n Jewish Education

Continuing The Process

Jewish education is needed in a college setting, too.

DR. DAVID KAGAN
Special to the Jewish. News

T

he trials of Jewish higher
education parallel those at all
levels of Jewish education.
Doubt, however, remains
as to when we can comfortably assert
that the process is complete. At what
stage of our children's growth would
we relinquish all control and influence
that we maintain over their future?
There is, in addition, a challenge
unique to a Jewish institution of high-
er education — the need to provide
quality, career-oriented training to
everyone in the community who
would benefit from it. In the same
way that the Jewish Community
Center acts as a resource for the corn-
munity's physical needs, a Jewish insti-
tution of higher learning must strive
to meet the community's intellectual
and career aspirations in a warm and
nurturing Jewish environment.
The Midrash relates that when the
Torah was offered to the Jewish peo-
ple, the Almighty demanded a guaran-
tor. After much haggling, it was decid-
ed that only the children could assure
the future of the Jewish people. It is
the extent to which we nurture this
assurance that will decide the level at
which we reap its rewards.

Dr. David Kagan, a professor of opti-
cal physics, is president of the Michigan
Jewish Institute in Oak Park. Rabbi
Kagan and his wife, Miriam, are the
parents of six girls and five boys.

With this understanding, it
should be no wonder that the
Michigan Jewish Institute has
decided that no limitation of
time or resources should ever
encumber the development of
our progeny.
Observed evidence has
shown that a child with a
Jewish high school education
maintains a greater commit-
ment to Jewish ideals than that
of a student with only an ele-
mentary Jewish education. It
may happen that that connec-
tion and commitment stay with
the student through the decisive
university years.
Statistics however paint a
grimmer picture. A recent
article in the Chronicle of
Higher Education cited recent
reports as concluding "that
young Jews are becoming less
and less interested in explor-
ing their heritage." It seems
that even those students priv-
ileged enough to have attend-
ed a private Jewish high
school likely face a signifi-
cant descent in their commit-
ment to Jewish causes when
left to their own whims at the ten-
der age of 18.
The sad truth is that the number of
Jewish students attending university who
avail themselves of the ancillary Jewish
facilities is fair at best. The University of
Michigan Hillel, one of the most suc-
cessful in the country, offering a plethora
of exciting programs, attracts a mere 5

have to reserve tertiary
Jewish education to the
liberal arts. We need not
resign .ourselves to our
children traveling to the
East Coast or Israel to
attend such a university.
Having such an estab-
lishment in the Detroit
area, for example, would
be a boon not only to the
indigenous Jewish com-
munity, but it would
attract Jews from the
entire Midwest and
beyond. It would also
offer the likelihood of
alumni settling in the
greater Detroit area, con-
tributing, in turn, to the
economy and support
base of Jewish projects
around the city.
Above: Anna King and
Our own experience at
Elka Kagan in an MJI
the Michigan Jewish
class last year King now
Institute bears out all of
works-as a programmer,
the above. MJI, while still
Kagan is scheduled to
graduate this semester.
in its infancy, offers stu-
dents of all Jewish back- •
Left: Dr. David Kagan
grounds a course of study
that is highly technical,
providing, in a nurturing
Jewish environment,-skills for imme- (-\
percent of the overall Jewish student
diate placement in the job world.
body to regular activities, according to
There need be no compromises in
several recent graduates. The melting pot
either education or values.
environment of today's campus has
As a community, we must embrace
seemingly subjugated the natural desire
both
the challenges and the potential
to identify with one's heritage.
of Jewish higher education. We must
How may we broaden the scope
not settle for complacency when we
of higher educational opportunities
hold the future in our youth. L
in a Jewish environment? We do not

Open Up The Greek System

LESLIE ZACK
Special to the Jewish News

I

f I ran the sorority and frater-
nity system at Michigan State
University, I would try to
make sure that all of the
chapters are more open to everyone.
Although I would feel uncomfort-
able as the only Jewish girl in an all-
Catholic sorority, I want to know
that I have the opportunity of join-
ing, rather than going to rush and
thinking, occasionally, that the deci-

8/6
1999

76 Detroit Jewish News

sion had been made before I walked
in the door.
I would improve the Greek sys-
tem by accepting different people
into different houses, and if even
one person feels comfortable in a
house that is filled with people other
than his/her friends, the change
would have been a success.
Young leaders join their respective
sororities and fraternities . for various
reasons; mainly, they feel the need
for a place to call home. While I
agree with joining for that reason, I

also believe the idea of
community volunteering
— at food shelters,
senior citizen residences
and similar places —
should be of greater con-
cern.
Another aspect of the
university I would alter
would be to immediately Leslie Zack
increase sensitivity to
religion. Speaking from experience,
having an exam on Yom Rippur . is -
entirely out of line. Having a

Holocaust speaker address
the student body on the
first night of Passover is also
an incomprehensible \vay of
showing planned program-
ming at Michigan State
University. •
I would make sure that
each and every student
could make up, in its exact
form, a test, quiz, paper or
anything of the like missed because
of religious practice. Just as others
understand that tests on Easter and