I want to thank Elisha for his comments on “What are our Day Schools doing with their time”. Please refer to the survey done by Richard Horowitz of Los Angeles, CA on assimilation. The results from his study were quite clear. Students attending a Jewish Day School have close to a 50% better chance of not assimilating and the graduates of a Jewish High School have a fewer than 10% chance of assimilating.
Having been associates as a feeder school earlier in my career with Yeshiva University of Los Angeles YULA where many of my graduates attended. Our students were beyond well prepared academically after an education at Harkham Hillel Hebrew Academy and YULA to get into the finest Universities and these graduates often gave anecdotal evidence that the rigor of a dual curriculum in high school gave them an edge over other students in the universities of their choice.
On a completely separate note I think that our focus in high schools must switch. With the attractions of the media and the secularization of our universities into schools whose moral values have strayed so far from the values that we as parents should be imparting to our teens, we need to carefully decide which universities our guidance counselors are promoting. We should be promoting a year of study in Israel and then enrollment into schools that promote Torah values.
Imparting Torah and Jewish values is much more than just Bible 101 or another school course; it is about the connection that our teachers and administrators give to our students. Our schools can always improve and we as administrators and teachers should always be looking to keep abreast of the most modern teaching curriculum and methods. This being said, we must always remember that our real goal is to create students who will be able to us their Torah knowledge and pride alongside with their secular general academic training to become successful Torah observant Jews with the skills to compete in a globally competitive society.
Rabbi Peretz Scheinerman
Dean Providence Hebrew Day School
