<HTML>Regarding "bkiiut" in the learning of gemara, there is no doubt that
this is extremely positive, if guided properly. I would suggest,
however, that as long as the students are focusing entirely on content,
without due emphasis on the form of the material, there will be slow
progress toward independent ability to learn. In Israel, where Yeshivot
dedicate over twenty weekly hours to gemara over six years (!),
statistics point to over 65% who at graduation are still unable to learn
independently. Furthermore, in hesder yeshivot, where over 40 weekly
hours are devoted to gemara, over fifty percent still fail "unseen"
exams at the end of the third year. From my conversations with
supervisors in the Charedi system, the situation there is very little
better, and in some ways worse. This colossal didactic disaster is due
to one thing, and one thing only: a complete absence of an orderly
approach to skills acquisition in gemara learning, and chiefly because
most of the teachers themselves have never had the opportunity to learn
methodology in addition to the yeshivish osmosis approach. Ladies and
gentlemen, let's get our act together in this field! How about an
international conference on the teaching of gemara, with advance
preparation of materials and curricula, so something practical can
develop? Any takers?
Pinchas Hayman</HTML>
