Jewish charter schools? There are only a few, but their number is growing. They prefer to be known as Hebrew language charter schools, which helps them skirt the issue of separation of church and state.
But whatever they call themselves, they are all founded and run by Jews and some are based in Jewish religious facilities and led by clergy.
They are funded, however, by public tax dollars.
They can be found in Florida, Néw York, and other states. Some feature Hebrew immersion (Hebrew is the official language of Israel, which is a Jewish state.)
Read here about the two different types of Hebrew charter schools.
And read here about the Hebrew charter school that was approved to open in San Antonio, Texas, this fall. It will open in a Jewish community center that previously maintained a Jewish day school.
What’s wrong with Hebrew charter schools?
It violates the long-established principle of separation of church and state to spend public funds on an institution that promotes religion. Hebrew is not a neutral language. It is the historic language of the Jewish people. Judaism is a religion.
It asks taxpayers to bear responsibility for schools that are essentially religious. In effect, taxpayers are subsidizing families that have the freedom to choose a nonpublic religious school. If they want it, they should pay for it. Public responsibility is for public, secular schools.
It is an attack on the very principle of public education, which belongs to the entire community and should be open to all.
Where there is a demand for instruction in Hebrew, it can be taught in regular schools, which offer Spanish, French, Latin, German, and other world languages.
But no one is fooled by the pretense that a Hebrew school has no connection to the Jewish religion.
I write this as a Jew whose grandchildren (two of them) went to a Jewish day school. Let them thrive and flourish. But don’t call them public schools. If the Jewish community is unwilling to support Jewish education, don’t ask for public money to do it. It is a private communal responsibility. No subterfuge can hide that.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Religious schools must also understand that accepting state money means including the state in school decision making. If religious schools do not want state regulations forced upon them, they would be wise to steer clear of state funds.
I touch on this in a post on my position on evolution and creationism and Christian schools’ accepting state funds. I will warn those who choose to read it: My position on evolution is not mainstream:
In Utah, when we had the voucher fight a few years ago, the Catholic schools joined us in protesting the vouchers. They said they would not accept vouchers because they didn’t want the strings that would be attached to the money.
…never mind that we have a constitutional separation of church and state. As far as I am concerned, there is no question of whether anyone’s particular brand of creationism is discussed in public school. I happen to believe there is intention to the universe beyond what scientific theory will ever be able to study. I am a rational being, but faith is not a totally rational action, hence a leap of faith. When we study scientific theory in public schools, faith is not an appropriate test of those theories. Neither is scientific theory an appropriate test of my faith. Beyond a certain point, I cannot rationalize my faith nor do I wish to be compelled to try.
This opens such a pandora’s box. What if an extreme religious group or a dangerous cult wanted public money to open a charter school? Would it be legal for a state to say no to some religions after saying yes to others?
I agree that this is a pandora’s box. My large rural district encompasses an Ojibwe reservation and our district has granted a charter to an Ojibwe language and culture immersion school, which does fantastic work with primarily native kids K-5. Is this a religious school? Certainly there are many aspects of Native American culture that are what we could reasonably call “spiritual.” I have a friend whose son attends a Mandarin immersion school in the San Fransisco bay area. It’s not just language, but cultural, as well. Nearly every culture has some aspect of spirituality woven into it, so the line between church and state in these charters is always going to be necessarily fuzzy. I don’t have the answer, but it is definitely complicated.
You would think there would be accountability, but here in Milwaukee we have had religious school choice and charter for a number of years. There is practically no accountability to the state DPI regarding certification of staff, assessments, curriculum, open records, etc. We are requiring them to seek some type of private school accreditation, but give them multiple chances to achieve it. The same with fiscal responsibility. The genie is truly out of the bottle in Wisconsin, and I fear there is no hope unless suburban and rural areas realize very soon that money is being siphoned from their schools to the detriment of their children’s education. Oh, I should add that as of July 1st, a tax deduction is now in place for all families that send their children to private schools. It can be as much as 10,000 dollars per child
for high school. This, of course, means less tax money for public schools.
Out here in the Pioneer Valley in Massachusetts there is a “Chinese Language Immersion Charter School”. I am not sure that we should be choosing one culture over another. For those of us Jews who were raised in the culture of Judaism without the religion, I see a blurring of lines. The culture of Judaism would not be what it is without centuries of Torah study and Kabbalah inlfuencing the questioning and thought process of a people.
This is an ideological call. Maybe a very strong reason to fund just public schools…..schools that are run by the state, not a group of individuals who’ve decided to set up a school to meet their needs as a separate group.
This country was founded on the ideal of religious freedom. The choices and values that spring from religion serve to drive our election process. Unfortunately it is just another means for those in power to manipulate the voting public. This has proven a fool proof method to distract the electorate from the core issues that ultimately impact our lives in a profound way. Case in point, check out 2004 bestselling book “What’s the Matter With Kansas?”
I live less than five minutes from the Jewish Community Center (JCC) where this school will be opening. It used to be a private school but they didn’t have enough students or money to fund it, hence the charter plan. It has been very interesting to watch this all unfold in my community. The JCC is a wonderful center with many excellent programs for young children. We were members for years, used many of their programs, and considered sending our daughter to day care and private pre-school there. The daycare and private school are very highly regarded in our community, and also costly.
I think many people in the community are willing to pay the high cost for early childhood education, but tend to put their kids in other less expensive or public schools when they get older. This is my impression having lived in this community for many years, and having taught at the community public high school for 17 years. It helps that the school I teach at is pretty darn awesome and offers many programs.
I may be somewhat biased, but our public schools in this area are very strong, and we are part of an enormous school district that already offers choice to all students. I don’t really see this little charter school as a threat. HOWEVER. I know they only converted the private school to a charter because they are hoping to attract people who can’t afford to join or utilize programs of the JCC and have enough students to make money off their charter. It all still boils down to money, any way you slice it.
Knowing how wonderful the JCC is, it is very attractive to think I could send my kid to school there for free. I do not trust charter schools though, and I am dubious that this charter will hold true to the quality of all the other programs offered in the JCC. No other charter school in San Antonio is carving a swath of excellence either. As a teacher and a parent, the biggest benefit I see of taking my kids out of public school would be to avoid standardized testing. It will be interesting to watch.
Over time, the separation of church and state has certainly been chipped away at. In East Ramapo, for example, there are allegations of the school board leasing and selling buildings at much lower than market cost to religious private schools, and sending text books purchased with tax payer dollars to religious private schools in Brooklyn, even though the money was allocated to private schools in E. Ramapo. In Brooklyn, a councilman is asking for taxpayer money to pay sanitation to pick up daily from private religious schools, instead of the already tax payer funded twice a week. There are lots of ways tax payer funds are diverted to private religious schools, and very little accountability for ensuring that textbooks and materials aren’t of religious nature.
I used to live in Hollywood, Florida and I know the people who are involved in Ben Gamla well. They are good people, however they are not educators. They are strictly in it for the profit and they are banking on the Jewish Community in South Florida desiring to use public money instead of digging into their own pockets. I taught some science programs there as a field trip and I can tel you that discipline is not a priority. The kids were rude and disruptive and it was an overall unpleasant experience.
About a year ago there was a controversy about an application for a Jewish charter in NJ. While I believe the Reformers were for it, it cause quite an uproar because it was using taxpayer dollars. I believe, but can’t recall, that their application was denied.
When Jindal tried to do it, it opened up a Pandora’s Box when they realized Muslims could also open up a school. The Tea Party went bonkers because they just thought it would apply to Christian schools, and I believe that deal also fell through.
There are many school districts in Long Island–mostly in the 5 Towns–that are predominately religious. So they voted in an Orthodox school board even though their children go to Yeshivas. There is something wrong when people are voted in that have no stake in public education.
Diane:
Check out the NYTimes’ endorsement for Booker. Then check out the comment section and how angry people are that the NY Times choose Booker for his “star power” even though they thought Holt is the better legislature. Check out the comment section. It is running 10 to 1 in favor of Holt!!!! Some are even pointing to Booker’s ties to Wall Street and his love for charters!!! I love the comment section!!!!!
Reblogged this on Kmareka.com and commented:
Diane Ravitch details why we need to keep the church/state divide, especially when it comes to schools.
We also need to know how many Catholic, Protestant, Muslim and Scientology charters there are. Anyone know? — Edd Doerr (arlinc.org)
East Brunswick New Jersey,where the public schools are excellent, has a Hebrew language charter school- part of a chain which plans to open more of the same, Although the proponents proclaim loudly that it is all about choice, an alternative education, smaller class size, etc., I see little difference between this school and Montessori except that the charter is funded by the taxpayers .
Now this Hebrew language charter is suing the town because they require a zoning variance to move into a larger building. The site they insist upon is a former warehouse located in an area zoned for light industry. All in all, a headache and an expense for a town that does not benefit from their presence.
There is another reason not to do this if you are Jewish, which I am.
It seems like a bad idea to self-segregate when you are not only a minority, but a particularly small minority. I feel like anti-semitism is on the rise in the world. I feel that way about the USA as well, but here it is more casual and based in the open sort of christian evangelism that claims its “religious freedom” by foisting its belief system on the rest of us. I think the reason that most of us have friends who are from a different demographic is because of school and work. For children, it’s obviously just schools. The way we get over our own personal and family prejudices is to encounter, repeatedly, antithetical examples of of the people that are the objects of our prejudice–“I have a _________ friend, and she’s nothing like that.”
So if you’re Jewish, and there’s only ever 1 or 2 of you in any classroom, then at least the kids in that classroom see what/who you are in real life, as opposed to the tales that are told of your people in TV and movies or, more dangerously, in the homes of folks that carry hateful sentiments toward Jews (or any other different religious/ethnic group). This is the same reason why the first step in more positive race relations in America was desegregation. It’s been just over 50 years since massive desegregation and while we stumble and still have our issues, things have improved.
If you pull a demographic out, you rob public school of their diversity, and that diminishes the entirety of the school (and a society) but it also potentially endangers the self-segregating group because it allows social misconceptions, fear, and hate, which can be equally as dangerous as legal mandates, to take root, uncontested by human example, and spread.
Dear Diane, I completely agree with your conclusions on this matter and recognize the disturbing fact that what heretofore had been religious institutions have created a formula for merely shedding trappings and symbols to obtain public support. In my research at the Ben Gamla school in Hollywood, Florida it was clear that the school was an academy for Jewish youngsters whose families could no longer afford religious school tuitions. The well financed supporters of these schools are committed not to quality public charter schools but the preservation of Jewish cultural traditions at public expense and the perceived loss of Jewish identity in several areas of the country. This is not only a pattern in the Jewish community but the disturbing trend has taken root in numerous Catholic, Christian and Islamic communities across the country. This “Bad Idea” was documented in a book with my colleagues Bruce Cooper and Janet Mulvey, Blurring the Lines (2010),highlighting the gradual but steady shift in attitudes by the courts and politicians toward “entanglements” with clearly religious organizations. Thanks for your thoughtful commentary. Art Maloney
Sent from my iPad
Privately funded religious schools have been under attack for a century when efforts to require all children to attend government public schools were tried, and that was declared unconstitutional way back in 1920’s. Since then, mid 20th Century attempts to blur the distinction has been gradually escalating, to the detriment of both public and private religious schools.
When the early 20th Century frontal assault couldn’t be accomplished, it appears that a far more subtle approach is under way, blurring the lines re: separation of church and state,
gradually bringing the state into the religious institutions with partnering (faith based initiatives, etc.), and carrots of grants, government assistance, vouchers, and fashioning of religious schools into charter schools. As government funds are assimilated so are
government curricula, assessments, and regulation. What government funds, government ultimately controls and rightly so as a matter of accountability for tax dollars to the taxpayers.
My recent article re: the subject chronicles the issue related to Catholic, Lutheran and other private religious schools. http://www.newswithviews.com/Thompson/mary104.htm.
While I am a giant fan of Diane, I think she misrepresents Hebrew charter schools. I am most familiar with Sela, the Hebrew immersion charter school that is about to open in Washington. Sela is strictly prohibited from teaching Judaism. There is no risk in them bending this rule because the school is not interested in religious education. Sela will be an Israeli not a Jewish immersion school. This may seem impossible but not when considering that many Israelis are very secular. Whether public money should be used for a school focused on teaching the language and secular culture of a specific nation is a valid question. Yet we are missing the point (at least in the case of Sela) if we see this as a classic church state conflict.
A school based on Hebrew and Israeli culture is certainly more questionable than schools based on the language and cultures of big nations (French, Spanish or Chinese immersion schools). However, I think a reasonable argument can be made for a public secular Hebrew immersion elementary school in a city with a lot of Jewish people.
Given that their is a consensus about the benefits of young children learning a second language, any language, it doesn’t seem outrageous to me for a parent in a large city to want a public Hebrew immersion school in the system.
The clear problem I see is that they are charter schools. If American education was not such a mess, the Hebrew immersion elementary schools would by magnet schools for Jewish parents in big cities wanting something better than the expensive and insular Jewish day schools. It is very complicated. We are actually struggling right now with the decision to send our children to Sela or to the local community public school.
Excuse me, but most children I know who attend public school take Hebrew after school. I do not see any need for a foreign-language charter school on the taxpayer’s dime.
American education is NOT a mess. Politicians and reformers are tying to sell that.
Depends on your standards and expectations. Lately I’m feeling like it’s a bit of a mess. At least it’s not what I wish it were. I don’t speak for everyone, obviously.
I taught in a pretty good school. However, test prep seems to be taking over and that’s not the fault of teachers or the school, but politicians. One can always take foreign language starting in Jr. High school. But since Hebrew is usually not a choice, then every Jewish family I know sends their kids to Hebrew school on their dime, not mine.
I think most public schools are doing a good job and they are still outperforming charters. The main mission of charters were to serve areas where kids were failing. Now these charters are moving into the middle class neighborhoods and that’s unacceptable. Again, not on my dime because it’s taking taxpayer dollars away from good schools to line the pocket of someone else. I am seeing an influx of charters started by foreign nationals. Florida has the most.
“American education is NOT a mess. Politicians and reformers are trying to sell that.”
My thoughts exactly. The so-called reformers want to turn public education into a for-profit business.
There’s big money to be made if they can get their hands on public funds. Corporate-owned charter schools and testing services- that’s what they are selling.
thanks for describing the complexities of the situation.
Diane, I agree with you 100%, but I am so afraid what you wrote will be used by our enemies. They will probably say that you are an anti-Semite. Forget about the fact that you are Jewish. I have always feared what Charters and privatization will do to this country. Instead of having a common political and social culture, it will, in the end, fragment this country into hundreds of different segregated groups. Once, we no longer have a common culture, it will eventually be the end of this country. First we will rip each other apart before the final end comes. If those who want to privatize education succeed, it will take at most two generations before different parts of this United States go their separate ways. The purpose of a common public school has always been to foster a common culture–political, economic and social. A Jewish school funded by public money is just as bad as a Charter teaching creationism or that the Loch Ness monster really exists. My grandparents wanted my parents to go to public schools to be AMERICANS first. Yes, it is nice that my family has a Jewish culture that I passed to my kids and hopefully they will pass to their children. However, what my public education imbued into me was the fact that I am an American with the belief that this is a country of laws. Furthermore, that all are equal under the law–rich and poor. I do not see charters ever teaching this. What charters seem to teach is profit over community and the hell with what the law says! That old quote from “Animal Farm” really fits here: “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.”
Here’s the background story of the Hebrew charter in NJ.
The New Jersey charter school I was writing about is Hatikvah in East Brunswick. They are up and running. There is plenty of information online about their ongoing problems with the township. I believe they are taking the town to court to force a zoning variance so that they can move into a larger building- a former warehouse in an area zoned for light industry.
I will have to look it up. But who granted their charter—Christie or Obama???
I will have to look it up. But who granted their charter—Christie or Obama???
The charter was granted by the state in 2010 when Christie was Governor.. And the charter was upheld in state court.
The one I cited was denied by Christie but the Feds approved it.
This is a complicated situation, as several people note. Charters, like public schools are supposed to be non-sectarian…not promoting one religion or another. It’s not clear to me whether a school can teach Hebrew without crossing the line to promote Judaism.
As a reform Jew, I strongly oppose public funding for any charter school that promotes one religion over another.
Charter proponents might take a look at this bit of text which is too often disregarded. Check out the first of the enumerated rights:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
As a Jew, I was asked to sing (religious) Christmas songs as part of my public junior high.
Two of our children were told by an urban public high school teacher that no Jewish American had written any book worth including in a 20th Century Am Lit class. (Her required included several books that had strong pro-Christian themes.
I’m fine with saying public schools should promote acceptance and tolerance of all religions as well as those who don’t worship any form of higher power. I’d just like the same scrutiny of district and public schools in this arena.
Blanket assertions such as “district schools are failing” or “charter schools are all about profit” seem like over-generalizations.
I hope you reported the teacher for that bias remark!!!
As for the songs. I used to put on a holiday show with my 3rd – 5th graders and we included all types of Christmas and Hanukah songs and poems. I had 4 students dressed up as a dreidel. I even included Kwanza. The parents loved it. My school had a good mixture of students. Maybe it’s because I am from NYC where we get a days off for the Jewish holidays and our teachers have many different faiths. My classroom was also decorated for all the holidays.
When I did a production for Brotherhood Week (way back when) a student read from Ann Frank’s diary. And one of our songs was from South Pacific–You’ve Got to Be Carefully Taught.
I have no idea where you live, but it can’t be easy if you feel the school was biased against your kids.
Thanks for your comments. I went to public school in Wichita, Kansas. There was a strong promotion of Christianity in those public schools.
Our children attended public schools in St Paul, Minnesota. Yes, we raised concerns. Quite a mixed response Some educators agreed with us, some felt we were inappropriately questioning the professionalism of the teacher.
We felt that the work of authors like Saul Bellow, Bernard Malamud, Joseph Heller, Emma Goldman, J.D. Salinger, Elie Wiesel, Judith Viorst and others deserved some acknowledgement in a course on 20th century American literature.
The principal didn’t back you???
Arthur Miller was a great playwright. Who doesn’t study “Death of a Salesman”? in high school. I did.
Listen, there are bad in both public and charter schools. However, I doubt a charter school for Hebrew only is a good idea because it does blur the line separating church and state. I believe parents should pay for a parochial education or send their kids to religious instruction after school or during the summer. I went to Catholic school for 3 years. After we moved, I attended public school. But every Wednesday afternoon we had “religious instruction” and a bus would take us to church.
Hi Joe,
Sadly, I have seen similar things. My public elementary school in the Midwest placed a huge Christmas tree in the lobby every December. It has been many decades since I attended elementary school, and none of the schools in my city go quite that far…but there are still very troubling signs of a pro-Christian “establishment”. The 90-minute December holiday concert at the high school rarely includes any non-Christmas music. Miniature Christmas trees appear in the office and Santa pictures pop up in the cafeteria, generally defended as “not religious”.
Thankfully, our union has been helpful. We do not have school during Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. At one point it was suggested that teachers wishing to observe these holidays should just use up their personal days. The union stopped that proposal along with a similar one calling for teachers to list whether a day off was for religious observance.
This is not just a Jewish/Christian issue, of course. My students are beautifully diverse and represent many religious traditions. Some are proudly agnostic or atheist. All should be welcome in our public schools. We can learn about the role of religion in history, art, music, etc. without “establishing” one set of beliefs.
This is an up-and-down question of separation of church and state. I’m a Member of the Tribe, but this is a bad idea, as are Christian charter schools, Muslim charter schools or Zoroastrian charter schools. This is the slippery slope we started down when Baby Bush and his henchpeople started using “faith-based” as a euphemism for “religious.”
[Hebrew is not a neutral language. It is the historic language of the Jewish people. Judaism is a religion.]
Yes I was told today — by Russian women — that my grandmother who was born in Russian isn’t Russian, she’s Jewish.
Yes, I know Judaism is a religion & a nationality.
So could you have a French Charter school? They probably are around. Maybe it’s a Jewish school as a nationality. Perhaps that different than a country.
Not being argumentative.
FWIW — I think my grandmother was Russian & Jewish. Russians disagree.
Sheila
I was raised without religion in a Jewish home. Jewish is also a culture. I have very little
knowledge of Judaism as a religion, yet carry my Yiddishkeit with me. This is part of the richness that made me a respected and sought after teacher, by both my students and their parents.
I believe that at a certain point in time Russian identity papers had to include the person’s religion. Unfortunately, historically and currently, the Jewish people have always been perceived as Jewish before their nationality.
I think that those who grew up and live in New York City have a different perspective of being Jewish in the United States than those who lived in say, Kansas or Tennessee.
In any case, the issue is to create one cohesive society. Clearly this does not serve the purpose of corporate America, or the government at the present time. The current goal is to divide and conquer, to pit one group against another, as in union vs non union, those who have health benefits against those without, the list is long. Public funding should go to public schools.
Schoolgal, thanks for your efforts to promote understanding among students of various backgrounds.
I can say that the basic argument from Jewish charter schools goes something like this:
Modern Orthodox schools generally have a duel secular/religious curriculum. Because so many parents are being priced out of day schools because of a war between the haves and have-nots (basically, the schools have to charge elevated fees to get the most that they can out of those who have, so they can offer scholarships to those with several children and much lower income) – there is an increasing “day school tuition crisis” that is often spoke of.
So the plan as it is, is to let the state control (and pay for) secular education, and then, the parents pay the extra amount for the religious education and everyone’s supposedly “happy”. I fall on both sides of this debate and it is not a place I like to be.
The funding system for day schools is one that is shrouded in darkness because everything falls to the whims of scholarship committees, which makes reasonable family planning almost impossible. They need to charge what they do to make some pay more than others, but, because the sticker price is unreasonable (typically around $15k PER YEAR, PER CHILD), no one wants to bank on it and those who pull in around $120k a year are paying most of the cost but without making millions.
That’s why there’s a huge divide in day schools where you’ll see very rich parents, and very poor parents, but very few in between.
The Jewish community doesn’t have a great solution to this yet (mega-foundations are the best answer but there’s so much division between the sects of Judaism that everyone’s afraid that the ‘wrong kind’ will emerge dominant which is why a system like the Catholic Church’s doesn’t work).
Being in the middle of that breach, I support public schools, and yet, our community literally gives us no choice but “which private school” or else we become ostracized. We are middle class, we are not rich, and we have no social choice except to “choose to not be Jewish” which is not an option for us either. We also are open to family planning – but – when you can rapidly end up paying 30k a year (AFTER taxes) just for school – you become desperate for any other source to help give your children the education they believe they deserve but which no one has a good alternate plan to help pay for it.
Actually, in Day Schools, unless your family makes OVER 200k a year – you are considered poor. It’s very sad for Jewish families I can tell you and it is tearing communities apart as people literally have to fight other families for scholarships.
It’s not just bad for public schools – right now there are many families suffering and there is no alternate plan for them other than “pray for a scholarship”. It’s vicious.
We had our son in a Jewish preschool for a while and as a blonde, blue eyed WASP we felt a little difference in how he was treated by some staff. So we moved somewhere else the next year. But we were OK with it because it was a Jewish preschool. I can imagine if our tax dollars had been subsidizing it, we would have been more bothered. Likewise I can imagine if a Jewish child attended a WASP school funded by tax dollars it could be a problem.
Yes, we are creating new problems with the voucher and charter option.
Somewhere in the education conversation a distracting set of questions began being asked (it seems). And now the game has completely changed. The title of that movie about Sarah Palin joining McCain
could apply to education too. The only question I have is: what exactly was the game changer? It is complex, I think.
At least, from the videos, there isn’t a huge emphasis on SLANTing and silent obedience.
I attended a public school in the Penfield school district, a suburb of Rochester, NY, from 1966 -1970. We learned all of the verses of all of the Christmas carols in music class, created Christmas decorations in art class, and I participated in “Secret Santa” gift collections, and there was a Christmas tree at the main entrance every Christmas season. I was asked, by a fellow student, whose father was minister of a neighborhood church, “Where are your horns?” Although I am Jewish, my parents had not chosen to affiliate witha synagogue, and my brother and I had not received any formalJewish school education, therefore I was confused by my classmate’s question. “Horns? What horns?” I asked. “Well aren’t you Jewish?”. Now I was completely baffled and went home and asked my parents, “Do Jews have horns?”. My parents, New York City born and raised (my mother a public school teacher, my father an executive with Eastman Kodak) explained the background, and spoke to the boys’ father, who apologized, and spoke to his son who apologized. My parents joined a synagogue, enrolled us in Sunday School, and encouraged us to invite our Christian friends to our home for Hannukah, Purim, Passover, and my brother and I were invited to our friends’ homes to decorate their Christmas trees and bake cookies, and even receive explanations of the nativity scene and the true story of Christmas versus the Christas tree — Santa Claus version. To this day, my brother (a lawyer) and I (a public school teacher) both feel fortunate to have had this experience. We learned more than I can articulate in this forum. We are BOTH, strong believers in public school, and the value of diversity. My children and my brother’s children attend public schools. I do not support the diversion of public taxes to fund religious schools.
So I think your conclusion is a good one. I don’t want Hebrew-language charter schools. But your argument massively over-simplifies things, and I think that in order to persuade people why Hebrew-language charter schools are a bade idea (use their language to persuade, not your own of “Jewish charter schools” — you have to speak their language to change minds).
You state so many opinions as if they are facts, and you never back them up. Also, you use “separation of CHURCH and state,” a Christian-centric term that implies “religions” are all “churches,” which undermines much of what you argue.
Let’s look at the excerpt that you wrote that says, “Hebrew is not a neutral language. It is the historic language of the Jewish people. Judaism is a religion.” All three of those statements are opinions, but you do not back them up as such. Many linguists argue there is no such thing as a neutral language, because our thoughts are massively shaped by the language we speak. Others argue that language neutrality is real, and that language has some effect on thought but does not, by any means, determine it. Both of those are legitimate views, but they are views. By saying “Hebrew is not a neutral language” without explaining what you mean, you simplify a hugely debated topic.
Then you say it is the historic language of the Jewish people. A whole lot of scholars of history and Jewish Studies would push you on that one. Hebrew has been a language used in prayer for a long time, but it was literally dead as a conversational form for many hundreds of years. Yiddish may very well be a more apt “historic language of the Jewish people,” although I’d rightfully get pushed on that too, because it is Ashkenazi-centric, and does not apply to the vast and long history of Sephardi Jews. Bottom line — that sentence is debatable as well.
You use these two opinions, along with the fact that Judaism is a religion (true, but it’s also a people/nation/ethnicity/etc), to come to the conclusion that Hebrew-language charter schools are a separation of church and state. Not so convincing if you ask me.
Instead, give me a pragmatic argument tell me what the results of this school would actually be. Inquire what the school calendar would look like (would students be let out early on Friday in order to accomodate Shabbat? would absences for Jewish holidays be acceptable but absences for Muslim or Christian holidays not acceptable?). Tell me what the subject-matter of the Hebrew-language curriculum will be. Do they discuss household items like tables and chairs, or do they delve into Jewish ritual objects as well? That would be problematic if it is the case. Tell me what History and Science classes might look like. In History class, is Israel seen always presented as the victim? Are pro-Israel narratives treated as more mainstream or correct than other narratives? Is an inordinate amount of time spent on histories of Jewish victimization at the expense of other topics? Does the science unit on genetics overly emphasize the evils of eugenics at the expense of more basic understandings of the topic? If yes, then say why those actual issues which could arise are a problem (pretty easy for most of these). If a Hebrew-language school could exist without any of these problems, then you’ve got to provide more evidence that Hebrew-immersion school is fundamentally different from Spanish or French immersion school.
Great conversation. I meant that American education is a mess due to the work of the so-called education reformers and not because of the false narrative of decades of decline they market. One look at the historical educational attainment statistics from the Dept. of Education, shows just how much progress has many made since say 1960, especially for minorities, and also how good the Rhee crowds is at marketing lies.
http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d11/tables/dt11_008.asp
Scott, I hope you send your kids to Sela. Sela has consciously chosen an award-winning principal and executive director who are non-Jews with ample experience in urban education. If you have not been to a recent open house, please turn out to meet the diverse and committed parents from a variety of ethnic and religious backgrounds, from all over the city. Sela uses Hebrew as a catalyst for a rigorous and fulfilling SECULAR curriculum. It is not a religious school or de facto private school.
The NYU “progressives” are panicking; their narrative is falling apart in front of their eyes.
Hebrew is being restored to the forefront of the world’s important secular languages.
Not once have the NYU’ers succeeded to stop a Hebrew Charter School from opening….. not once.
Please recall that on any given Sunday, more people take the Roman Catholic Mass in Modern Hebrew, than in Latin.
http://www.catholic.co.il
Your logic is misguided & you have obviously never been to Israel – where Friday night is the most popular night to go out!! Much more secular than the US
Hebrew can be taught anywhere, but the goal of the Hebrew charter system is to foster fluency….. which cannot be achieved through the typical three years of language instruction offered in high school.
There are a number of reasons why fluency in Hebrew is valuable including amongst others Israel’s undeniable role as a leading biotech incubator; Israel has the highest percentage of tech start ups per general population in the world. Its political and trade relationship with the US also bear consideration. The diverse student body attending these schools (at least in NYC) suggests that a wide group of individuals shares this view.
There are several other problems with your post. Not only is Hebrew fluency NOT a priority or goal of yeshiva education but the truly religious would never consider a Hebrew charter school a substitute for same. The Hebrew taught at charter schools – modern Hebrew – bears the same relationship to biblical prose as today’s English to literature penned during the so called Dark ages.
Finally while the 24 books of the Old Testament were penned in Hebrew I would suggest that the primary language of historical ancient Israel was Aramaic.
Also – pre diaspora there were Israelites. Perhaps we should attack dual language Spanish programs as tools of Catholicism.
Your logic is misguided & you have obviously never been to Israel – where Friday night is the most popular night to go out!! Much more secular than the US
Hebrew can be taught anywhere, but the goal of the Hebrew charter system is to foster fluency….. which cannot be achieved through the typical three years of language instruction offered in high school.
There are a number of reasons why fluency in Hebrew is valuable including amongst others Israel’s undeniable role as a leading biotech incubator; Israel has the highest percentage of tech start ups per general population in the world. Its political and trade relationship with the US also bear consideration. The diverse student body attending these schools (at least in NYC) suggests that a wide group of individuals shares this view.
There are several other problems with your post. Not only is Hebrew fluency NOT a priority or goal of yeshiva education but the truly religious would never consider a Hebrew charter school a substitute for same. The Hebrew taught at charter schools – modern Hebrew – bears the same relationship to biblical prose as today’s English to literature penned during the so called Dark ages.
Finally while the 24 books of the Old Testament were penned in Hebrew I would suggest that the primary language of historical ancient Israel was Aramaic.
Also – pre diaspora there were Israelites. Perhaps we should attack dual language Spanish programs as tools of Catholicism.
What fear mongering! There are Chinese charter schools and are you worried about the Buddhists? What’s the problem here?
Sam Adams,
I don’t think that religious groups should get public funding to teach religion. That is a venerable tradition. And it makes sense.