Demanding Rights at the Expense of Your Children's Future

People have the right to educate their children as they see fit. That is the bottom line argument made by defenders of (the mostly Chasidic) Yeshivos in New York that offer little - if any - secular studies.

If that is what the parents of children in those schools want, what right do I or anyone else have to demand changes, no matter how much I think it will improve their lives?

Hard to argue with that. Except that I do.

In my view I not only have that right, I have an obligation to care about my fellow Jew. All Jews are responsible for one another. It would be easy to just leave them to their own detrimental devices. I prefer that we instead do whatever we can to help them improve their lives. And have a much brighter future than they will in their current trajectory.There is no reason they can't thrive while maintaining their Hashkafos and lifestyle.

Of course parents have the right to educate their children as they see fit. But does that right still exist if it does harm to their children?  I do not believe that a parent has a right to be negligent in their responsibility to educate their children so that they can thrive in the 21^st century. Their current educational model does not advantage them. It greatly disadvantages them.  

Thriving in the 21^st century requires that one be educated at the very least to able to communicate proficiently in the language of ones country of residence. It is essential to be able speak English without sounding ignorant. The inability to speak the language properly - severely limits the type of jobs or professions that the fastest growing segment of Orthodox Jewry can enter. It forces many of them to have low paying jobs. That and the fact that having as many as 10 children (a fairly common situation) means that even a relatively decent income - still might qualify them for government financial assistance.

It is therefore unreasonable to say that a parent has a right to educate their children as they see fit if that means leaving them at an earnings disadvantage. 

I wonder how many parents whose children attend schools like this actually believe they are being  educated properly. I suspect there are a fair amount of parents who remain in the closet about their feelings -  fearing that complaining will result in some sort of communal ostracizing. They will be seen as a rebelling against the Hashkafos of their Chasidus as determined by its founding Rebbes and enforced by their current ones. Most will therefore stay in the closet and may even say they  support it publicly. 

Which brings me to the long awaited recent report by New York City Department of Education (DOE). In 2015 YAFFED, a group founded by Naftuli Moster  a young expatriate Chasid asked DOE to investigate whether 39 Chasidic Yeshivos were providing a curriculum equivalent to that of public schools. Aside from Moster, YAFFED consists of parents, former teachers, current and former students (52 complainants in total.) After a series of long delays DOE finally issued a report.

I read most of that 14 page report and here is what I found. 15 schools including those of  Satmar, Skvere, and Lubavitch have denied the Department of Education (DOE) access to their schools. Leaving it rather obvious that they know they are not providing a curriculum anywhere near equivalency with public schools. Apparently they have no interest in complying.

And even for those schools where DOE was granted access, the reviews were mixed. There was a variety of different levels of compliance in each of them. Where there was progress some of it was due to the newly amended definition of equivalency that allows Yeshivos to make it part of their religious curriculum. 

I don't think much of that new definition. Of course, some of it does get taught in the course of some of their religious study. But there is no way that kind of learning is anywhere near what DOE requires. Changing the definition of equivalency is nothing more that a fudging tactic in my view. How DOE can really measure that is beyond me.

Another reason there was improvement in some schools is due to the efforts of PEARLS. Which was formed in response to what they saw as an attack against the rights of people to teach their children as they see fit. And to help those Yeshivos comply with the requirements of DOE.  

Investigators had some pretty positive things to say about those schools. I appreciate that there is finally an organized attempt to remedy the inefficiencies of the past.  Nonetheless I still question just how much overall progress there really is. The current command of the English language is poor to say the least. That is being adressed by new English Language Arts (ELA) classes. How effective that will be remains to be seen.  Time will tell.

What about the students at the Satmar and Skvere schools that have refused to allow DOE officials to investigate? My guess is that nothing there has changed. Which probably means that their students remain as ignorant as ever.

To the extent that any progress at all  has been made - there ought to be a  recognition of  the role of YAFFED has played. PEARLS would not exist without YAFFED agitating for change.

It should be noted that even without any change there have always been Chasidim that landed on their feet. They did OK despite the lack of a decent education. 

In some cases that is due to their ability to find jobs in the trades - getting their training through apprenticeships But even there - knowing the language is essential if one is going to learn anything even in a trade. 

Some have some business acumen and will do well as entrepreneurs and have just enough communication skills to get by. 

But opportunities for most of these Chasidim will be severely limited. The majority will have to rely on low paying jobs. That – combined with their typically very large families will easily qualify them for government financial assistance. And that affects all of us.

I'm glad to see that PEARLS has apparently had a positive impact. I wonder though whether any of the people involved with PEARLS would send their own children to any of the schools they are working with. My guess is that except for the Chasidim that are active in PEARLS - none of them would.

There is a lot of anger directed at Naftuli Moster by defenders of these Yeshivos. They claim he has an ulterior motive of wanting to destroy those schools. I have seen no evidence of that.  But even if that is true, it doesn’t concern me. (Even though I would obviously oppose him on that.) Opposing Moster because of his motive is foolish.  - what his stated goals are is what’s important. Not his supposedly secret agenda. Moster was just a badly needed catalyst for change in those schools. Those that are so upset by him ought to stop blaming him and instead thank him. Moster is not the enemy. Ignorance is.