Section archive - Formal Education

In this article, Mark Smilowitz describes an approach to teaching halakha which enables the students as researchers. The approach opens new vistas for student exploration and can be easily adapted for almost any discipline.

The ORT Belgrano and Almagro schools are large Jewish technical junior high and high schools in Buenos Aires providing state of the art science and technological education along with a mandatory Jewish studies curriculum. The high academic level of the schools attracts many students who otherwise might not have experienced a Jewish education. These pluralistic, Jewish institutions whose attractiveness lies in the extraordinary academic opportunities they provide could serve as a model for making Jewish education appealing to unengaged Jewish families in other communities.

The Steinhardt Foundation for Jewish Life, in partnership with other Jewish organizations, has begun a national initiative designed to create models of excellence in Jewish early childhood education, increase the number of families with children attending quality Jewish early childhood centers, and raise the number of families continuing to engage in Jewish learning and living after pre-school – The Jewish Early Childhood Education Initiative. More than a dozen nursery schools across the country are currently participating in the initiative. Founded in 2003, JECEI, seeks to combine progressive education techniques imported from Reggio Emilia, Italy with a deeply embedded Jewish curriculum. This year, the program is expanding to new schools in communities across the country.

A small but growing number of Jewish day schools across the United States — including Modern Orthodox, Conservative and community schools —have started to teach Arabic. The schools are offering Arabic as a curricular class or an extracurricular club in answer to a growing demand by students. Jewish students’ motivations for learning Arabic range from connecting to family roots, acquiring economic or political communications skills, or trying to understand the Arabs in order to contribute in some small way, to the peace process.