<HTML>Dear Rabbi Berger,
First of all I wanted to thank and congratulate you for the tremendous service you are providing to the educational community with this list. Communication is lacking and facilitating it will be of great use to many.
I wanted to comment on Rabbi Grumet's thoughts that not only is there a problem with over-emphasis of Gemara at the high-school level, but also at the post high-school level. Being in contact with many young men who spend a year (or more) learning in a Yeshiva in Israel, I have noticed a serious
lack of background in Tanach, Halachah, Jewish History, Jewish Philosophy, Ethics, and even Hebrew grammar. There seems to be an obsession with improving one's Gemara and analytical skills at the cost of all other subjects. While I think this may be acceptable to the students that are committed to a "Chinuch" track and will eventually beef up on these areas, to the vast majority of students that will go on to pursue careers in the
secular world, and may not have another opportunity to be immersed in a learning environment, I feel it is an improper allotment of their learning time.
I'd be interested to hear other people's thoughts on the subject, and what programs or curricula are out there that deal with this issue.
Bentzi Spitz
Alon Shvut
bentzis@aol.com
02-993-4824</HTML>
