Imagining and Re-Imagining the Future of our Jewish Day Schools and Yeshivot
I recently heard a podcast that featured a futurist whose sole job is to engage in scenario planning for major corporations and institutions.
Scenario planning, is defined as a process which was created in the 1950’s by Herman Kahn of the Rand Corporation. It was then adapted by Pierre Wack at Royal Dutch/Shell in the early 1970’s in order to manage economic uncertainty.
An envisioned, the purpose of scenario planning (or as some refer to it as “what-if planning”) is to provide institutions with an array of future options and eventualities by analyzing current events, assumptions, trends and variables.
Unlike “predictions” scenario planning help guide institutions plan for their future in real time and are based on empirical facts that are inspired by intellectual curiosity, creativity, wisdom, knowledge and vision.
Over the past several years, scenario planning has been complimented and supported by AI technology. This has created technologically-driven strategic planning and innovation as never before experienced in history, making this planning process more in-depth, reliable and comprehensive,
After listening to the podcast, I began thinking about the numerous ways in which scenario planning can potentially assist our community imagine or re-imagine the future of our Jewish day schools and yeshivot.
This inspired me to think about the following question:
Assuming our Jewish communities had unlimited funding and resources in support of our yeshivot and day schools, what would these institutions actually look like in the future?
Although I am not a futurist by far, I started to reflect, dream, and imagine what our Jewish day schools can become in the future if the “right conditions” where to exist.
The assumptions that follow are theoretical and are based on current trends. Transcending these assumptions is a vision for the future of our Jewish day school community, unencumbered by today’s fiscal and philanthropic barriers, obstacles or challenges – such as affordability, sustainability or a lack of human capital.
As we know, transformation in history is inspired by dreams, aspirations and vision. Many of these advances were once thought to be impossible or unimaginable. Nevertheless, they emerged and evolved as a result of society’s ability to stretch its creativity and imagination and to think boldly and creatively about what “could be”, as opposed to “what was or what is”.
Therefore, my theoretical starting point is as follows:
Imagine if day school affordability and financial sustainability were no longer a significant obstacle facing our day school/yeshiva school community. And, imagine our schools focusing all of their resources and energy on curriculum innovation and creativity, enhanced student learning and academic achievement, teacher recruitment, training and retention, as well as the creation of safe and attractive state of the art physical facilities.
In addition, what would our communities look like if we offered generous tuition subsidies for families in need, increased salaries for Rabbeim and teachers, impressive compensation levels for teachers and administrators; and the creation of a philanthropic environment whose sole purpose is not limited to reducing or eliminating budgetary deficits, but rather to focus on supporting educational creativity, and innovation as well as successful AI-driven initiatives in both limudei kodesh and chol
It’s so hard to believe that if these scenarios came to fruition that we would not experience a far more expansive, successful, effective and robust Jewish day school or yeshiva community.
But, is this thinking truly valid? Is this necessarily the case? Or might there be other important variables which must first be addresses for these transformations to be realized?
Friends, the fact that I am posing these questions suggests that there are in fact other obstacles, limitations, challenges and barriers which scenario planning may not necessarily address.
These include what I refer to as the heart and the neshama of chinuch.
Educating our children is a sacred value, commitment and obligation. It is deeply anchored in our mesorah and in our very DNA.
In order for day school/yeshiva chinuch to grow, flourish and succeed, we must create a sense of urgency and responsibly. To be sure, as my Rosh HaYeshiva once commented….all the creative technology and educational trappings and innovations in the world may help guide us in the learning process,, but they are only tools that will never substitute the profound power of “intellectual curiosity” of chavuta learning or the profoundly important close relationship between a student and a real living teacher.
It is therefore essential that we view the future of our schools through a prism of reality anchored in human relationships and interaction.
The Use and Over-Reliance and Indulgence of (AI) in our Jewish Day Schools and Yeshivot
As we move into the future, we see how AI technology in our schools has rapidly transformed chinuch through personalized learning, automated grading, lesson planning and a host of custom tutoring and personalized learning opportunities. But, as we know, it is not the end-all or be-all.
As a teacher, school consultant and educator, I have witnessed more and more schools that utilize AI technology as valuable tool to enhance the level of education in their respective schools. And this may be a good thing.
Although it would be shortsighted to think about the future of our Jewish day schools and yeshivot in the total absence of technological advancements, it is important to note that there are many other essential venues and tools at our disposal which impact upon the successful future of our day schools.
Friends, in spite of technological innovations, and their future utility in our schools, we must be extremely careful and circumspect regarding the use and total reliance of AI impact on student learning.
Over the past several years, I have witnessed way too many students who are dependent upon AI technology for quick-fixes and shortcuts in their studies and assignments – whether they be for reading assignments, book reports, essays or even critical thinking exercises.
This does not bode well for the future as it shortchanges our student’s ability and capacity to think, conceptualize and imagine. It also minimizes social and academic skills which are so desperately required in today’s environment.
One Final Thought
As we imagine and re-imagine the future of our Jewish day schools and yeshivot, we should remind ourselves that effective education is a dynamic fluid process dependent upon human contact, understanding, emotion and interaction.
Our total reliance on AI technology has the real potential to compromise and minimize student independent thinking, intellectual curiosity and motivation. It can also diminish the essence of chinuch and its reliance on human interaction and emotion, and the human transmission of information, knowledge and values from one generation to the next.
At the end of the day, as we imagine and re-imagine the future of our day schools and yeshivot, we should not shy away from this technology; but rather embrace it carefully and cautiously with maturity, respect and balance and as an important tool in our educational tool-kit in our perpetual quest for high quality and effective chinuch.
Remember the future is now …… what we do today, ultimately impacts our tomorrow.
This is an unchallenged historical fact and undeniable reality with profound implications for how we plan today and into the future.
May HaShem bless us with the foresight and wisdom to make the right decisions and intelligent choices today in order to experience a more successful and promising future for generations to come.