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| School in Kiryas Joel |
I believe that the state does have that right, as long as those subjects do not violate the religious tenets of the school. The controversy is what constitutes a religious tenet. How far does that right go?
I have consistently maintained that required core curriculum demanded by the state in no way violates the tenets of Judaism. The reason I feel that way is beyond obvious. The vast majority of Orthodox religious schools are in compliance with those demands. Some go even further in requireing their students take the New York State Regent’s Exam that tests their knowledge upon graduation. Some of those schools are Charedi. Like Torah Vodaath for instance. And yet as reported in the Jewish Link they are among the parties to the lawsuit which claims the following:
“We’re facing a sea of change in the way the government acts with the community and specifically private schools and the yeshiva community,” said Agudath Israel of America Executive Vice President Rabbi Chaim Dovid Zwiebel, adding this “radical way” of dealing with the schools has alarmed the community.
“We feel threatened that this is the end of the autonomy over our yeshivas and of our independence,” said Rabbi Zwiebel in a phone interview with The Jewish Link.
“Parents choose yeshiva education for their children, despite their substantial tuition payments, instead of the local public schools because they want their children to have an education that is rooted in Jewish texts and informed by Jewish morality, history, culture, values, ideals and hopes,” reads the suit. “Above all, the parents of yeshiva students hope that their children grow into fully fledged and thoughtful citizens, while sustaining and upholding their culture and their religious beliefs, values and traditions.”
The suit alleges the regulations would force the yeshivas to substantially revise their curriculum and alter their emphasis on Jewish studies. There are currently more than 170,000 enrolled in approximately 450 yeshivas in New York State.
I could not disagree more. The state is dealing with schools in a ‘radical way’?! Their curriculum is being substantially revised?! In what sense? The state has always required a core curriculum equivalent to public education. What makes this different is that this time it will include enforcement. What are they enforcing? The very education that the vast majority of religious schools provide anyway.
The only schools that are affected are those that have ignored those requirements - refusing to teach even a subject as basic as the English language. Leaving their students completely ignorant of their native language to the point of being unable to construct a sentence without gross spelling and grammatical errors. The argument that they do well financially without those requirements may be true. But not every issue is about money.
What bothers me the most about this lawsuit is the way it characterizes what is at stake. The implied claim is that enforcing these rules undermines the rights of observant Jewish parents to assure they are being taught ‘Jewish morality, history, culture, values, ideals and hopes,”.
This is such nonsense! I can’t believe they are making that claim in public. Teaching a core curriculum in no way undermines those rights. That should be obvious by the fact that they have been teaching those core subjects for decades - and continue to do so.
Perhaps they are making the ‘slippery slope’ argument. But they have not put it that way. They are characterizing this as an attack on the here and now.
Then there is the claim that ‘Above all, the parents of yeshiva students hope that their children grow into fully fledged and thoughtful citizens, while sustaining and upholding their culture and their religious beliefs, values and traditions.’
That is truly admirable. But it is the secular education they receive at the majority of Orthodox schools that help them achieve becoming thoughtful citizens. And yet they are fighting for the right of a few schools to not teach a word about being ‘fully fledged and thoughtful citizens’.
I am also relatively certain that there is no slippery slope here at all – even if that is what they meant. I do not believe for a moment that the state will require schools to teach values that conflict with our religious values.
In the event that I am wrong and at some point that unlikely scenario materializes, I would agree with a lawsuit like this But that time is clearly not now. Nor do I think it ever will be. We have deacades of precedent were this was never a issue.
I belive that what this lawsuit is really all about is letting a certain segment of the Orthodox Jewish population to remain purposely ignorant of these core subjects as a matter of their narrow religious values. Values based on the erroneuous assumption that studying those subjects will undermine those values.
That is of course is ridiculous in its face. The aforementioned fact is that these very subjects are being taught even in Charedi schools like Telshe, Torah Vodaath, and Philly. Schools that have been resposible for the massive explosion of full time Torah study post high school for as long as possible. The vast majority of whom received a core secular education.
Like I said. I hate repeating myself. But every time Agudah et al expresses those views, I feel the obligation to refute them with the abovementioned indisputable facts.
I just cannot understand the apparent unanimity of views among Orthodox educational and advocacy groups that seem to be ignoring those facts and proceeding with a lawsuit with claims that New York’s requirement to teach substantially equivalent curriculum is a violation of our First Amendment rights. I honestly do not get it.
Why does it not matter to them that a large and exponentially growing segment of Jewry will remain ignorant of basic language skills and knowledge about what their civic duties are? Am I the only one that cares?!
