When asking if something is “worth the money,†we must add “for whom?†For someone who needs a car for transportation, a vehicle that costs $60,000 is not worth the money when a functionally comparable car can be purchased for a third of the price. For someone who is looking for a high level of prestige, status, aesthetic, and comfort, the price differential is not only worth it, but is also connected to what is being bought.
What are people looking for in a Jewish day school? There is perhaps as great a difference in the answer as there is in what someone is looking for in an automobile. On the religious “right†there is a population that is looking for an educational environment that furnishes knowledge and mastery of Jewish texts in an isolated Jewish social environment. This, like the stripped-down car, can be offered at a competitive price, even with a solid general studies program rolled in (as long as there is competent and committed leadership).
The issue of cost arises when we move into the Modern Orthodox and Non-Orthodox school systems. Here, as Rabbi Klapper notes, the product being purchased is well beyond the basic model, though he does not make a significant enough distinction between Modern Orthodox and non-Orthodox schools. Having worked, like Rabbi Klapper, in both, I offer my perspective.
In non-Orthodox schools there are certainly families who are looking for essentially the same thing as the parent bodies of the traditional yeshivot I described above, just with a different religious ideology. There are deeply committed Conservative, Reform, and even secular Jews who are looking for schools that will teach their children Jewish texts in an environment that promotes their Jewish values. In the non-Orthodox school world there is a term we use for this group: we call them “there for the Jewish.†Like their Orthodox counterparts, what they are paying for is a Jewish education. In general, they expect a much higher level of general studies education than right-wing yeshiva parents, but, in the end, will put up with on-par or even sub-par general studies as long as their kids are being well educated Jewishly.
The problem is, the non-Orthodox “there for the Jewish†population has plummeted in the last generation, as enrollment numbers in non-Orthodox day schools attest. In many communities, it is impossible to sustain a school based on these customers alone. In order to fill the empty seats vacated by the lack of these families, non-Orthodox day schools are trying multiple tactics to attract families who are not “there for the Jewish†to their schools. The hope is, in addition to filling spots, these children and families will be exposed to Jewish learning and will be brought closer to Jewish faith and learning. This plan comes with a price, literally and figuratively. These schools need to offer a superior general studies program that is—yes—sometimes better than local public or private schools. Jewish schools often have financial and professional resources that can make them competitive in product and price, especially in regions where independent school tuitions are exorbitant, or pubic schools are underfunded. The Jewish day school can thus offer a superior general studies education at a price that may be high for “there for the Jewish†parents seeking a parochial school, but a good deal for those looking for a more reasonably priced private school.
The other price in this approach Rabbi Klapper correctly identifies as a diluting of the rigorous limudei kodesh curriculum; these schools feel they must offer a Jewish studies program that is lighter on texts and higher on engagement. Rabbi Klapper calls this losing competitive advantage, since high-level text study is our core product. I am both sympathetic to Rabbi Klapper’s concerns and am skeptical of the success of a strategy that services the least committed constituency at the expense of the core customers. But the competitive advantage of these schools remains in having a top independent school while maintain Jewish studies on as high a level as the population will support.
The issue in Modern Orthodox schools is different. These parents are nearly all “there for the Jewish,†it is just that they increasingly want all of the benefits of a top private school as well. This follows a general trend in our society where citizens and consumers demand ever-increasing services (from both government and business) for which they do not wish to pay extra (through increased taxes or product costs). Parents want gold-standard independent school education from our yeshivas but, as Rabbi Eis points out, we can not do this at parochial school prices. And, as Rabbi Klapper notes, we cannot do this without cutting into the time and rigor of our limudei kodesh.
In my analysis, in both the non-Orthodox and Modern Orthodox schools, privileging rigorous text-based learning is not what is going to provide the competitive advantage in the marketplace. I discussed non-Orthodox schools above. As for Modern Orthodox schools, these institutions need to argue that they can provide it all. In reality, they cannot, but they may be able to find a “sweet spot.†The real reason why we need to have rigorous Jewish studies in all Jewish day schools is because that is the reason they exist. Real Jewish education cannot be achieved without rigor any more than real science, English or math education. If this gives us an advantage, so be it. But if we do not have Jewish schools to provide a real Jewish education, they why are we investing so much money in them in the first place?
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/09/2017 08:46AM by mlb.
