education and look at areas that are
not presently being served."
Dr. Richard Krugel, chair . of
Federation's planning and alloca-
tions steering committee, said that
while the Federation encourages
adult education, it does not dictate
how the AJE's $1,132,758 alloca-
tion is spent.
"We feel adult education is
important from the Federation side
and we feel AJE should be looking
into doing what it can do to pro-
mote adult ed, but how they spend
money rs their business," said
Krugel. "We just monitor them."

Photo by Glenn Triest

the proposal is still under Federation
review.
Asked whether the AJE is doing
enough in the area of adult education,
Barbara Cook, who chairs Federation's
education division, was somewhat
vague.
We are hoping as the years go on,
more and more will occur [in the field
of adult education]. One of the things
that we'd like to see is the different
synagogues and temples making deci-
sions about what their constituencies
would like to have, then taking a look
and seeing what's missing, then adding
that. We're encouraging the AJE
through Midrasha to look at adult

1111.40.0 ,

aces:
ore nc
Melton Adult Mini-
tth a mixture of nos ta

voices as they recall how the
--- offered here from 1994 to
-- changed their relationship
Judaism.
Their tone abruptly shifts when
they recall how its sponsoring agency,
the AJE's Midrasha Center for Adult
Jewish Studies, discontinued it.
"Melton gave [Jewish learning] a
cohesiveness. It was'a life-enhancing
experience for me," said Donna
Sklar, a Melton graduate and presi-
dent of Temple Kol Anti. "I think its
a tragedy for the Detroit Jewish com-
munity that the Melton. School is not
here."
An international program of adult
learning, the Melton Mini-School
started in the 1980s with a core cur-
riculum developed at the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem and is 'now
used in 25 communities throughout
North America.
Operating through a local spon-
soring agency with local teachers, the
mini-school provides the materials
for a two-year course of study which,
according to its brochure, enables
learners to "master the essential

•

lo
Ins S tu
has su s
$8,000), t
said Howaid
director
EclucatiOn
"They w
ical franchise fe
who decided to can
ram
after a year, allowing'eldsting Students
to graduate but not starting a new
first-year class. "It was a really rigid
approach and very high cost with no
necessary return on the money."
According to Gelberd, the milli-
school required too much of a time
commitment to appeal to many stu-
dents, suffered a high attrition rate in
Detroit, and can be easily duplicated:
"What were offetr
very
similar, but we're nott
at of
extraneous overhead," lie said.

elton gra u
,\
thinks the cancellation re ects no •
lack of community interest but a la
of commitment on the part of the
AJE.
"Almost no one dropped out, and
80 people were on a list who wanted
to start the next cycle," said Reisig,
who took the class with his wife. "It's
Ye t ting ho

• W.4:1;', k's

school
chool as
"I
mitting
prograW

10/31

1997

87

