Friday, June 22, 2007
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Small Schools
There are way too many Jewish yeshiva high schools for boys. Just in Monsey alone, there are 9? black-hat schools. Due to their small sizes they spend money inefficiently and can't afford many things.
Each school first needs its own building and transportation. Then they each have to get their own menahel, mashgiach, principle, secretary and janitor. Each school then has to offer certain basic classes, even if there aren't enough kids. A calculus class might only have 3 kids. Its not very efficient use of tuition and tzedaka.
But even worse is the lack of choice for kids stuck in a small school. The school is unlikely to have a gym, lab or computer room. The classes will have kids of different abilities dumped together. If AP's are offered, they won't be their own class. Almost everyone will have to go to the same classes without being able to pick what interests them. There won't be any interesting or useful classes like technology or public speaking. There won't be any extracurricular activities or sports. In Limudei Kodesh, there will only be one shiur for all. The brighter and more motivated kids will be forced to learn at a low level. Small schools are clearly quite a disadvantage.
Some will somehow argue that small schools are good, there's more personal attention. Even assuming that's a good thing, it's clearly outweighed by the disadvantages. Imagine if all the high-schools in Monsey moved in to one property. In the beginning, they'll each have completely separate schools, and just save money on the property. But then they'll realize they can get joint transportation and build gyms, etc. They'll make one calculus class for all those interested. They may even start offering a choice of classes besides math. Eventually, they might even realize there's no real point in having so many menahels, etc. After that, they'll figure out a better way to divide up the shiurim and classes. Someone will then notice it will make more sense to have one building and they'll be one school.
So why are there so many black-hat high-schools? There aren't so many elementary schools, girls' schools or modern high schools. There aren't too many bakeries or hardware stores!
I think there's too much of a supply of people who want to be rebbeim, menahilim and rosh yeshivas of mesivtas. In a regular business, that would drive down prices too low, and people would have to switch jobs. But high schools can just collect tzedaka and don't need to be profitable, so anyone can be a rosh yeshiva. I guess the solution is to go to a modern school, which doesn't have as big a supply of rebbeim.
Each school first needs its own building and transportation. Then they each have to get their own menahel, mashgiach, principle, secretary and janitor. Each school then has to offer certain basic classes, even if there aren't enough kids. A calculus class might only have 3 kids. Its not very efficient use of tuition and tzedaka.
But even worse is the lack of choice for kids stuck in a small school. The school is unlikely to have a gym, lab or computer room. The classes will have kids of different abilities dumped together. If AP's are offered, they won't be their own class. Almost everyone will have to go to the same classes without being able to pick what interests them. There won't be any interesting or useful classes like technology or public speaking. There won't be any extracurricular activities or sports. In Limudei Kodesh, there will only be one shiur for all. The brighter and more motivated kids will be forced to learn at a low level. Small schools are clearly quite a disadvantage.
Some will somehow argue that small schools are good, there's more personal attention. Even assuming that's a good thing, it's clearly outweighed by the disadvantages. Imagine if all the high-schools in Monsey moved in to one property. In the beginning, they'll each have completely separate schools, and just save money on the property. But then they'll realize they can get joint transportation and build gyms, etc. They'll make one calculus class for all those interested. They may even start offering a choice of classes besides math. Eventually, they might even realize there's no real point in having so many menahels, etc. After that, they'll figure out a better way to divide up the shiurim and classes. Someone will then notice it will make more sense to have one building and they'll be one school.
So why are there so many black-hat high-schools? There aren't so many elementary schools, girls' schools or modern high schools. There aren't too many bakeries or hardware stores!
I think there's too much of a supply of people who want to be rebbeim, menahilim and rosh yeshivas of mesivtas. In a regular business, that would drive down prices too low, and people would have to switch jobs. But high schools can just collect tzedaka and don't need to be profitable, so anyone can be a rosh yeshiva. I guess the solution is to go to a modern school, which doesn't have as big a supply of rebbeim.
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