|
|
August 3, 2001/Av 14, 5761, Vol. 53, No.43
Who is teaching our children?
BETH OLSON
Staff Writer
What's best for the children?
This question, which stands at the forefront of every parent's mind, requires substantial deliberation when it comes to the topic of education - particularly education of Jewish children.
In the last several years, the local Jewish community has seen tremendous growth in Jewish day school offerings. Parents of children in elementary and middle school now have three Jewish day school options: Phoenix Hebrew Academy in Phoenix, Pardes Jewish Day School in Paradise Valley and King David School in Scottsdale. The Tri-City Jewish Community Center Day School in Tempe serves children in grades 1-3.
Additionally, there are now two options for high school: the new Jess Schwartz Jewish Community High School and Phoenix Preparatory High School, both in Phoenix. With these new options - and none of the schools operating at full capacity - why do some parents choose Jewish day school education for their teens while others do not?
The public school argument
In a 1999 article in Commentary magazine, "Who's Afraid of Jewish Day Schools," Jack Wertheimer says that in the first half of the 20th century, Jews emigrating to America used public school education to assimilate themselves into American culture and to make a better life for themselves.
"As the children of successive waves of immigrants passed through the public school system and climbed the country's socioeconomic ladder, the Jewish attachment to public education grew into a veritable love affair," he said.
While assimilation was seen as a positive step to some Jews in the last century, Rabbi David Rebibo, dean of Phoenix Hebrew Academy, sees the negative impact it has passed on to subsequent generations.
"By everything we measure, whether it's intermarriage, whether it's membership to different (Jewish) organizations, whether it's participation, whether it's contributions ... everything points to a serious assimilation problem.
"We can become successful again if we succeed in instilling within our members the kind of attitudes that are effective in both preserving and transmitting Jewish commitment - that can be done only through the Jewish day school vehicle," he explained.
Jay Schechter, headmaster of the Jess Schwartz high school, says parents have been driven away from public school education because the quality of education has declined.
"It's their right to get their child the best education that's available."
Donna Troisi of Scottsdale is sending her son, Marc, to the Jess Schwartz high school this fall, in part due to her disillusionment with her local public middle school. She sees the new high school as "innovative, exciting and inspiring."
Mark Magier has decided to send his daughter, Devorah, to Phoenix Preparatory High School. After being home schooled, Devorah, 12, is ready for the academic challenges of high school, but not necessarily the adolescent pressures.
"I'm not going to throw her into a massive public school. I'd rather her be a bit sheltered," he explained.
Not all parents who make the decision to send their children to Jewish day schools are unhappy with public school. Robin Loeb's son is an honors graduate of Paradise Valley High School and her daughter, Sara, just completed a very successful freshman year at the same school. Sara enjoyed participating in drama and honors classes, yet she has decided to attend Jess Schwartz high school as a sophomore - one of four for the upcoming school year. Robin said Sara looks forward to the academic and extracurricular activities at the new school.
"She was excited about the fact that the school was not large, but that it will offer a lot of opportunities for kids to take leadership roles," she explained.
Non-Jewish private schools play role
Until three years ago, when Phoenix Preparatory High School opened its doors, parents did not have the option to send their children to a local Jewish high school.
Many parents chose non-Jewish parochial schools for their child's private school needs. In fact, an estimated 450-500 Jewish students attend local non-Jewish private high schools - more than attend all local Jewish day schools combined, according to the Oct. 16, 2000 Report of the Task Force on Jewish Day School Alternative Funding.
Linda Lato's son, Jeremy, attended Brophy College Preparatory, an all-boys Catholic high school in Phoenix, for three years. The Lato's home school was Camelback High School; Lato said she was concerned about the school's poor reputation when she enrolled Jeremy at Brophy.
Lato said Jeremy had a very good experience at Brophy - he even enjoyed the required religious courses.
"He learned a lot. He's really strong in his Jewish background, so I didn't feel it was a problem for him to learn about everything," she said.
While Jeremy does have Jewish friends from his synagogue and Hebrew High, Lato said none of his friends from Brophy are Jewish.
Small class sizes and excellent teachers led to a positive atmosphere at the school, although Lato thought it was a social disadvantage for Jeremy to attend an all-boys school.
Despite Jeremy's positive experience at Brophy, Lato has decided to send Jeremy to public school for his final year - at Sunnyslope High School. Jeremy has two younger sisters, Michelle and Andrea, who will attend Arcadia High School as freshmen this fall.
Lato said she never considered sending her kids to a Jewish school because she wants the focus of their education to be on academic subjects rather than Jewish studies.
Rebibo recalled that several students each year, after graduating from Phoenix Hebrew Academy, would go on to private Catholic high schools because there was not an option for them to attend a local Jewish high school. However, Rebibo said, half of last year's eighth grade class is going on to attend the Jess Schwartz high school, and one will attend Phoenix Preparatory High School.
Is Jewish high school education only for the Orthodox?
According to Wertheimer, while most Jewish day schools in this country are of Orthodox affiliation, in the late 1990s the enrollment in Conservative, Reform and interdenominational schools increased by 20 percent.
Rebibo said that while enrollment at the Academy has generally been about 45 percent Orthodox, more than 50 percent are of other affiliations.
In his 38 years of heading the academy he has seen a change in how people view Jewish day school education, he noted. "People used to think that you only come to the Hebrew day school if you want to become a rabbi."
At Phoenix Preparatory High School, affiliated with Chabad of Phoenix, students of any affiliation may attend; however, the school follows traditional Orthodox practices.
The Jess Schwartz high school will offer minyon in both traditional Orthodox and egalitarian classes. Courses in the subject areas - rabbinical literature, Tanach and Hebrew - will be offered at beginning, intermediate and advanced levels to accommodate the needs of students of all affiliations. Schechter estimated that all affiliations will be equally represented by enrollment.
Small schools, small classes
While many parents see small school and class sizes as an advantage, such a small group also means a lack of diversity.
"At some point you'd always like for there to be more kids for the dynamics," said Loeb. "But on the other hand, the plus of that is that obviously the kids get a tremendous amount of attention and one-to-one with teachers which is something real unusual and valuable. It's not something that obviously happens in a regular school setting."
While there is no way a school with less than 30 students can offer the extent of extracurricular activities that a large public high school might, the local schools are making an effort to include non-academic activities as part of their offerings.
Schechter said the Jess Schwartz high school will belong to the Community Sports Conference, which will offer extracurricular sports activities in a league with other schools of similar sizes from across the Valley. There will also be a mock trial team and a debate team, both of which will compete against other schools.
Phoenix Preparatory high school offers a noncompetitive intramural program for its students.
Academic superiority
Schecter sees academic excellence as one of Jess Schwartz high school's biggest selling points. The school offers a staff of 17 to its 22 students - five of those are full-time faculty members.
In order to attend the school, students must go through a rigorous application process: a lengthy application, student interview, parent interview, an assessment test and a visit to the student's home school for an observation of the student in class.
In return, the elite students have the opportunity to study with local rabbis and scholars, such as Schechter, Rabbi William Berk, Rabbi Elana Kanter, Professor Joel Gereboff and Rabbi Gedalia Peterseil.
While Phoenix Preparatory High School does not require an application process, Principal Don Roth says the curriculum is strong academically - assisted by the individual attention students get due to the small class sizes.
Cost
While the cost of a private school education can be overwhelming or even impossible for some families to cover, there are three local tuition organizations that offer financial assistance to those in need.
The state of Arizona allows taxpayers to donate up to $500 per year ($625 for married couples filing jointly) to private school scholarship organizations and then receive the money back as an Arizona state tax credit. The Jewish Community Day School Scholarship Fund serves the Jess Schwartz Jewish Community High School, along with five other day schools. The Chabad Tuition Organization funds Phoenix Preparatory High School scholarships.
The Jess Schwartz high school offers their own scholarship programs, as well.
Individual benefits
In the end, no school is right for every child. However, Roth believes that a Jewish day school education will benefit all those who choose to utilize it.
"I think if people have a good foundation in Jewish beliefs and a good academic background, quite frankly, it's the kind of thing that could make them successful in most things that they will be involved in."
|
