Op-Ed: I wonder why there is no money back guarantee in education if our schools don't live up to the mission statements that guarantee what their graduates will look like. I wonder why we promote students to think outside the box while sitting them inside a box. I wonder why we treat symptoms in education rather than diagnose the causes. I wonder how we want our students to be practicing Jews if we spend twelve years teaching them only the theory of Judaism. Educational requires a vision that causes us to ask, answer, guide and implement change.
I was raised in an ultra Orthodox community, with an upbringing and education to match. Old school Cheder style methods of discipline were used by our teachers. Never did we question their schooling style or lack thereof, not until I grew up did I realize that it is possible to educate a generation of children with kindness, understanding and acceptance and that our sacred Torah can and will continue to be the moral compass of our precious students for generations to come. So much has changed in the last generation alone, new and improved scientific theory about the human mind and the way in which it learns new things, along with constantly evolving theories about human behavior. If we want answers to the above mentioned questions we must educate differently than we did in the past.
Thirty one million people watched Sir Ken Robinson's Ted talk on “How schools kill creativity”, yet we still seem to be so far from making a dent in the problems that plague education. I spend every waking minute pondering about meaningful ways to affect significant change, I have no doubt that it is my life’s calling. My fifteen plus years in education have led me to believe that no single solution can be applied to solve all of Jewish educational challenges, rather each school needs a unique individual to create the balance necessary to take that particular school from good to great.
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