While I appreciate the sincere attempt of Yigal Gross to deal with the very real challenges of the high cost of day school tuition, I must echo the words of my colleague and friend Rafi Eis that his suggestion is neither practical nor philosophically desirable. Before explaining my rationale I will add that I suspect that most educators share this view and that we have engaged in this discussion countless times which is why there is a certain weariness in having to explain it again (which is my response to Mr. Goldberg's query as to why there has been little comment from educators; this suggestion is not really new and has been analyzed on multiple occasions.)
Successful public schools offer a wide variety of offerings over the course of their school day with the formal curricular components ending at approximately 2:30. That means that any Judaic studies class can not begin until after that time frame. While the cost of arranging for those classes is clearly less than a regular tuition, you now have a limited amount of time for limudei kodesh in which you are asking students to be motivated and inspired for classes that do not count as part of their GPA. While undoubtedly select students will respond positively, this will present a real challenge for the regular student who feels (correctly) that he/she has already put in a full day as evident by their public school classmates who are now going home or engaging in after school activities. As noted, this is an updated version of the Talmud Torah system which, sadly, failed terribly giving rise to the day school movement in the first place.
This therefore leads to my second philosophical point: The beauty of a successful day school education is not merely the fact that students learn both Judaic and General studies. Rather it is the entire experience of Torah Judaism that permeates all aspects of the day. This ranges from davening to saying birkat hamazaon - which are obvious manifestations - to the more subtle and nuanced discussions that occur in General studies classes as well. This is the atmosphere created, and the Torah lessons learned, in informal activities, that range from special programs dealing with chagim to the manner in which our sports teams compete. I will be happy to provide multiple other illustrations but the central point is painfully obvious. If we truly believe in our mission of achieving dveykut with Hahshem then that requires providing our children with an all encompassing experience that will nurture their minds and souls. That is the essence of a yeshiva education and this goal will not be accomplished in the model Yigal Gross has suggested.
This does not mean that there is not much more work to be done in insuring that each day school accomplishes this lofty task and that we as a community find ways to make it reasonably affordable. It does mean, however, that we acknowledge the real purpose and value of sending our kids to day school.
Respectfully yours,
Binyamin (Binny) Blau
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/03/2016 07:02PM by mlb.
