Guest contribution by Yissochor Dov Alter*
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| Are children like these being short-changed? |
The author of this post is someone that is a firmly integrated
member of the Torah world. Although not an educator, he is in a profession that
makes him uniquely qualified to comment on the negative consequences of Jewish
education in that world. He has been a contributor
to this blog on a variety of issues relating to Jewish education in the past. And now, once again he has offered the
following response to a recent post of mine on the same subject.
Although I regret his need for anonymity I completely
understand his situation and agree with his decision to remain anonymous. (I
decided to use an alias this time.) I realize that anonymity reduces
credibility. But since I do know his identity; attendant credentials; and respect
his views I would be remiss if I did not make those views public. Views that are
highly critical. This is not some sort of Charedi bashing post by an agendized
anti Charedi poster. This is a respected Charedi individual pained by what he
sees are major failings. His words follow.
Another well written post on the overwhelming problem of the
poverty of Jewish education. You are, of course, right on the money (pun
intended) in pointing to several of the gaps in the system.
Waste and poor budgeting – can actually be fixed
significantly with proper guidance. This is a challenge, because the ones
who hold the purse strings are resistant to relinquishing control over
money. There are spending priorities which reflect their very
personalities. The remedies needed here are bitter pills to swallow, but
have worked quite well for those yeshivos that took the plunge.
Salaries – this is far more complex than just poor
wages. My kids are out of yeshiva, but I can share sentiments that I had,
which were echoed by many of my peers. Why should I push myself to insure
the rebbes get their paychecks? I find most rebbes incompetent,
untrained, apt to discipline unfairly and narcisstically, unavailable when I
call them to address my child’s issues, and untrained on the basics in Jewish
education.
Few rebbes understand bullying, which occurs
frequently. Most express their anger and frustration by shaming and
degrading students, which is clearly not acceptable. This, on its own, is
one of the most common reasons why parents are less than fully compliant with
paying tuition.
Fund raising – This issue is quite sore. All yeshivos
rely greatly on the soliciting of charitable funds. We have been reading
for a while about the shenanigans of questionable practices in use of
government funding. There are almost always major events, such as
dinners, Chinese auctions, and the like to raise major amounts of money to
support the mosdos. Nearly every yeshiva I know has one or more major
donors who remain behind the scenes (until the guest of honor
appearances).
Many are appalled by the use of the students, sometimes of
younger elementary ages, to collect money. This practice is couched in
highly debatable descriptions. They refer to this as chinuch on the
mitzvah of tzedokoh (should be to give, not take). It is also labeled
hakoras hatov, as if the children who were publicly embarrassed feel grateful
or should feel gratitude. The collecting turns into a competitive sport,
with incentives given for the students who bring in the most money.
Purim is notable for the very rare scene of a child without
a wad of money in hand. I have nothing but disdain and negative emotion
regarding those who collect during those parts of davening when one is not
permitted to be mafsik, including Shema, Shmoneh Esrai, and even during Kriyas
Megilla.
The children are sent out with one supreme mission –
gelt. It is prioritized over tefiloh and the mitzvos of Purim. That
chinuch is decidedly negative, and repulses many. Yeshivos that I have
confronted do not care at all. They just look at what arrives in their
office, not at the mitzvah-aveiroh ratio.
Let’s return to the teachers and mechanchim. They may
well need higher salaries. Few can debate this. But we must ask
whether they deserve higher salaries. Let me explain. I have heard
from many older teens and young adults who leave yeshiva and want to go to
work. When they are offered entry level jobs with minimum wage, they
reject it, expecting to earn far greater salaries, despite having zero training
or job skills.
Are the rebbes and teachers that complain of low pay
deserving of raises? Do they have training in the field that qualifies
them? It is tragically comical that we treat Jewish education as an entry
level job and open to anyone regardless of training or experience. Spend
more on the payroll for inferior work? That’s a hard sell.
One last general comment about chinuch (somewhat less
relevant for mosdos that are out of town). There is something drastically
wrong when the retention of talmidim that can grow in Yiddishkeit and follow
their heritage is weakening. The fallout, whether expulsions, the refusal
of admissions, and the dropout rate, are all staggering, growing at
astronomical rates. With the ships leaking so badly, precisely what kinds
of investments are expected?
Pardon my cynicism. I try to shake it, but it pounces
back on me every time.
*Not his real name
