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<font size=3>At 06:05 AM 4/10/2018, Marty Bluke wrote:<br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite="">And Modern Orthodoxy which does
learn a complete secular studies curriculum has at least as high a drop
out rate then Satmar if not higher and even among those who do remain
their level of observance is not necessarily that high. See for example
the following study
<a href="http://listserv.biu.ac.il/cgi-bin/wa?A2=LOOKJED;4e21c035.1801p">
http://listserv.biu.ac.il/cgi-bin/wa?A2=LOOKJED;4e21c035.1801p</a> which
has as one of it's conclusions the following disturbing statement:<br>
"All this relates to practice, so that it would be fair to say that,
when the dust settles, the graduates of Yeshiva high schools are largely
Orthoprax." <br>
</blockquote><br>
I am not claiming that the study of secular subjects is any sort of
guarantee that one will remain religious. The reasons for someone
to give up observance or to water down their observance are
complex. <br><br>
However, for many reasons it is important to have a basic secular
education. One of them is to open up some opportunities to earn a
living.<br><br>
And let me be clear, I am not talking about a
"Harvard" secular education. But I see no reason
why someone born in the US should not be able to speak, read and
write English.<br><br>
I have an Op Ed piece that will appear in this week's Jewish Press
on the topic of secular subjects in chassidic yeshivas. In part it
reads<br><br>
Does it make sense that a Bar Mitzvah boy who is born in America cannot
read English on an 8th grade level? Cannot read an 8th grade
science book and write a report in acceptable English about what he has
read? Cannot speak English properly? Knows nothing about the
history of this country and cannot relate, at least briefly, what
happened during the Revolutionary War and the civil War? Has the
mathematics skills of a 3rd grader at best? Does not have a basic
knowledge of science and hence has no idea of how, say, the
digestive system works? (BTW, one way appreciating the
wonders of HaShem is to study how some of the systems in our bodies
work.) Has no real knowledge of how our government
works? I think not.<br><br>
Parents do not have a blanket right to determine the education of their
children. Would you say that a parent has a right to send his child
to a school that preaches Antisemitism and prejudice? Also, based on my
experience as an educator for over 50 years, I have to say that
parents do not always know what is best for their children
educationally. Choosing to enroll one's sons in a school that does
not give a basic secular education is a very poor choice. Also,
having a school that does not give a basic secular education is against
the law as is clear from my recent Jewish Press article.<br><br>
Boys have to be equipped with an education that prepares them to earn a
living to support a family. How many boys who attend a Hassidic
yeshiva actually earn a basic high school diploma let alone a Regents
diploma?<br><br>
YL</font></body>
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