Yasher koach to these brave women – our future movers, shakers, and leaders.
Laurie Dinerstein-Kurs
(Via E-Mail)
Yeshivas And Secular Education
Re “Targeting Yeshivas” (editorial, Aug. 7):
The fact is that the secular education in the thirty-nine “ultra-Orthodox” yeshivas in question is little to none. I speak from experience as I was a special education teacher in two very religious yeshivas – one a boys’ school and the other a girls’ school. The girls’ school was much more advanced than the boys’ school, probably because the girls were beginning to be trained as future breadwinners.
Certainly there are exceptions to every rule. There are boys who learn in yeshivas such as Ner Yisroel who are accepted into law school with no college degree. There are chassidic businessmen who are very successful in their fields. However, one shoe does not fit all. Everyone is entitled to receive a well-rounded education in order to pursue an avocation or career if he so wishes.
But that is not the case with these schools.
First, I have never understood why children who are born in the United States speak broken English with a heavy accent. I realize the language spoken at home and in the yeshiva is Yiddish. However, there are many children who speak one language at home and another in school and their English does not sound anywhere near as fractured as theirs. This can only be because these boys are not encouraged to read English books unless they have a Jewish theme.
Second, because I was teaching a special program, I had to use trade books. The boys I taught, in groups of two and three, were exposed to a lot of new information they otherwise would never have been taught – the number of states in America, the different time zones, slavery and the Civil War, etc. And this was a sixth grade class!
More appalling was that most did not know the names of the English months in order, or what their English birthdays were. This is necessary even for something as basic as getting a driver’s license.
Third, English studies began at 3 and ended at 4:45. In the regular classrooms there were thirty boys per class being taught by teachers who did not graduate college. How can one teacher, with no assistant and no real teaching experience, reach all the boys in his class? He can’t. So please realize that these children are being cheated out of receiving a basic education, even one that would enable them to fill out an application for a driver’s license or passport.
There is no science, no history, no grammar, no trips to museums, no video or slide shows on geography or current events. In addition, in many schools the secular education ends after the eighth grade.
Yes, these communities are very insulated, but a child should be provided with enough of an education to be able to pursue an avocation or career such as accounting or social work. But this is possible only where the necessary educational conditions exist.
Adina Zimmerman
(Via E-Mail)