[Avodah] Teaching your child a trade

[Prof. Levine]

At 10:55 PM 11/17/2020, Moshe Y. Gluck wrote:
>R' YL:
>The Agudah has such programs. For example, Daniel Soloff  is
>
>National Director at Professional Career 
>Services, a division of Agudath Israel which 
>functions in Lakewood. While not overtly 
>supported by BMG, it is known that many who have 
>learned in BMG get job skills through this organization.
>
>
>
>As former BMG registrar and current Agudah 
>employee, I can attest to how great this 
>organization is and how successful its graduates 
>are. That said, it speaks to the opposite of R' 
>YL's point - if such programs exist (and they 
>do, as he said), why should one worry about learning a trade at a younger age?
>
>KT,
>MYG

On the contrary.  I would argue that this is one 
way that requires a father to make sure his son 
acquires the skills to earn a  living.

As far as "learning a trade at a younger 
age",  it is incumbent on the father to make sure 
that his son gets the secular education when he 
is young so that he can participate in such a 
program.  If a young man cannot read, speak, and 
write English on a reasonable level, do basic 
mathematics, etc. then he will have trouble 
participating in such a program and may not be able to complete.

What is the failure rate for those who try to 
complete a course of study in the

National Director at Professional Career 
Services?  When Daniel Soloff met with me some 
years ago, he bemoaned the lack of basic secular 
knowledge of some who wanted to enter the program 
and even wanted me to teach a course in the program.

Some years ago I tutored a chassidic young man 
who attended Touro College in basic 
mathematics.  He knew nothing about fractions, 
percents, etc.  and had failed the a required 
math course at Touro.  As a result,  he was not 
going to graduate despite having completed all of 
the other requirements for graduation.  I was 
shocked at the fact that here was a grown man (He 
was married with a family.)  who had such an 
abysmal knowledge of the fundamentals of 
mathematics.  IMO it was his father's 
responsibility to have made sure that this 
fellow  had been  taught and mastered basic mathematics.

YL
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