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Jewish World Review Aug. 24 1999 / 12 Elul, 5759
HOW LONG does a first impression take? You may be surprised to find that
within 2 or 3 seconds, we begin to form judgments about the people we meet.
This is why people who appear more attractive at first glance tend to get
more opportunities-from landing better jobs, to making friends and even to
getting better deals on buying cars.
It may take an effort to realize that first impressions are not the way to
make deep evaluative decisions. We should delve beneath the surface to learn
more about a person besides his or her pleasant features. Friendships, job
relationships and certainly long-term relationships, such as marriage, cannot
work well based on such superficial evaluations.
Often people are not aware that these first impressions are used as a basis
when making important decisions. I see this happening when parents look for
schools for their children. An attractive building or well-dressed students
certainly look good; however, evaluating a school should not stop there,
because decoration is not the cornerstone of education.
Parents need to work in tandem with educators. Both should carefully balance
the child's need with the programs of the school.
Children learn best in an atmosphere of caring. This atmosphere is
successfully maintained with classrooms of no more than 20-25 and a
child-oriented curricula. It is maintained with administrators and teachers
who are flexible enough to modify the educational environment to
individualize the education of the child. If a child does not thrive,
parents need to be given guidelines how this may be changed. Parents must
base their evaluations on their own child's needs and not on the school's
reputation or what their neighbors might think.
A fellow administrator once told me about a parent at his school, who was
considering transferring her child to another school, despite the child being
happy at his school. What was the reason? The mother told him point-blank
that she liked the prospective school better because it "looked like it had
so much money." This is obviously the wrong set of criteria.
The mother considered this move because she simply didn't realize how
children was learn.
Some individuals, including educators, think that children mysteriously learn
without help. In fact, some think this is the preferred way. A friend of
mine agreed with this philosophy. He was once telling my husband about a
particular school he admired, which expected students to learn on their own.
"It's a sink or swim situation. The students learn to tough it out," he told
my husband proudly. Since he had just become a grandfather, my husband
decided to create a parallel he would understand. Would like his new
grandson to learn to swim?
"I guess so," the man replied, obviously confused by the switch in subject.
"We'll take him to his first swimming lesson and thrown him in the water. If
he learns to swim, OK. If not, I guess he'll drown."
The grandfather looked horrified. "That's ridiculous. The child would drown
before he ever learned to swim." Of course, our friend was right. That
method is no way to teach swimming. In fact, it is no way to teach at all.
One parent told me about her daughter, a good student, who was having trouble
in one of her high school classes. On assignments and tests she sometimes
received A's, other times F's. I asked the mother what was wrong. She told me
her daughter couldn't figure out what the teacher wanted. When her mother
spoke to her teacher about this, he acknowledged that her daughter knew the
subject but had to figure out his tests. The parent asked if the teacher
explained the organization of his tests to the students. No, he told her
cheerfully, that's the student's job.
Good teachers do not try to trick students. They should give tests that
measure a student's knowledge of the material -not the student's ESP. Tests
should be written and organized around what was taught-they should not be a
maze to get lost in on exam day.
Evaluating good teachers and good schools is a complicated matter. We should
see if our children are happy and grow each year, in knowledge and in
technique. We should see if the teachers know our children by name and are
available to talk to parents, working with them as a team.
Supporting Jewish day schools or Yeshivas may be the single most important
factor in maintaining Jewish continuity, observance and community. Putting
our children into a Jewish school is an important first step. But it is only
a first step. The next step is to select a school that maintains an
environment in which our children will thrive. With public schools and other
private schools as alternatives, we must do more than establish a school that
is Jewish. We must establish excellent Jewish
Education in a Box
By Susan R. Weintrob
Too many parents do no more than a superficial sweep of the eye as they judge
their children's education. As many parents find out later, decision by
offhand analysis takes a real chance with our children's education-and it can
be damaging for many years to come.
While students must be taught to be independent learners, educators do not
accomplish this by leaving a student alone. The learning process is what
must be taught along with the curriculum. A good teacher breaks the
information into parts that are digestible and recognizable. He teaches how
to approach a subject-how to construct algebra formulas, how to organize an
essay or how to learn Gemorrah. This is true both for a bright student and
for one who needs extra support.
Jews have always held education to be a priority. The Rambam comments on a
decree by Yehoshua ben Gamla (First Century CE) to establish schools in
every community. He states that a community should be destroyed if it does
not have a school for all of its children. For thousands of years, building
and maintaining our Jewish schools was one of the best ways to build
community. It still is. Those of us concerned about the future of American
Judaism should look to its yeshivas and day schools. Supporting these
institutions within our communities is the one of the best inoculations
against assimilation.
JWR contributor Susan R. Weintrob is the principal of the Yeshiva of Manhattan Beach in
Brooklyn, NY. Send your comments to her by clicking here.
07/06/99: The responsibility to teach every child
03/22/99: Back to the
Jewish Future
12/28/98: Brooklyn Cousins
12/04/98: A birthday in Brooklyn
