Wandering Jew (Photo credit: pellaea). I’m a wondering Jew
A while ago, I reached some kind of milestone. I’ve been writing incessantly about a niche group within a niche group.
I’ve written over 100 posts on the topic of Jewish teens.
Posts about parenting, marketing, college readiness, Jewish identity, school aides, cheating, allowed me to share observations and frustrations.
I am so lucky to have the opportunity to write about what matters to me in Jewish education.
When I started writing, there were virtually no relevant results for Jewish teens on my Google search.
Thankfully, that has changed, but many things haven’t.
The most important question we need to ask ourselves, especially in light of the Pew study, is “are we doing enough for our Jewish teens?”
Do we have answers for the following?
1. Day schools continue to be the darling of funders, who fail to realize that the largest percentage of Jewish teens are not going to day schools, despite scholarship incentives. Yet, students with at least seven years of supplementary Jewish education fare very well when compared to day school students. Why?
2. Serious (yes, I did just say that word) supplementary high school programs work, yet get no recognition for the leaders we send to college campuses, year after year. Why?
3. Research confirms that students are less likely to attend high school programs when they have negative experiences in elementary supplemental education, yet communal incentives are rare for encouraging teens to ‘try out’ programs. Why? (The Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia is taking a lead in this concept).
4. Hillels around the country don’t connect with Jewish supplementary high schools to help teens transition to their new environment. Why is there this incredible missed opportunity?
5. Turf issues continue to pervade many communities, even though some programs offer teens little choices for social and/or academic experiences. (Philadelphia, through an initiative called Jteenphilly is breaking ground in this area).
6. Teen aides in supplementary schools are generally not being served by that experience. Keeping teens in the building doesn’t mean that their needs are being met.
7. Studies have confirmed that once on the college campus, teens tend not to care about Jewish denominational lines, yet their pre-collegiate youth group experiences are most often confined to movement-related programming. Why?
I don’t get many responses to these posts, which for most, would be a red flag to do something different.
Somehow, I’m content to do what I’m doing, and hope that some things will eventually ‘stick’.
Plus, I know you’re out there (the stats confirm this).
I appreciate you–you’re that very special reader who cares enough to read about Jewish teens.
Thank you!
Related articles
One comment I never hear as a Jewish educator (ruthschapira.wordpress.com)
No Excuses – Time for Action (ejewishphilanthropy.com)
Comments