I very much appreciate Yigal Gross' attempt to think creatively and outside of the box and not to let the tuition crisis simply lose its steam. Too many people are suffering and our system as a whole is compromised by many of its side-effects. In fact, there are solutions, both on the micro and macro levels. Many of them involve pooling resources, both inside and outside of the Jewish community, to bring about serious economies of scale. Others involve making better cost/benefit analyses in terms of what is really worth the price tag and what is a luxury that we cannot afford as a community. In that regard, the community is barely scratching the surface with what can be done with online courses, largely due to resistance within the system.
Gross makes an attempt to find another way to cut costs. First, it should be noted that parents who would opt for his half-day option may well be surprised to find that their tuition will not be reduced by anywhere near what they might expect. High school Jewish studies teachers are generally paid much more than their colleagues in the secular studies. This is ultimately due to supply and demand - there is a smaller pool of the former and schools have to compete with financial incentives. Beyond that equation, there are many fixed costs (grounds, administration and support staff) that schools need to contend with, whether a student is there for half the day or the whole day. In going back to his analogy of the fries and the steak, it ends up being the Jewish studies which are the steak. So how much money will you save when you order the steak without the fries?
But that is on the practical level. What is much more important is that our high schools are not only meant to teach. They are also meant to socialize and provide a safe environment for our children to flourish. I have no doubt that spending the other half of the day in a public high school will greatly dilute the benefits that accrue to our children by being full members of their school communities. I don't know if the author went to public high school. I did, and my experience taught me that it was not a wholesome experience for anyone, let alone Orthodox Jews. And, if anything, the situation there has only gotten worse. This is so much the case that when I taught in a lower school that had no Jewish high school in the community, I had no qualms about recommending to parents who would not consider sending their children out of town to send them to Catholic high schools rather than the highly ranked local public high schools.
That being said, it is important that people keep thinking about this and look into old proposals, and come up with new ones as well. If this particular proposal upsets enough people, perhaps it will do us the favor of stirring things up enough to get us to work more seriously as a community.
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/24/2016 07:39AM by mlb.
