In Search for Day School and Yeshiva Norms and Standards in an Upside-Down World
Several days ago, I began to notice a proliferation of ads promoting parenting workshops now being required by many of our Jewish day schools and yeshivot.
One has only to read the titles and themes of these workshops and seminars to more fully understand and appreciate the challenges we face as an educational community.
They are beyond revealing.
Topics such as how to monitor or filter smartphone technology to the early warning signs of student substance abuse and addiction; from adolescent bullying behavior to social media addiction and from self-esteem and eating disorders to the honest use of AI technology in the classroom and at home. They all represent a broad microcosm or spectrum of communal and societal challenges currently confronting our schools, students and families.
A cursory observation of these community and school-based programs and venues suggest that our communities are currently facing a series of critical social, communal and behavioral challenges which have in part eclipsed our educational needs and or concerns. In fact, I am yet to see the same number of ads, articles and posts about curricular issues, student learning or academic concerns as we do relating to non-educational challenges.
For example, topics such as differentiated instruction, curriculum design, classroom management, instructional performance and educational assessment to name a few, have taken a back seat in order for schools and communities to focus on more social and communal issues, concerns and challenges. As we know, schools can only focus on so much and what rises to the top are those concerns which are more social, communal and behavioral in nature.
This reality does not suggest that educational, academic or curricular concerns are any less important but rather occupy a series of social pressures which are coming from both outside the community and inside it.
Social and Communal Challenges Negatively Impacting the Day School/Yeshiva
Several of the communal challenges which are currently occupying an inordinate amount of head-space, resources and attention in our day schools and yeshivot include:
- security and antisemitism;
- affordability and access;
- mental health and student wellness;
- technology, social media and AI;
- political polarization and Israel;
- Jewish identity;
- staffing, educational personnel and leadership; and
- changing family composition and structures
These are just several of the challenges now occupying our schools in a community, society or social environment which is crying out for normalcy.
Friends, is it any wonder that many of our schools are currently absorbed and preoccupied with growing social and communal issues than they are with topics relating to chinuch.
Yes, we all long for the days when chinuch related issues took front and center on our educational agenda. But living in a world of upside town reality forces us to now focus on these critical social and communissues.
Accommodating and Responding to Social and Educational Needs and Concerns
There is a commonly used expression in leadership circles which states that effective leadership requires chewing gum and running at the same time.
This expression suggests that as educational leaders who are charged with the profound responsibility of guiding and leading our schools, it is essential that we continuously focus on both the educational and non-educational (social) needs of our schools, their students, families and community.
One of the most essential concerns facing our day schools and yeshivot is ensuring that our schools maintain a proper and healthy balance between social/communal issues and those relating purely to education.
As our heads of school, principals and board members respond to the myriad of school needs, it is imperative that they also focus on those issues which impact both the educational, physical, spiritual and emotional needs of our students.Anything less is unacceptable. A school of excellence must strike a balance and represent a whole-school approach to Limudai Chol and Kodesh.
For example…..
Today, our day schools and yeshivot are preoccupied with the use and/or misuse of technology in the classroom and in the home.
As such, our schools are now forbidding to allow smartphone use in school and are beginning to develop comprehensive policies and guardrails regarding the use of AI for homework or class assignments.
The use of smartphones, Tik Tok and Instagram produce constant connectivity and are very serious distractions. They also produce sleep deprivation and exposure to inappropriate content….all of which are detrimental to offering a wholesome educational environment for our students and an environment which is conducive to high quality teaching and learning.
Finally the use of AI and ChatGPT raises serious questions about academic integrity, writing skills, and how to prepare students for a different future.
As we begin to look at other social and communal concerns impacting the quality of chinuch, we are seeing how schools are encountering difficulty recruiting and retaining high-quality Judaic and General Studies teachers, especially at competitive salaries. Moreover, a growing number of our schools are plagued by burnout among veteran educators and fewer younger people are entering Jewish education as a careers.
Other non-Educational Obstacles Impacting the Quality of Education
Several of the other social exigencies which impact on education in our schools is the slow erosion of the nuclear family. As such, there are more single-parents, and two working-parent families; in addition to the growing inability of many families to afford tuition or any added school related expense – especially special fees and costs for remediation for children with exceptionalities and well as those that are gifted.
Finally, it is important to note that affordability and costs have become even more prohibitive for a growing number of parents that require inclusion programs, resource rooms and self-contained classroom for their children with special learning needs.
Communities must respond strategically to these needs lest we run the risk of losing close to 20% of our students with no academic saftey-net.
Creating a Confluence Between Social, Communal and Academic School Needs
As our day schools and yeshivot transition into the future, they will encounter a wide array of educational and non-educational needs which intersect with each other.
The ultimate challenge for these schools as just indicated, will be to ensure high quality education and at the same time respond to their growing social and communal needs.
The analogy of chewing gum while running suggests that in order to accomplish this goal, we must identity school leadership who have the skill-set and capacity to undertake this important multidimensional or multifaceted leadership charge and responsibility
As the title of this article suggests, today we are living in an “upside down world” with competing needs, standards and requirements. As such, we must learn as educational leaders to select those challenges which we can address successfully.
Will it be difficult? It sure will. But the alternative is worse.
As educational leaders, we must accept the notion that failure is not an option and that living in an upside-down world has become a new normal reality.
