Reuven goes into the store to buy something to eat. The
first thing he checks is the hashgocha on the package.
Shimon and his wife are planning to eat out tonight. The
first thing they check is the hashgocha of the
restaurant. Yehuda is planning this year's vacation. Top
priority is the hashgocha of the hotel.
Hashgochah is important because kashrus is important.
We cannot simply ask a company if their food is kosher
because, firstly, we do not know if they know all the laws of
kashrus and, secondly, even if they do know them, we do not
know if they are keeping to the laws. So, responsible,
knowledgeable people set up organizations which take upon
themselves three important tasks:
First, they ensure that the food companies know what they
have to do.
Second, they ensure that the company is actually set up to
produce kosher food.
Third, they continue to inspect the company while it is
operating, to ensure that the company maintains the required
standard of kashrus.
Chinuch is also important. Perhaps, in some respects,
it is more important than kashrus. But there is no
hashgochah for chinuch.
Families are growing and the population is increasing
rapidly. To serve the educational needs of the increasing
numbers of students, more and more new chadorim, yeshiva
ketanos and yeshiva gedolos are opening up.
Some educational institutions are set up by the local
congregation or Chassidus and those running them are
answerable to those above them. But for others, it is an open
market.
At present, anyone can open an educational institution and he
can hire whomever he wants. There is no guarantee that he is
doing his job correctly. And if there are problems with the
way the institute is being run, there is no one to turn
to.
Many educational institutions purport to be under the
guidance of a famous godol. However, the reality is
that the godol rarely has time to actually go to the
institute from time to time and inspect all the teachers and
rebbeim and see them at work and check that they are
teaching correctly and that the talmidim are
developing the love for Torah and mitzvos. This, of
course, is what the parents hope they are attaining —
and which is why they are sending them to that particular
place.
Furthermore, even if parents have cause for complaint, they
rarely feel comfortable going to the godol. Some
chadorim and yeshivos ketanos set such a high
standard of limudim that a large percentage of the
talmidim cannot keep up with the curriculum. What
right do they have to overlook the needs of the other
talmidim?
But such institutes are privately owned and there is no one
to whom to appeal.
Some institutions have such long hours that it is impossible
for the talmidim to get sufficient sleep. Some of them
come to their lessons tired and irritable and unable to
concentrate. Usually, the institute blames the student and
puts pressure on him to `shape up' and improve his
performance. Sometimes, they send him for psychological
testing and then he may be put on medication.
Some say that the institutions must have long hours to keep
their talmidim off the streets. However, in my
opinion, what the child does when he has left the place of
learning is the responsibility of the parents. Why should the
institute guarantee failure of any of the talmidim
because some parents do not control their children?
The classes of some institutes are so large, the teacher
cannot devote his attention to all the students but must
ignore some of them. This means that they are accepting
talmidim into their institution knowing that they will
not be able to accomplish their task.
According to guidelines set down by the Gedolim, throwing
a student out of an educational institute is a question of
pikuach nefesh (mortal danger) and an educational
institute is not allowed to throw out a student
unless:
1. he is damaging other students
2. the student has special needs and that institute is not
equipped to provide them, but other institutes are available
which can supply the student's special needs.
However, the institute must always ensure that the student
has somewhere to continue his education.
But it is common practice for an institute to throw out a
student for failing to reach a standard, even though he is
well-behaved, or for infringing some rule, without ensuring
that the student has somewhere to go. There is no one to
appeal to.
The principal of the cheder told Reb Dan that they will
not be able to accept his child for the next year because he
is below standard. This was a surprise to Reb Dan so he took
his child to Rabbi Abraham, an expert in education, who found
that the child was very intelligent but behind in his
reading. Rabbi Abraham phoned the cheder and told the
principal that he felt he could bring the child up to
standard in a short time. The principal laughed at Rabbi
Abraham, "The boy has been doing nothing for three years! His
exercise books are empty! It is not possible that you can get
him ready for the new class." Rabbi Abraham rang off.
The principal should have taken action three years ago! What
could he say to a principal who is admitting that he failed
in his job for three years?(*)
The cheder is a private institution. For three years
they have been charging Reb Dan full tuition. There is no one
to whom Reb Dan can complain.
Some teachers and principals have their own ideas of what
constitutes proper education, even though there is no
tradition for it and/or it might only be effective for a
small sector of the students.
Reb Yehuda's son is having major problems reading. The
cheder he attends devotes minimal time to teaching the boys
how to read. After only introducing them to the letters and
vowels and teaching them perfunctorily how to combine them
into words, they commence learning Chumash, devoting time to
several different Meforshim. When Reb Yehuda remonstrated
with the principal they his son could not yet read well, the
principal reassured him that his son would learn to read from
reading the Chumash. The principal explained that he had been
in chinuch for many years and this was his way.
The cheder is a private institution. There is no one
to whom Reb Yehuda can complain.
Some principals hire teachers who have never taught before
and who have had no training. They are happy to allow the
rebbi to "learn on the job," using the talmidim
of their first few years of teaching as their 'training
material.'
Yossi was one of the best in his class last year, but this
year he has fallen to the bottom. His rebbi is a "cold fish,"
unemotional and does not give any encouragement. Yossi's
mother phoned the rebbi and suggested that he should send a
note home when Yossi does something good. The rebbi replied
that Yossi never does anything good. Yossi's parents
complained to the principal, who agreed that the rebbi was
not cut out to be a teacher, but he refused to fire the rebbi
or even to speak to him about the problem.
The rebbi will not be teaching there next year because he
lives in a nearby town which will not accept rebbeim who do
not have any experience teaching. So he is learning to be a
rebbi in that cheder and next year he will be able to get a
position in his home town. And no one is worried that he is
destroying a few children in the process — now and in
the future —and there is no one to talk to!
Whole classes become "turned off" from learning Torah and
loving Yiddishkeit because they have been subjected to
verbally and/or physically abusive teachers.
Mrs. Sarah told me about the rebbi who got so angry with
her son that he picked her son up with his chair and threw
them both out of the classroom. Her son suffered severe
bruising. She complained to the principal but he only
shrugged. Obviously, she could not file charges with the
police, but she had no one to whom to complain.
Naftali's rebbi did not like Naftali's answer, so he drew
a picture of a donkey on the board, turned to the class and
said, "You see that donkey?" That donkey is Naftali." Naftali
left his religion for a few years but now he is on the way
back. He explains that that rebbi was the main cause for him
feeling bad about Torah and Mitzvos.
Zevulon told me that he is one of the few from his class
who still keep Shabbos and the only one who made it to
Yeshiva. The rest were "turned off" from Torah and Mitzvos by
abusive rebbeim.
Before a parent decides to which institution he should send
his child, he needs to check it out, but many parents,
especially new ones, do not know what is required and can be
convinced by the principal that his mosad meets the
parent's requirements. Also, standards change and an
institute which once enjoyed a well-deserved good reputation
might now be employing a sub-standard team.
There are many wonderful, reliable rebbeim and
principals in our education system. But there also many
wonderful, reliable people producing food for the public, yet
they are still required to have a kashrus agency overseeing
them.
Those parents would not allow themselves to be convinced by
the owners of a restaurant that their food is 100% kosher
(unless they knew them really well) but they would demand
that it be supervised by an accredited kashrus agency who
would not only ensure that the restaurant is set up correctly
but will also send in supervisors to ensure that the standard
is maintained.
Surely, they should be able to expect a similar facility for
chinuch.
(*) Reb Dan had no choice but to look for a new cheder for
his child. He just told me that there has been an amazing
change in his son since he has been going to his new cheder.
He comes home happy and goes over his Chumash without any
prompting. The Menahel and rebbeim of the new cheder have
such a love for children and their work. And now all the
poison from the first cheder is coming out — how they
were unpleasant to him and how often he was smacked.
