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| New York City Mayor, Eric Adams (Arutz Sheva) |
I mention this because in my zeal to point out the serious deficiencies in the few (but unfortunately growing number of) Yeshivos that do not offer any Limudei Chol, I underplayed the great success of the Yeshivos that do offer it. From Arutz Sheva:
Eric Adams pledged support for yeshivas and said public schools should emulate them, pushing back on scrutiny the haredi day schools have received for reportedly falling far short of state educational requirements, among other alleged malfeasance.
In a speech delivered last Wednesday at an event held by the Orthodox Union, the New York City mayor suggested that the city’s public schools were failing students and should follow the yeshivas’ example.
I actually agree with him. The vast majority of Yeshiva day schools and high schools (hereafter referred to simply as Yeshivos) offer a dual curriculum of religious and secular studies. Most students at these schools fare much better than typical inner city public school students. These failing public schools would do well to see why that is and emulate what it is about Yeshivos that makes them so successful.
I will even go so far as to say that even the Yeshivos that don’t offer any secular curriculum at all are in many ways doing better at educating their students than are those inner city schools.
This does not for a moment mean that I have retracted my criticism of those Yeshivos. That criticism is as valid today as it was yesterday - for all the reasons I have mentioned in the past (which are beyond the scope of this post). Until that gets fixed, I stand by that criticism.
But the plain and simple truth is that inner city public schools are failing to educate many of their students while Yeshivos are sucessful. There are a variety of complex explanations for that. Some of which have to do with the culture of both communities.
For one thing there is the following. Defenders of the Chasidic schools have always complained about the fact that the New York state ‘substantial equivalency’ requirements ignored the fact that some of those requirement are actually taught during their religious studies classes.
While that is clearly not enough to replace what a decent secular studies curriculum would provide, a religious studies curriculum isn’t nothing. There are certain mental skills taught on the religious side that are in fact superior to what is taught even in the best public schools. Just to cite one example, the logic and rational thinking required to master certain tracts of the Gemara is one of their primary areas of focus.
A Yeshiva student that undergoes the rigors of a decent curriculum in both religious and secular studies will surely be at an advantage over the typical pubic school student that has only a single curriculum. Especially the typical student at an inner city school where the contrast could not be more stark.
Another reason for those differences is that Jewish people have always placed the highest values on education (learning). It is considered a top priority. Of course the word ‘learning’ is usually followed by the word ‘Torah’. But learning is learning. That ethic is instilled in virtually every Jewish child before they ever set foot into a school. And it extends to secular studies as well. I recall the late Philadelphia Rosh Yeshiva, R’ Elya Svei saying something to the effect that if you’re going to attend a class in Limudei Chol it would be a serious waste of time to not master the material. At the time he made that comment, his Yeshiva was known to have an excellent secular studies curriculum
Unfortunately this attitude is a rarity in inner city families. The value of education is not instilled into their children. There are a lot of reasons for that. Many of which are not of their own making. A lot of it has to do with a history of soft racism (some intentional - some incidental) by governments that looked the other way and ignored these problems contributing to that attitude. Allowing more than a few students to ‘pass’ through the system without even being able to read!
Contrast that with the vast majority of Yeshiva students that can read in two languages using entirely different alphabets.
Is there any wonder why so many inner city children grow up to be drug dealers and/or join violent gangs? While at the same time Yeshiva students - even those that were not the beneficiaries of a secular curriculum - do not become drug dealers and do not join violent street gangs?
There are additional reasons for this disparity. And many exceptions in both communities where the reverse happens. But clearly the value system of both communities is what determines the different outcomes. Even if you can’t blame the inner city parents for lacking those values blaming it instead on a history racism that exists to this day, it is a fact nonetheless. Those inner city parents that do have those values, too often are unable to transmit them to their children.
Bottom line - I agree with the mayor. Public schools could take some lessons from the entire Orthodox world about how we value education. Education officials ought to re-think their current educational paradigm; see what Yeshivos are doing right, work with parents to see what will motivate their children to learn - and then implement it. At the same time they must not forget the deficiencies inherent in those Yeshivos that do not provide a secular curriculum and fix that as well. Then we will have the best of both worlds.