Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on April 22, 2020

New York's schools are adapting to meet the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic, with millions of students now logging on for virtual lectures and remote learning. Unfortunately, reports indicate that students of most ultra-Orthodox Yeshivas are not following suit. Instead, they've been confined to home study of the Talmud, with any secular instruction evaporated.

It's part of a broader issue with which the New York State Board of Regents is familiar: tens of thousands of children attending Yeshivas are being robbed of an education that prepares them to succeed in life.

As a graduate of a New York City Yeshiva, I know this all too well. At age 20, I attempted to enroll in college, only to find I didn't even have an education; let alone a high school diploma. My 12 years of "education" were wholly inadequate for preparing me for college, let alone the real world beyond Yeshiva.

I'm hardly alone. According to Yaffed's 2017 report on Yeshiva education, the Hasidic school age population which is a subset of the Orthodox Jewish population doubles approximately every 15 years. While today there are tens of thousands of children who are currently being denied a basic education, as required by law, this number could soon become hundreds of thousands.

The coronavirus pandemic has only further spotlighted the need for all New Yorkers to understand the science around how viruses emerge, spread, and are contained. According to the National Institutes of Health, education is a key contributor to a person's long-term health. Unless students understand the science of a virus, they won't be adequately prepared to defend themselves and their communities against future outbreaks.

Still, efforts to ensure these schools provide an education that meets the basic parameters of New York state law remain inexplicably stalled.

At a Regents meeting in February, the State Education Department pushed the board to delay any new regulation until they can engage more stakeholders on the issue. It's completely unclear to me what more they need to learn.

Both state and city officials have been studying this issue for years. They have visited ultra-Orthodox Yeshivas. They've met with Yeshiva leaders.

They pointed to the number of public comments they've received opposing regulation as grounds to further delay action. But those comments have been on their desks since September. If public comments had been a real reason to reconsider action, the State Education Department could have made plans months ago before allowing another school year to pass by without a resolution. And really, no amount of comments should paralyze policymakers when it comes to addressing mass educational neglect.

At this point, the failures of the ultra-Orthodox Yeshivas have been well-documented. In fact, in December, New York City's Department of Education released the results of a four-year investigation that found 26 out of 28 Yeshivas that were inspected did not meet substantial equivalency standards, as required by law. And these only represent a small sample of the schools across the state failing to meet minimum standards.

Naftuli Moster is the founder and executive director of Young Advocates for Fair Education.

Powerful interests have sowed fear both within the ultra-Orthodox community and with private schools at large that the state is going to encroach on their autonomy. But the public deserves to know and be assured that schools many of which receive public funds for meals and transportation and other mandated services are providing children basic skills in reading, writing, math, social studies and science they need in today's society.

In chaotic moments like the one in which we are now living, it's easy to move other issues to the back burner, to be revisited when the crisis passes. But we are talking about lives of tens of thousands of children. We can't let their futures be another victim of this horrible pandemic. We need the Regents to demand accountability for our children, today.

More:

Commentary: Regents must be accountable to all New York students - Times Union

Category: Talmud
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