From: carroll@bugs.cis.udel.edu (Mark C. Carroll)
Subject: Re: Day Schools v Supplemental Schools
Organization: University of Delaware, Newark
Date: Fri, 14 Aug 1992 00:21:32 GMT

In article <1992Aug9.231937.7023@midway.uchicago.edu> clmn@midway.uchicago.edu writes:
>In article <1992Aug9.191200.5662@cbnewsl.cb.att.com> stank@cbnewsl.cb.att.com (Stan Krieger) writes:
>>
>>In trying to determine what can, or should, be done about Hebrew Schools,
>>we mustn't lose sight of reality, and reality is that assimilation is
>>the mode in which most American Jews operate.  We can't try to "solve"
>>the problem by saying that out children should go to Schecter, etc.;
>>the fact is that Jewish children will be educated by the public school
>>system.  Now, within that parameter, what is to be done?
>>
>
>I contend that, if one is determined to keep sight of reality, one cannot
>constrict the options in this way.  From the standpoint of the individual
>parent who wants to provide a Jewish education to his or her child, the
>reality is that supplemental schools are NOT an option.
>
>Later in the post, I'll address the issue of synagogue skills.  What I mean
>by Jewish education, however, is broader than that.  Jewish education involves
>both belief and practice.  If one wants to inculcate the notion that Judaism
>is a way of life and, in particular, a way of life worth practicing, then the
>supplemental school has been shown to be unsuitable and day schools are the
>only way to go.
>

I disagree _incredibly_ strongly with this.

What teaches children that Judaism is a way of life is the presence of
Judaism in their lives. It doesn't matter whether they study Judaism for
several hours out of the day in dayschool or for several hours out of the
day at home or in supplemental school.

In my home as I was growing up, I was constantly aware of my Judaism.
Judaism is a fundamental part of everything that I do, and everything
that I am. When I was in elementary/high school, I went to hebrew
school three days a week, and attended a normal public school. But my
entire life was Jewish, no matter where I was, because my parents
taught me and showed me the role of Judaism in my life. They sent me
to our Rabbi to learn to read Torah. After I was bar-Mitzvahed, I
continued to study with my Rabbi. These days, I'm mostly occupied with
graduate school, but I still go to synagogue regularly, and I blow
shofar at my synagogue at home for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

Quite a failure for those awful supplemental schools, neh?

I'm not saying all this to brag: my point is simply that you can close
your eyes and say that all the problems of Judaism will be solved if
we just send our kids to day school, but it's not true. What matters
is the role that Judaism plays in your life, and that's determined
first and foremost by your life at home, with your parents. If the
parents don't bother to make Judaism a central part of life at home,
then Judaism isn't going to matter to the children no matter what
school they go to.

>>How I define the problem of educating our children is probably no
>>different than other cultures have in America.  On the one hand, we
>>are Americans, and able to enjoy the American lifestyle and American
>>dream; on the other hand, we want our children to remember their
>>ethnic and cultural heritage (in short, our concerns and needs are no
>>different from other ethnic groups, such as the various European
>>and Asiatic nationalities in the U.S.A.).  The problem that the
>>Jews who chose assimilation thus have is how to maintain that
>>Yiddishkheit in our children.
>>
>
>This is a different goal than what I outlined above.  IMHO, this neatly
>expresses the central contradiction which makes the supplemental schools
>untenable.  The idea is to simultaneously assimilate and maintain Yiddish-
>keit.  At this late date, isn't the evidence overwhelming that this is 
>impossible?  The children see the contradiction instantly and I say this
>speaking from personal experience.  The kids completely understand that
>their own parents do not take the religious school program seriously.  The
>supplemental schools, even the Reform, teach as they must that Judaism is a
>way of life.  But all anyone wants is for the kids to "remember their
>heritage" to a degree sufficient to motivate them to find a Jewish marriage
>partner.  This goal of assimilating and not assimilating at the same time
>is simply unattainable.

Nonsense.

We are all partially assimilated. You're posting from the University
of Chicago, which is a non-Jewish school. You work every day in a
world dominated by non-Jews. You probably read a non-Jewish paper in
the morning, and if you watch television, you watch TV which is
written by and for the non-Jewish culture that you live in.

What matters is limiting the degree to which we assimilate. We have to
be functioning parts of the society we live in. We need to be able to
communicate and interact with the people we meet in our lives.
Learning the skills to be able to do that is assimilating. What makes
us Jewish is that underneath all of the assimilated skills is a Jewish
heart, and a Jewish life. We maintain our Jewishness despite the fact
that we have to assimilate to function. We are a part of society, but
we keep a part of ourselves back, in order to maintain our identity.


	<MC>
-- 
|| Mark Craig Carroll: <MC>     || "Humanity isn't a physical description,
|| Univ of Delaware, Dept of CIS|| it's a spiritual goal. It's not something
|| Grad Student/Labstaff Hacker || you're given, it's something you earn."
|| carroll@udel.edu             || 	- _One_, by Richard Bach
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