real force behind the diamond drive? It was, and is, the most powerful cartel in the history of commerce. Its influential arm spans the globe. Since its beginning, in the closing years of the 19th century, it has had one objective—to control the flow and price of diamonds.

To begin with, diamonds are not as rare as some may think. Today diamonds are mined on three continents and with huge machines are scooped up by the ton, with Africa supplying a large percentage of the world’s output. Australia’s new mine boasts a potential output of 20 to 50 million carats a year. (A carat is a weight unit equal to 200 milligrams, or 1/142 ounce.) Today industrial diamonds are even being created in huge machines.

However, this was not always the case. Thirty years before the turn of the century, diamonds were indeed rare—just a trickle being discovered in India and Brazil. When large diamonds were found in one remote part of South Africa, it brought a stampede of fortune hunters into that tiny area, which almost overnight saw 50,000 men digging into the earth looking for diamonds. In course of time, they dug the largest man-made crater in the world—the Kimberley mine, 1,520 feet (463 m) across and 3,601 feet (1,098 m) deep. Then other diamond mines were found, and these once rare stones were being mined by the ton. Diamond investors saw their fortune balloon about to burst. The price of diamonds would surely nose-dive.

Farsighted men, however, saw the need for the development of a single channel for the distribution of the world’s diamond production. Such a monopoly must buy all available diamonds, control the flow to the distributors, and hence control the price. The central organization formed for this purpose was named De Beers Consolidated Mines, Ltd., of South Africa. Today De Beers markets 80 percent of the world’s output of rough diamonds.

When Russia discovered diamonds in Siberia in 1960 and began mining them on a large scale—ten million carats a year—De Beers realized the plunge in prices if Russia’s diamonds were suddenly dumped on the world market. They convinced Moscow to sell virtually all its uncut diamonds to the De Beers syndicate. An agreement was also reached with the new diamond mine in Australia.

When, however, the cartel absorbs more diamonds than are being sold to maintain its monopoly, it faces grave danger. Some experts believe that this is the case, and they fear that the demise of the amazing cartel is fast approaching. They point out that the diamond glut will force the prices down, and the once precious diamond will be reduced to only a semiprecious stone.

Not the Investment Once Thought

Many are those who have purchased diamonds and diamond rings with the idea that they are like money in the bank or like savings accounts, collecting interest. In difficult financial situations, many have been forced to try to sell their rings, only to find that their $250 ring contained a $20 diamond in a $100 setting.

Like everything else sold to make a profit, there is a markup. For diamonds the markup may range from 100 to 200 percent. Many leading jewelry stores have strict policies against repurchasing diamonds. Often they do not want the embarrassment of admitting that the diamond was not as good an investment as they had claimed.

Most diamonds in rings contain flaws, and one nearly invisible flaw can cut the value of the diamond in half. Prospective buyers will be quick to point this out. If you have an expensive diamond, however, and you are considering selling it, find a reputable diamond appraiser and let him examine it. But selling it for the appraised value may be a problem.

If you are contemplating marriage and are considering a diamond engagement ring, buy it because you truly like its beauty, brilliance, and fiery sparkle and not because it is a status symbol today. Tomorrow it may have very little value.

Happiness

“It may be made up of little, everyday incidents; of having something to do, something to love and something to hope for. A man who was Roman emperor for twenty stirring years wrote after his retirement: ‘Could you but see the five cabbages in my garden, which I have planted and raised with my own hands, you would not ask me to relinquish such happiness for the pursuit of power.’”—The Royal Bank of Canada Monthly Letter, Volume 42, No. 3.

Incubators That Reflect Wisdom

“ONE of the frustrating features of the fossil record of vertebrate history is that it shows so little about the evolution of reptiles during their earliest days, when the shelled egg was developing.” So laments Life Nature Library’s book The Reptiles on page 37. But getting the egg is only the start. Incubating it is just as frustrating—fossils fail evolutionists there also.

MOST BIRDS ARE themselves incubators. They brood their eggs with heat from their own bodies. But feathers can be a problem. They are excellent insulators, and very little body heat can get past them to incubate the eggs. Their Creator Jehovah God, not helpless evolution, solved the problem for them in several ways. For many birds it is a built-in answer: brood patches. Several days before the first egg is laid, the down feathers on the breast are molted, then the blood vessels in this area increase in size and number, the skin thickens and swells. As the bird settles on the nest to brood the eggs, it fluffs out its breast feathers and shuffles about until the bare, superwarmed brood patch is next to the eggs. Or brood patches, for some birds have three of them. Once these heat pads touch the eggs, incubation begins.

BUT NOT ALL BIRDS have brood patches that appear automatically. Some have been programmed by their Creator to make their own. Ducks and geese, for example, pluck the down feathers from their breasts to bring their skin in contact with their eggs. Other birds use their feet as incubators. The blue-footed booby wraps its brightly colored feet around its single egg, and the large webs, through which warm blood circulates rapidly, are just as effective as the brood patches of other birds.

WE HEAR SO MUCH about mother love, but when we turn our attention to the emperor penguin, it’s time for father love to take a bow. In the depths of the Antarctic winter, the female lays an egg and immediately returns to the sea to eat. Papa, however, is left holding the egg on his webbed feet—feet richly supplied with blood vessels and therefore quite warm. He next drapes over the egg a fold of skin that serves as a brooding pouch. It fits over the egg so snugly that the egg remains tucked into its warm incubator “nest” even when papa walks about. Temperatures drop to -76° Fahrenheit (-60° C.), icy blizzards rage for days, but papa faithfully incubates the egg on his feet. Three months, and not a bite to eat! Mama, however, hasn’t forgotten. After the egg hatches, she returns to feed her family with predigested fish from her stomach, then takes care of the chick while papa heads for the sea to feed.

SOME BIRDS USE ready-made hot spots as incubators. The maleo on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi lays its eggs on the slopes of volcanoes, where the ground is permanently heated by volcanic steam. Other maleo on the island use the black volcanic sands at the heads of beaches. They bury their eggs in the sand, which, being black, absorbs heat for incubation.

BUT BIRDS ARE NOT the only ones that use sand as incubators. Sea turtles come up on the beaches at night to dig holes in which to lay their eggs, sometimes as many as 400 or 500 during the breeding season. The Nile crocodile digs a hole in the sand and lays up to 40 eggs. Some three months later when the young hatch, they make little croaking noises, and mama opens the pit and takes her family to water.

REFLECTING EVEN MORE WISDOM than the foregoing, the saltwater crocodile and the American alligator construct quite elaborate incubators. They heap up mounds of branches, reeds, leaves, and decaying vegetable matter near a river or swamp water. In the midst of these three- or four-foot-high (1 m) mounds they lay their eggs and from time to time use their tails to splash water on them. This speeds up the fermentation of the decaying plant mass, which provides the uniformly high temperature needed for hatching the eggs.

BUT AS ELABORATE AS these reptilian incubators are, they fall far short of those constructed by the mallee birds. They are also called the thermometer fowl. They live in arid central Australia, where temperature fluctuations are great, both daily and seasonally. Construction starts at the time of the first autumn rains, as the vegetation used must be wet for fermentation to begin. Both male and female work, but the male does most of the heavy labor. The female, however, will often act as a rather particular supervisor.

THEY DIG A PIT three or four feet deep, fill it with twigs and leaves, heap on more vegetable matter, and top this off with a great deal of sand. The compost below starts fermenting, but it takes four months for the needed temperature of 93.2° Fahrenheit (34° C.) to develop. Only then can egg laying begin. The cock digs a brood chamber in the compost, tests the temperature with his open beak, then steps back for the hen to lay an egg. But no, she has to check the temperature for herself. If she isn’t satisfied, the cock must find a more suitable place in the compost. When she is satisfied and lays the egg, the cock scratches the pit shut again. Every three or four days this procedure takes place, until some 30 eggs have been laid.

ALL OF THIS WHILE the adult birds are tending the mound, digging into its interior where the eggs are, checking the temperature, then filling in the mound again. Depending on the time of day and the weather, they may add sand or remove some, or dig ventilation shafts into the mound, then close them up at the right time. Long hours and hard work, but it limits the temperature variation to no more than 1 degree. Each egg takes 50 days to hatch, each chick digs out of the mound on its own and scampers off, ignored by its parents. Laying, hatching, mound tending—it all continues simultaneously for 6 or 7 months. With the 4-month period needed at the beginning for the mound to heat up, it means nearly 11 months of continuous labor. And all for producing chicks they totally ignore!

WHAT WISDOM IS REFLECTED in all these various incubators! Yet the animals involved are not wise in themselves. What wisdom they demonstrate is programmed into them by their Creator, Jehovah God. As Proverbs 30:24 indicates: “They are instinctively wise.”

[Pictures on page 14, 15]

Greylag goose

Emperor penguin

Maleo bird

Sea turtle

Alligator

Mallee fowl

How Can I Break Free From Drugs?

Young People Ask . . .

How Can I Break Free From Drugs?

AS THE drug slowly took effect, Ann waited for the first rush of excitement. She had experienced it many times before. She would lay back, close her eyes, and seemingly melt into a state of semiconsciousness, oblivious of everything around her.

But this time it was different. As her eyes closed and the euphoric surge consumed her, she passed into unconsciousness. Her breathing became labored and her heart palpitated irregularly. She came very close to dying.

“I woke up in the hospital,” recalls Ann, her face reflecting a look of gratitude for the fact that she is alive today to tell her story. “I had several close calls, but fortunately for me I received the help I needed before I killed myself.”

Ann was indeed fortunate. However, thousands of other young people are not. Each year an alarming number of young people die from taking drugs. Many others want to break free from drugs but fail after making an attempt at a drug-free life.a Why is this true? The publication Recovery and Relapse provides a clue: “Emotional sobriety in reality is our goal, not mere physical abstinence.”

In agreement with this, one counselor for a large drug rehabilitation center in New York told Awake!: “The secret to breaking free from drugs is not simply to stop using drugs but rather to change your way of thinking, your whole approach to life. You must come to the point where you enjoy life more without drugs than you did with them.”

But how can one accomplish this? According to a number of major drug rehabilitation programs, breaking free from drugs must involve a physical and emotional recovery, to which we might add a spiritual recovery. All are necessary for a happy, drug-free existence.

Physical Recovery

The first step is the physical recovery. (A future issue of Awake! will deal with the emotional and spiritual recovery.) Of course, this would involve stopping the use of drugs. If the person is physically dependentb on drugs, he likely will experience withdrawal symptoms, including increased anxiety, shaking, nausea, insomnia, psychosis, or convulsions.—Compare Proverbs 23:31, 32.

“I was extremely nervous,” recalls Allen, who spent 12 years of his life misusing drugs. “When I first stopped using drugs, the withdrawal was so bad I couldn’t even drive a car.” In light of the dangers involved, it would be wise to enlist the aid of a competent physician who is familiar with drug detoxification.

Where a person is physically or emotionally dependent on drugs, most drug rehabilitation professionals highly recommend that he abstain completely from all drugs that can have a mood-changing effect on him. Mood changers are drugs that alter one’s mental and emotional capacities. Simply stated, they are drugs that make you drowsy, sleepy, calm, energetic, nervous, more alert, or cause hallucinations. These would include tranquilizers, narcotics, sedatives, alcohol, even over-the-counter nonprescription drugs such as cold remedies or cough medicines, which may contain such mood changers as antihistamine or alcohol.

Why must all such drugs be avoided by the former drug addict? According to one drug rehabilitation publication: “The only way to keep from getting or continuing a habit is not to take that first fix, pill or drink. . . . We put great emphasis on this for we know that when we use drugs in any form, or substitute one for another, we release our addiction all over again.”

To illustrate: Consider the example of a recovering heroin user. What might happen if, after abstaining from heroin for some time, he begins to drink alcohol? He would be in real danger of reactivating his compulsion to get high. And once the compulsion to get high is rekindled, it’s very difficult for him not to return to drugs. “Compulsion,” states Recovery and Relapse, “that once having started the process with one ‘fix,’ one pill, or one drink, we cannot stop through our own power of will.”—Compare Proverbs 23:35.

That’s what happened to Allen, who had abstained from drugs for over a year. During a hospital stay, he was administered a narcotic painkiller. The drug activated his compulsion to get high. With what result? “When I got out of the hospital, I drank like a madman,” recalls Allen. “Eventually I returned to all kinds of street drugs.”

The Lure of Feeling Good

To understand this better, it’s helpful to consider the primary reason for using drugs—to feel good. This is exactly what mood-changing drugs are designed to do. In some cases, they serve a beneficial purpose. For example, what if you were in severe pain from injuries sustained in a serious automobile accident? Your doctor may prescribe a narcotic painkilling drug to help you feel better while you recover. Besides killing the pain, the drug may also relax you by reducing your anxiety. This is due to the mood-changing properties of the narcotic, which can be helpful to the recovery of a patient who has been exposed to serious trauma.—Compare Proverbs 31:6.

But it’s different with the drug addict. How so? Well, why does he use drugs? Is he physically ill? Has he suffered severe injuries? In the overwhelming majority of cases, he is simply seeking the mood-changing effect of the drug. And why? He may start out taking drugs just for fun, for the pleasure of getting high. But he soon learns that the mood-altering properties of drugs can instantly (although temporarily) relieve the emotional discomforts of life. And the more he uses drugs, the more dependent he becomes on them to escape things in his life that make him feel uncomfortable. It is the lure of this escape that brings him back to the drug for more and more of its mood-changing effect.

So the problem in recovery from drug misuse is not only the physical addiction to the drug but also the mental dependency on the mood-changing property of the drug. For that reason, after withdrawal, the recovering drug addict must work on the long-term problem of learning to live a happy life without drugs.

Total Abstention a Must!

So the bottom line is this: Total abstention from drugs is essential to recovery.c The Bible tells us: “If your right hand is making you stumble, cut it off.” (Matthew 5:30) Yes, it’s best to ‘cut off,’ or make a clean break from, anything that can stumble us in life. Wouldn’t that apply to something as potentially deadly as the misuse of drugs?—1 Peter 2:11.

But once the drug user makes the decision to abstain from drugs, how can he stick to his decision? The Bible answers, “Be transformed by making your mind over.” (Romans 12:2) Yes, he must change his way of thinking, his whole approach to life. He must stop seeking escape by means of the mood-altering drugs and learn to face the discomforts of life confidently, doing so in a way that actually lets him enjoy life despite any hardships that may come his way.

But how can this be accomplished? Through the next two steps involved in recovery—emotional and spiritual. These will be discussed in a future issue.

[Footnotes]

Please see the article “Young People Ask . . . Why Say No to Drugs?” in the Awake! issue of March 8, 1985.

That’s not to say that all who use drugs are physically dependent. Some occasionally use drugs to get high. Yet these may quickly learn that getting high can be used as a means of coping with discomforts. This, in turn, can lead to emotional dependency and physical addiction.

Of course, there may be certain life-threatening situations when it may be necessary to administer a mood-changing drug to a former addict. In this case the drug plays an important role in the actual recovery from trauma due to illness or accident. It is the responsibility of the former drug user to inform his doctor of his past history with drugs. Once the doctor has such information, he will be in a better position to decide whether a drug is needed or not.

[Picture on page 17]

Could prescription drugs lead him back to dependency?

[Picture on page 18]

Before a doctor prescribes medication, he should be informed of a patient’s past misuse of drugs

Rock Stardom Was Not Enough

EIGHTEEN years ago I was a rock-music star and my popularity was soaring. “How lucky you are, Bruce!” my friends would say as they enviously eyed the things I had that they could only dream about. “I would love to be in your position. You’ve got good looks; you’re popular with women; you have money; you’re single and free! Nearly everywhere you go people recognize you. Do you realize how lucky you are?”

‘If all these things I am enjoying are the criteria for happiness,’ I wondered, ‘then why don’t I have inner peace and satisfaction?’ Later I discovered that those who are looking for true happiness by reaching out for that type of life are on the wrong track.

Let me explain what happened.

My singing career began in the 1960’s. I was attending school in the French-Canadian province of Quebec and singing at school concerts when I met a guitar-playing student. We formed a little musical group that won not only local popularity but publicity as well.

A school-dance organizer got wind of my talents and offered me five dollars a song if I’d sing with a popular band at his dance. I agreed. When I arrived at the dance hall, I found a packed-out house, filled with eager dancers. But when the band started to play and I began to sing, the crowd of youths forgot about dancing and began swarming around the front of the stage. The dance had turned into a show!

The musicians wanted me to join their group as the singer. I agreed and we became known as The Sultans. In 1965 our manager entered us in a much-publicized rock-band contest. First prize was a weekly show on one of the largest television networks in Quebec. Out of 28 bands from across the province, we won first prize! That began our debut on TV.

Our music on 45 rpm records skyrocketed to the top of the hit-parade charts, and our television program was picked up by other stations. In a short time we became the number one group in Quebec, with record sales numbering over half a million. Eventually I left The Sultans and went solo. Before parting, however, we had a farewell tour. Montreal in 1968 was the scene of our last concert. A crowd of 8,000 people came to bid us adieu. We were impressed. That crowd was larger than the crowds the Rolling Stones, Johnny Hallyday, and Adamo (international stars) could muster at that time.

Being a solo artist gave me more freedom, and it goes without saying, much more money. This newfound freedom allowed me to have a ten-week vacation in Europe, which gave me a chance to analyze my life as a rock star from a more realistic viewpoint. What I saw bothered me. I was now 21 years old, becoming more ambitious with each passing day, and rivalry was common in order to get ahead.

Returning to Quebec, I soon had two records that reached the top of the hit parade. Then, at La Gala des Artistes in 1969, I was named Male Artist of the Year. In spite of the spotlights and glitter of the evening, I still did not feel satisfied inwardly. The corruption in the system and the way young people in the music business are treated disgusted me. Nevertheless, here I was trapped in it myself. Certain questions kept returning to my mind, such as: ‘Where is life leading?’ ‘Why am I pursuing this profession?’

In 1969 rock idol Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones, at the age of 26, was found dead in his swimming pool. In late 1970 popular blues and rock performer Jimi Hendrix and America’s leading female rock singer, Janis Joplin, both died at age 27 due to drugs or drug-related causes. Ten months later another big rock star, Jim Morrison, lead singer of The Doors, was dead at 27 years of age. All died at the height of their careers! I saw myself also involved in an immoral life-style and in using drugs. I became convinced that following the beaten path of these rock superheroes was not for me.

But the question still remained: ‘What is the real purpose of life?’

I could see my mother, a woman who had had her share of problems in bringing up two boys without her husband, getting older. She had taken care of her responsibilities courageously but for what purpose? To continue gradually getting older, weakening, getting sick, and dying? Was this the purpose of life? These unanswered questions frustrated me.

Over the years, I had lost all faith in and respect for my church and its teachings. I strongly doubted the existence of God. I had experimented with new and different drugs, but they had left me depressed and even paranoid at times.

Thinking that a radical change in my life would do me a lot of good, I looked for work outside the music business. I was hired by a structural steel company on a seven-month contract in 1975. During those months in steel construction, I was intrigued by an older worker who, in contrast to the others, seemed to be so calm and peaceful. He told me he read the Bible, so I decided to buy one to see if it would help me find inner peace.

When that contract ended and I was laid off, I concluded that I could earn my living honorably as an author-composer. This way I could get away from being in the spotlight and still have the satisfaction of working with music, for my love of singing was still strong. I would also read a chapter of the Bible every morning.

I was often in my apartment during the day, so I was visited from time to time by the Mormons, a parish priest, and Jehovah’s Witnesses. I easily got into discussions with them about the purpose of life. Rather quickly I realized that Jehovah’s Witnesses were different. They were humble and showed a sincere interest in me and, above all, based their answers strictly on the Bible, something that the other religious representatives did not do.

Despite my skeptical nature, I consented to studying the Bible with Roger, a Witness of my own age. Often I would try to squirm my way out of the week’s Bible lesson, but Roger persisted—for which I am deeply thankful today. He helped me find the answers to the questions that had frustrated me for so long.

The first meeting I attended at the Kingdom Hall truly touched my heart. Here again I found humble people with a genuine concern for their neighbors. And the information presented was straightforward and from the Bible. For the first time, I came to understand God’s purpose for man. I became less affected by the injustices of this old system, knowing that soon God will act, bringing a paradise of peace to this earth under Christ’s Kingdom rule as promised in Psalm 37:29 and Daniel 2:44.

From then on the practical counsel from the Bible helped me ‘set things straight’ in my life. (2 Timothy 3:16, 17) I married the girl I loved and with whom I had been living, Danièle. And soon after, I dedicated my life to serve Jehovah. My wife agreed to study the Bible, and in time she too dedicated herself to Jehovah.

“It wasn’t easy to make changes in my life,” confesses Danièle. “Yet with Jehovah’s help and Bruce’s support and example, I was able to find true happiness in the Bible’s righteous principles.” We were both baptized in 1978.

Although I appreciate my work for a customs broker at Montreal’s International Airport, my heart is in my main activity as a minister. In fact, it brings me a great deal of joy to help others through a study of the Bible, just as I was helped. In this kind of giving there surely is ‘more happiness than in receiving.’—Acts 20:35.

And as a ministerial servant in the local congregation, I experience a lot of joy and satisfaction from helping others. My life is very busy and full, but I can honestly say that now I am experiencing the inner peace I was looking for and real joy in living. Though my career in show business may have come to an end, I am indeed grateful to Jehovah God that a whole new “real life” has been opened up to me.—1 Timothy 6:19.

Yes, I still love music! I particularly enjoy classical, folk-rock, and some jazz, but I have now become more selective in the kind I listen to. Some of the modern songs have immoral and drug-oriented messages. That brand of music doesn’t help me bring my life and thinking into accord with God’s will. Now I sing for the simple fun of it. That’s why today I find a lot of pleasure in getting together with my wife and friends at small social gatherings where we all have opportunities to sing.

As I look back on my singing career, I can see how my happiness diminished as my popularity increased. But now that I have left show business and have become one of Jehovah’s Witnesses, my popularity may have diminished, but my happiness hasn’t stopped increasing.

People who don’t know this international organization of Jehovah’s Witnesses think that I have been drowned in discouragement or am hanging on to the Bible as a crutch. A radio announcer, after playing one of my records, said about my life: “Unfortunately, things didn’t go too well for Bruce. He’s become one of Jehovah’s Witnesses.” The only thing I say in return is this: “See for yourself what the Bible can do for you. For me, it was the best thing that ever happened.”

“Indeed,” agrees Danièle, “by coming to a knowledge of Bible truth, Bruce and I were able to add real purpose to our lives.”—As told by Bruce Huard.

[Blurb on page 19]

I soon had two records that reached the top of the hit parade

[Blurb on page 20]

The corruption in the system disgusted me

[Blurb on page 21]

The practical counsel from the Bible helped me ‘set things straight’ in my life

[Blurb on page 21]

In giving, there surely is ‘more happiness than in receiving’

[Picture on page 20]

Preaching and study have a share in making Danièle’s and my life happy and fulfilled

What’s New on Violence in Entertainment?

Do sex and violence, graphically depicted in movies and TV programs, give viewers ideas and cause them to act similarly in real life? This long-debated topic has been given a new twist recently.

“Usually these ideas are controlled by our inhibitions,” explains Dr. Leonard Berkowitz, professor of psychology at the University of Wisconsin. But when such films and programs are promoted in the name of artistic expression, and perhaps given favorable reviews by some critics, says Berkowitz, “it helps to legitimize not just the movie but the behavior, taking the viewer off his guard and making it less likely that his inhibitions will be as strong.” Where the element of sex is added, as often is the case, it “produces greater arousal and makes it more likely that people will act on their ideas.”

Dr. Berkowitz’ conclusion, which is the result of more than 20 years of research, is cited by The New York Times in an article on several films of this type. To many people, says the article, these programs “are particularly objectionable precisely because they are seen to give an aura of respectability to the portrayal of the most grisly and violent assaults.”

A Salty Drink That Saves Lives!

By “Awake!” correspondent in Sierra Leone

It was early evening when two-year-old Jeneba complained that her belly hurt. Her mother, Mariama, wasn’t overly concerned though. Jeneba had suffered the “runs” before. This time it would be the same.

But the diarrhea persisted—frequent, watery, uncontrollable. Then came the vomiting. Jeneba lost strength rapidly. Mariama laid the child across her knees and rubbed her back. It did little to help.

As morning approached, Jeneba lay exhausted on the floor—panting, weak, heart fluttering, her head restlessly turning from side to side, her lovely brown eyes now sunken and half closed, her cheeks hollow, her mouth parched. And Mariama felt utterly helpless.

Wailing greeted the rising sun. Jeneba was dead.

WHAT is the biggest killer of children and infants? Believe it or not, it is dehydration—dehydration caused by ordinary diarrhea.a Five million youngsters under five years of age die every year from it—about one every six seconds. In the developing countries, it snuffs out the life of one out of every 20 children before the age of five. And in economically developed nations, surgery aside, diarrhea ranks second only to respiratory disease as the chief reason why children are hospitalized.

Ironically, though, most of this suffering and death could be eliminated by a simple, salty drink.

…

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Awake!, September 22, 1985