<HTML>I briefly read Rabbi Kramer's questions and comments about creating a
gemara curriculum and I would like to offer a few of my own thoughts.
Granted, I have yet to teach gemara on either a junior high or a highschool
level, but these thoughts have been collecting over time.
Rabbi Kramer works with the assumption that gemara education begins in 6th
grade, roughly age 11. I started there, as do most people (except for
those who incomprehensibly begin in 5th grade). However, Pirkei Avot
disagrees, saying that one should begin at age 15. In addition, the mind
of a child is rarely prepared to handle the complexities of gemara at such
a young age. Think about it, we ask an eleven year old with no general
knowledge of concepts in shas to, at the same time, learn Aramaic
vocabulary, the idiom of gemara (elliptical phrases and the like), the
logic of basic shakla v'tarya, and several other skills. No small task.
Having taught a beginners' shiur to college students, I would say that
starting later definitely helps. I taught students with absolutely no
background, but they picked up on things rather quickly. A large part of
that was because their minds could handle the thinking process, and thus
the main challenges were the more linguistic ones. While I would grant
that moving the start date of gemara to 10th grade would be a revolutionary
step, I think that this basic cognitive obstacle has to be kept in mind as
we attempt this extremely difficult task with 6th graders.
My second musing comes from a slightly different angle. It has been a long
time since sixth grade, and thus my memory may not be so clear. However, I
know that it is very difficult to go from learning gemara in Yeshiva at a
high level to having to explain the most basic words and concepts to
people. There is often a point where one takes something so much for
granted that he is unable to explain to one who does not know about it at
all. Perhaps before we worry about a formal curriculum, we should make
sure that teachers are able to reach the students in a
meaningful way. I do remember the results on gemara tests in
elementaryschool ranging from the 30's to the 100's - basically meaning
that the smart kids figured out a way to take the test and the not-so-smart
kids did not. Basically, gemara at that level becomes an exercise in
spitting back, not in understanding. As such, kids graduate 8th grade with
very few skills in this area.
A final methodological note concerning why the students do not have much of
the vocabulary that they were supposedly taught. Once again, if the
students understand the greater context, they will remember the words much
better. Being taught words in a vacuum and then seeing them in a sugya
that one does not understand at any deep level does not leave much chance
for meaningful rehearsal and remembering. Kids cram in the words the night
before the test, and they are gone from memory by the next period.
My apologies if this was written in a somewhat rambling style. I would
very much appreciate hearing comments and especially criticism from those
who are far more seasoned than I am.
Aaron Ross</HTML>
