THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS Friday, December 13, 1985 SHABOT SHALOM FROM YOUR FRIENDLY off' if they came with some fer- vor when they first enrolled. The problem is not an easy one to resolve. It is not a prob- lem localized in any one city or any one section of the country. It is universal, with a slight variation from community to community depending on local conditions and what the com- munity can offer Jewish teachers. Serious study should take place among the leadership of the Jewish Community. The problem will not fade away and can only be resolved by a con- Most people who are teaching (in Jewish schools) are doing so as a source of supplementary income .. . certed national effort. My intent is to submit ideas that can be explored. The most obvious suggestion is to raise salaries. By increas- ing salaries, we could retain those few professional educators who are still left in the field and hopefully stem the tide from Jewish teaching. Not only must we pay a living wage, but we must be prepared to pay an even better than living wage. But money alone is not the answer. Educators must earn a meaningful livelihood like any one else, but it is not the salary alone that attracts them. It is the opportunity to teach and to help someone that makes all the trouble worthwhile. In the words of our Talmudic Sages: "Good teachers want to teach even more than their charges want to learn.". Because of the great responsi- bility they bear, their position in the community should be rec- ognized and appreciated. Teachers today are regarded with little respect. Perhaps this is directly related to the salary they earn. In our society, we measure success by how much a person earns. Since teachers don't earn very much, they are considered as not having suc- ceeded. This must be rectified by enhancing the prestige of the teacher and the profession. The social status of the teacher must be elevated to a respectable level in the community. For example, a special effort could be made to offer educa- tional personnel special privileges in Jewish religious and educational institutions, such as a reduction in fees or complimentary memberships. Jewish business establishments can be encouraged to offer edu- cational personnel discounts. The community-at-large should be inspired to befriend the teachers and invite them into their social circles. Housing is usually a major problem for people who are re- locating. A special fund should be established to lend new per- sonnel money for a down pay- ment to buy a place of residence. Perhaps the community could go one step further and even pur- chase a building, in order to rent apartments to educators at reasonable rentals. Besides the salary scale of teachers, the fringe' benefit pro- gram should be upgraded to make it competitive with other fields. More hours could be of- fered so as to warrant a full sal- ary. This can be accomplished by rescheduling the school hours so that teachers can handle more than one class. Also, schools can cooperate with each other to combine positions and share a teachenor a principal. . Many former teachers now live in school areas. This is a great source of teachers that should be vigorously tapped. They should be sought out and helped to update their profes- sional status. Schools might look into the possibility of larger classes staf- fed by a professional teacher and an aide rather than divid- ing the class in two and ending up with a higher cost and less competent teachers. A well qual- ified teacher could handle more students if given assistance; at the same time, the aide could be getting invaluable training and could eventually evolve into a good teacher capable of handling the class. Perhaps the most far reaching plan is to encourage more stu- dents to enter the Jewish teacher training schools. And the teacher training schools should make provisions to at- tract the better candidates. Communities could be encouraged to offer scholarships to potential students, with the expectation that they return to the community as teachers for a certain number of years. Every Jewish community should establish a commission of professional and laypeople to look into the most feasible way the community should proceed to resolve this lack of qualified Jewish teachers. Rabbi Menachem Raab lives in North Miami Beach, Fla. NEWS GREAT SCOTT SUPERMARKET CANDLE LIGHTING TIME 4:42 P.M. EMPIRE BBQ CHICKEN SAVE LB. railas S Hil s ICE CREAM 149 MANISCHEWITZ WHITE FISH & PIKE CAN QUALITY SAVE SAVE 504 TAM TAMS MATZO T BALL SOUP . 60° Rehovot — Rina Hershkowitz of the Weizmann Institute's Sci- ence Teaching Department, worked as a consultant this year with Singapore educators pre- paring seventh grade math textbooks. 94 SAVE UP TO 46° 8B-00k 7 SAVE UP TO 404 4.5-0Z. 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