- • "
72 Friday, May 21, 1982
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Mark Schlussel Analyses Changing Jewish Education in U.S.
By MARK SCHLUSSEL
ago only 7.8 percent of
(Editor's note: Ad- our children attended
dressing a symposium of day schools. Today, there
the Jewish Educational are approximately 600
Service of North day schools across the
America, in Washington, United States.
Mark Schlussel, who is
I believe that the one-day
actively associated with
educational movements schools, to quote Shimon
locally and nationally, Frost, are "schools for
dealt with the role of the Jewish socialization with
day schools and pointed minimal subject matter
to the importance of giv- mastery" and are likely to
ing them major consider- provide their students with
ation in cultural planning minimal opportunity to
by American Jewry. explore the vast resources
Analyzing the ideological available to understand
differences between the their profound Jewish heri-
various factions in tage.
Jewry, Mr. Schlussel in-
In many of these institu-
terpolated their implica- tions, the quality of the
tions as they relate to teacher is less than
Jewish educational ef- adequate as the emphasis is
forts. The following are on pedagogical expertise
excerpts from his • ad- and not subject matter com-
dress dealing with these petence. From a communal
need's.)
perspective, the one-day ,
Across America, there are schools, although they con-
approximately 775 Reform tinue to flourish numeri-
temples, 890 Conservative cally, cannot possibly pro-
congregations and 500 Or- vide a meaningful Jewish
thodox congregations. education, on any level.
There are approximately
The parents, pressured by
375,000 Jewish students re-
ceiving Jewish education their own social mobility
and a keen desire to provide
across the country today.
Of this number, approx- their children with a taste of
imately 32 percent of the all of the opportunities for
children are in one-day social development avail-
schools which would find able in suburban America,
themselves to be predomin- will continue to demand
antly within the Reform this kind of diluted Jewish
temples. Forty-two percent education. It more appro-
of these children are attend- priately reflects the priority
ing afternoon congrega- we place upon meaningful
tional schools. Three per- Jewish educational experi-
cent are attending com- ences.
munal institutions of which
The congregational
the United Hebrew Schools school which usually
of Detroit was for the past provides a program of
30 years a model.
approximately four to
The balance, or approx- eight hours per week
imately 23 percent, of the (more likely in the range
Jewish students attending of four to six hours) is still
Jewish educational institu- today the bulwark of
tions are involved in the Jewish education in
Jewish Hebrew day school America. Nearly half of
movement.
all of the students attend-
The growth in the day ing institutions of Jewish
school movement over education are enrolled in
the last two decades has one of these afternoon
been nothing short of congregational schools.
phenomenal, as 20 years
In some large measure,
these institutions have
trained the past two genera-
tions of centerist American
Jewry. There have been pro-
found successes and mas-
sive failures within the
realm of this educational
milieu.
It is clear that if you
evaluate afternoon congre-
gational schools on a
school-by-school basis, you
have limited success.
The communal schools
are today, in reality, an his-
torical anachronism on the
landscape of American
Jewish education. The his-
torical pattern of the United
Hebrew Schools in Detroit,
with which I have my most
immediate experience,
indicate that these institu-
tions no longer are a driving
force in the shaping of
Jewish education.
The United Hebrew
Schools is worth looking at
as it will indicate why this is
the case. At one point in
time some 20 years ago, the
United Hebrew Schools in
Detroit had an intensive af-
ternoon school with almost
5,000 students.
Today, that same school
has approximately 1,000
students.
The reasons for the sharp
decline in student enroll-
ment reflects the changes in
MARK SCHLUSSEL
educational patterns which
will find institutions of stel- exist today. At the time that
lar performance run by the United Hebrew Schools
educators of high motiva- was at its zenith as a com-
tion with curriculae that munal institution, most
covers history and ritual, parents who were opting for
Bible and a smattering of Jewish education were look-
Mishna and Talmud.
ing for a minimum of six to
The students who leave eight hours of afternoon
those high-quality congre- schooling and the United
gational schools leave with Hebrew Schools provided
a sense of understanding of the best product from the
their Jewishness and an best teaching staff which
ability to seek some future was available in the Detroit
growth and development as community.
a JeW with at least a basic
Today, those parents
foundation.
who are seeking inten-
On the other hand, sive Jewish education for
there are schools of like their children are opting
number of teaching for the day school move-
hours which we can most ment which has elimi-
appropriately describe nated much of the parent
as Bar- and Bat Mitzva body who would look to
mills and babysitting the United Hebrew
services, without any Schools as a viable alter-
strong educational direc- native.
tion, whose end product
On the other hand, the
is an American Jewish United Hebrew Schools has
adult who can by rote re- never deviated from its
call the first five commitment of a minimum
pasukim, both "trope" six-hour-per-week pro-
and words of his Bar gram. Those parents who
Mitzva Haftorah. Beyond are seeking a diluted form of
that, these institutions Jewish education of four
hours or less do not view the
United Hebrew Schools as a
viable option in the educa-
tion of their children.
The result is that the
market available to UHS
has been largely limited by
the growth of the day
schools and the growth of
the diluted one-day and
maximum four-hour pro-
grams available at the
synagogues and temples.
I tragically believe that
the result is foreordained
and that institutions such
as communal schools on an
afternoon school basis, par-
ticularly on the elementary
school level, will eventually
go the way of the Packard
and the DeSoto auto-
mobiles. They will be the
historical relics of Ameri-
can Jewish education.
The day school move-
ment which today has
approximately one-
quarter of all students
attending institutions of
Jewish education is, in
my opinion, without a
doubt the best hope for
perpetuating a commit-
ted educated Jewish
community of tomorrow.
The day school movement
is beginning to cross de-
nominational lines and is
starting to attract adher-
ence in the Reform Move-
ment, along with the "Sol-
omon Schechter" schools in
the Conservative Move-
ment, and the "Torah
Umesorah" schools in the
Orthodox Movement, and
reflect growing recognition
across all ideological lines
within _American Jewry
that it is neither separatist
nor devisive for the Jewish
community to educate its
young within a Jewish
environment.
This determination by
the leadership of American
Jewry, I believe, is pro-
found. In the past, frankly,
the leadership of the Jewish
federations in this country
have viewed the day school
movement with great susiii-
cion and fear. There was a
concern that the Jewish
students who went to the
day schools would not meld
into American society.
All of the arguments of
separation of church and
state were utilized analog-
ously within the board
rooms of the federation with
a determination that the
day schools were, in fact,
church and the federations
were, in fact, state ar -
would be inappropriate
the federations to -ackrio-c,
edge, recognize and supp6.. _-
day school Jewish edpr -
tion.
There was a strong
fundamental belief in the
public school system in
America (although I
sometimes was suspect,
since most of the children
of these affluent Jewish
leaders found themselves
in private schools of some
stature around the coun-
try). -
Today, on the other hand,
there is almost universal
recognition amongst the
knowledgeable leadership
in all walks of Jewish life
that the day school move-
ment is pivotal to the survi-
val of American Jewry, as it
provides an opportunity for
intensive Jewish education
without the need to compete
and compromise with all of
the other social oppor-
tunities available to the
children of suburban
American Jewry.
Another simple factor
that gives the children in
day schools a better oppor-
tunity, or I might more
appropriately say the
teachers in the day schools a
more appropriate opportu-
nity, is that they do not face
a student after a full day of
public school who is
exhausted, daydreaming
and whose attention span
has long since waned. That
educational advantage
alone can facilitate the im-
parting of knowledge on a
more meaningful basis.
Hypothetical Arab General Strike Could Help Israel
By CARL ALPERT
HAIFA — According to
official records, something
like 40,000 to 50,000 Arabs
from Judea, Samaria and
the Gaza Strip cross into Is-
rael each day to fill jobs in
industry, agriculture and
various services. It is gen-
erally believed, however,
that the actual number, in-
cluding those not officially
registered, may be close to
twice that figure.
Some of the Arabs are
skilled or semi-skilled
workmen in the building
trades, but for the most part
they do the physical, man-
ual work which most Is-
raelis will not accept.
Though their work is me-
nial, they fulfill vital func-
tions, and unconsciously
much of the economic com-
plex of the country has been
built around the
availability of these tens of
thousands of workmen.
The relationship with Is-
rael has been an economic
blessing for the Arabs in the
occupied territories. Under
Jordanian occupation un-
employment was rampant,
and the standard of, living
depressed. There may be
strong differences of opinion
on political matters, but no
one denies that the $750
million in wages which pour
into the West Bank and
Gaza each year have ef-
fected a great transforma-
tion in economic conditions
there and have created a
degree of prosperity in an
area previously marked by
great pockets of poverty.
There has been fre-
quent Israeli opposition
to this reliance on Arab
labor on both moral and
ideological grounds. The
use of others to do the
hard work and the "dirty
work" is contrary to fun-
damental elements of
Zionist philosophy. Of
late there have been ex-
pressions of concern be-
cause of the economic
dangers inherent in this
situation as well.
What would happen if, as
a result of concentrated
political pressures, the
Arabs were to be prevailed
upon or terrorized into cal-
ling a prolonged general
strike which would com-
pletely halt this supply of
labor for the Israel market?
An enterprising Israeli
journalist, Tamar Avidar,
picked up the conjecture,
and writing in Maariv de-
scribed realistically what
this would mean. She inter-
viewed Israeli employers,
economists and labor ex-
perts. Her feature story,
"The Day the Workers from
the Territories Tied up the
State," was imaginary, but
based on very real pos-
sibilities.
Managers of textile and
food processing plants ad-
mitted that without their
Arab workers the chances
were that the factories
would have to close down.
Hotels and hospitals,
where the cleaning and
sanitary duties are almost
exclusively in the hands of
the Arab workers, declared
that any prolonged strike of
this nature would make it
close to impossible for their
institutions to continue to
provide proper services.
Startled by the possi-
bility, planning__
authorities have begun W"
give thought to what
might be done to meet
such a situation. In the
short run, it would be
necessary to import labor
from abroad. Switzer-
land and Germany,
among other countries in
Europe, have imported
millions of foreign labor-
ers, under carefully con-
trolled conditions, from
countries like Portugal,
Turkey, Greece, Italy and
others. This could not be
a permanent solution, of
course, and steps would
have to be taken for
long-range situations.
These could include, for
one thing, much greater
mechanization in every
area of labor, especially
in the building trades,
and in the second place,
making menial jobs more
attractive to Jewish
labor by paying much
higher wages.
Some believe that a gen-
eral strike of the nature de-
scribed, if it did indeed take
place, might be a hard-'
for a period of time, buL
the long run would be a
blessing in disguise. It is re-
called that in 1936, when
the Arab workers in the port
of Jaffa went on strike,
thinking they could in that
way strangle the Jewish
community, the Jews were
forced to open their own port
of Tel Aviv, and to encour-
age Jews to become steve-
dores and dock workers. The
result was a revolution on
the waterfront, from which
the state of Israel eventu-
ally benefited.