Shalom,
We've heard a few explanations for where we went wrong with the Hilltop Youth, include Yair Sheleg's claim that it's the way we've been teaching Tana"ch.
I'd like to bring to your readers' attention an article from Makor Rishon of about 3 weeks ago -- I think it was in Yoman, but it might have been in Dyokan -- written by someone who purports to be a former Hilltop Youth.
According to the author, these kids are not motivated by anything they've been taught in school, nor have they read any racist or incendiary literature by this-or-that rabbi, nor have they fallen under the sway of any charismatic leader. Rather, they participated in efforts to stop the police from evicting squatters in unapproved settlements and got excited by the feeling of being authentic pioneers (as opposed to their bourgeois settler parents. He of course paints a much more detailed picture, but I think that's the gist.
Now I'm the last person to take this at face value, but it's certainly something we should consider, and even investigate, before suggesting changes to what and how we're teaching.
While we're doing that, I think it's worth considering whether these kids aren't an unintended consequence of our embrace of -- among other things -- non-conformity (of course they conform rather strictly to their own rules, but not to ours), informal education (there seems to be little respect for book-learning and a great deal for experiential learning), students' need for "relevance" and their need to connect emotionally with... I'm not sure what, but something.
I'm not going to join the chorus of people who know exactly what has caused this, because of course we don't even know that there's an effect, making the search for a cause pointless. I mean, teenage boys rebelling and seeking a more thrilling life, especially one that doesn't include thinks like study and exams, is not exactly news. Even the extreme to which it supposedly has been carried -- murder -- is hardly without precedent. and even if I were convinced of the effect, I'd be cautious about pointing a finger at a specific cause, but I certainly think the things I mentioned above are candidates worthy of consideration.
Michael Berkowitz
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/14/2016 09:05AM by mlb.
