Shalom -
I am at a loss to understand why you linked to an "educational manifesto" by a pop-culture guru like Seth Godin. I find that his statements range from the obvious to the disturbing. Take, for example, this set of pronouncements -
132. What we teach -
- When we teach a child to make good decisions, we benefit from a lifetime of good decisions.
- When we teach a child to love to learn, the amount of learning will become limitless.
- When we teach a child to deal with a changing world, she will never become obsolete.
- When we are brave enough to teach a child to question authority, even ours, we insulate ourselves from those who would use their authority to work against each of us.
- And when we give students the desire to make things, even choices, we create a world filled with makers.
I think that it is obvious that we should be teaching students to make "good decisions," to "love to learn" and to "make things."
Must we teach them to question authority - even our own? I do not want to start a discussion about Da'as Torah, but surely the authority of the Torah, of Chazal and of the Shulchan Aruch cannot be questioned. Introducing the idea that the Torah and its values may be questioned is not an idea that I would want introduced in my classroom, nor would I want my children introduced to it in my colleague's classroom.
And once we begin to teach about the need "to deal with a changing world" we are effectively saying that the eternal values of the Torah, handed down from generation to generation, may be obsolete in our world.
We need to remember that Chazal had developed a system of compulsory education for all Jewish students at a time when "Western civilization" was still swinging heavy clubs at one another. While we may turn to others to get ideas we must be careful that we do not become enamored with contemporary jargon laden manifestos that purport to teach us how to educate our children.
(Rabbi) Yitz Jacobs
