Abstract
In this chapter I survey the origins of contemporary day school education in relation to two distinct models: one integrationist, one isolationist. I explore how, since the 1960s, with the proliferation of liberal day school education worldwide, these models have no longer been conceived as alternatives, but as complementary, if not always compatible. I suggest that the challenges in reconciling these two models account for some of the most intense contemporary debates surrounding day school education in relation to educational goals, curriculum content, marketing, and recruitment. I review these debates as well as other central trends in liberal day school education. Finally, I examine the questions and concerns that have been of most interest to researchers of day schools in general (and of liberal day schools in particular). I finish by proposing a research agenda for the coming decades of day school research.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
A third Hebraist/Socialist tradition flourished during the middle years of the twentieth century, first in Central Europe and then, after the Shoah, in survivor outposts in Latin America, Canada, and Australia (Frost, 1998). Conceived as “the instrument of an ideology rather than an instrument for the education of children in terms appropriate to them” (Adar & Chazan, 1977), the schools inspired by this “revolutionary” tradition survive only in Israel, or in the Diaspora, in an almost unrecognizable form.
- 2.
Of course, there has also been no lack of theoretical work on day schools. This has concentrated around the questions of, first, what are the distinctive goals and outcomes of day school education and how might these be extended or transformed; and second, what is the place of the different disciplines of Jewish studies in the day school curriculum, and what are the relationships of these disciplines to one another and to the general studies curriculum. I do not discuss them here, since this work is well reviewed by Malkus elsewhere in this volume.
References
Abba, S. (2002). Forecasting the demand for enrolment in Toronto Jewish day schools. Toronto, ON, UJA Federation of Great Toronto: Board of Jewish Education.
Ackerman, W. (1961). The day school in the Conservative movement. Conservative Judaism, 15(2), 46–57.
Ackerman, W. (1989). Strangers to tradition: Idea and constraint in American Jewish education. In H. S. Himelfarb & S. DellaPergola (Eds.), Jewish education worldwide: Cross-cultural perspectives. Lanham, MS: University Press of America.
Adar, Z., & Chazan, B. I. (1977). Jewish education in Israel and in the United States. Jerusalem: Samuel Mendel Melton Center for Jewish Education in the Diaspora.
Anderson, S. (2008). The competition, the rabbi, and the prize: Anger, guilt, and inclusion in a pluralistic Jewish day school. Paper presented at the American Anthropological Association, November 11, 2008.
Aron, I. (1989). The malaise of Jewish education. Tikkun, 4, 32–34.
Aviv, D. (1999). Aliyah for two weeks: Moderate affiliation and the Israel experience in an American community day school. Jerusalem: Melton Centre for Jewish Education.
Backenroth, O. A. (2004). Art and Rashi: A portrait of a Bible teacher. Religious Education, 99(2), 151–166.
Baker, J. (2006). The falling crown? The future of Jewish day schools in Australia. In M. Fagenblat, M. Landau, & N. Wolski (Eds.), New under the sun: Jewish Australians on religion, politics and culture (pp. 346–356). Melbourne: Black Inc.
Baker, M. (2008). Jewish identities in process: Religious purposefulness in a pluralistic day school. HaYidion, Autumn, 20–21, 30–31.
Beinart, P. (1999). The rise of the Jewish school. Atlantic Monthly, 284, 21–23.
Bekerman, Z., & Kopelowitz, E. (2008). The unintended consequences of liberal Jewish schooling: A comparative study of the teaching of Jewish texts for the purpose of cultural sustainability. In Z. Bekerman & E. Kopelowitz (Eds.), Cultural education-cultural sustainability (pp. 323–342). New York: Routledge.
Ben-Avie, M., & Kress, J. S. (2007). A North American study of educators in Jewish day and congregational schools. Technical report of the Educators in Jewish Schools Study (EJSS). Jewish Educational Change.
Black, E. C. (1988). The social politics of Anglo-Jewry, 1880–1920. Oxford: Blackwell.
Black, G. (1998). JFS: The history of the Jews’ Free School, London, since 1732. Trowbridge: Redwood Books.
Bolman, L. G., & Deal, T. E. (2003). Reframing organizations: Artistry, choice and leadership. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Brown, S. I., & Lukinsky, J. S. (1979). Integration of religious studies and mathematics in the day school. Jewish Education, 47(3), 28–35.
Charytan, M. (1996) The impact of religious day school education: A study of changes in seven modern Orthodox day schools and the impact on religious transmission to students and their families. Graduate Faculty of Sociology. City University of New York. Doctor of Philosophy.
Chertok, F., Saxe, L., Kadushin, C., Wright, G., Klein, A., & Koren, A. (2007). What difference does day school make? Boston: Maurice and Marilyn Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies, Brandeis University.
Cohen, S. M. (1999). Money matters: Incentives and obstacles to Jewish day school enrollment in the United States. In Y. Rich & M. Rosenak (Eds.), Abiding challenges: Research perspectives on Jewish education (pp. 251–274). London: Freund Publishing House.
Cohen, E. H. (2007). Heureux comme Juifs en France? Etude sociologique. Jerusalem-Paris: Akadem.
Cohen, S. M., & Kotler-Berkowitz, L. (2004). The impact of childhood Jewish education on adults’ Jewish identity: Schooling, Israel travel, camping and youth groups. United Jewish Communities Report Series on the National Jewish Population Survey 2000–2001. New York: United Jewish Communities.
Continental Council for Jewish Education. (2003). Day school tuition subvention, reduction and scholarship programs. New York: Jewish Educational Services of North America.
Conyer, B. (2009). Pluralism and its purposeful introduction to a Jewish day school. Religious Education, 104(5), 463–478.
Crowson, R. L. (2001). Community development and school reform: An overview. In R. L. Crowson (Ed.), Community development and school reform (pp. 1–18). Oxford: Elsevier Science.
Dash Moore, D. (1987). The construction of community: Jewish migration and ethnicity in the United States. In M. Rischin (Ed.), The Jews of North America (pp. 105–117). Detroit, MI: Wayne State University Press.
Davis, B. (2007). Balancing “too Jewish” with “not Jewish enough”. HeYidiyon, Summer, 6.
Dickson, S. (2004). Kadimah: The pursuit of scholastic excellence and religious commitment. Journal of Jewish Education, 69(3), 15–47.
Dorph, G. Z. (1993). Conceptions and preconceptions: A study of prospective Jewish educators’ knowledge and beliefs about Torah. New York: Jewish Theological Seminary of America. Doctor of Philosophy.
Driscoll, M. E., & Kerchner, C. (1999). The implications of social capital for schools, communities and cities: Educational administration as if a sense of place mattered. In J. Murphy & K. Louis (Eds.), Handbook of research on educational administration (pp. 385–404). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Dryfoos, J. (1994). Full-service schools: A revolution in health and social services for children, youth and families. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Dushkin, A. (1948). Jewish education in New York city, 1918. Jewish Education, 20(1), 15.
Eliav, M. (1960). Ha’hinukh ha-yehudi be-Germanyah. Jerusalem: Jewish Agency for Israel.
Elkin, J., & Hausman, B. (2008). The Jewish day school. In R. L. Goodman, P. A. Flexner, & L. D. Bloomberg (Eds.), What we now know about Jewish education: Perspectives on research for practice (pp. 397–406). Los Angeles: Torah Aura Productions.
Ellenson, D. (2008). An ideology for the liberal Jewish school: A philosophical-sociological investigation. Journal of Jewish Education, 74(3), 245–263.
Feinberg, W. (2006). For goodness sake: Religious schools and education for democratic citizenry. New York: Routledge.
Fishman, S. B., & Goldstein, A. (1993). When they are grown up they will not depart. Waltham, MA: Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies, Brandeis University.
Foltynova, T. (2007) Jewish education in the Czech Republic: A case study of the Lauder schools in Prague. Rappaport Center for Assimilation Research and Strengthening Jewish Vitality, Bar Ilan University.
Frost, S. (1998). Schooling as a socio-political expression. Jerusalem: Magnes.
Gamoran, A., Goldring, E. B., Robinson, B., Tamivaara, J., & Goodman, R. L. (1998). The teachers’ report: A portrait of teachers in Jewish schools. New York: Council for Initiatives in Jewish Education.
Goldberg, H. E. (1999). A tradition of invention: Family and educational institutions among contemporary traditionalizing Jews. In S. M. Cohen & G. Horencyzk (Eds.), National variations in Jewish identity: Implications for Jewish identity (pp. 85–106). Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
Goldstein, Y. (2009). Community school versus school as community: The case of the Bet El community in Buenos Aires. In A. Pomson & H. Deitcher (Eds.), Jewish day schools, Jewish communities: A reconsideration (pp. 172–192). Oxford: Littman Library of Jewish Civilization.
Grossman, M. (1945). Parochial schools for Jewish children – An adverse view. Jewish Education, 16(3), 20–25.
Grumet, Z. (2003). The community school: Proceedings from an online discussion. Ramat Gan: Lookstein Center for Jewish Education.
Herman, C. (2006). Managerialism, fundamentalism, and the restructuring of faith-based community schools. Educational Theory, 56(2), 137–156.
Himelfarb, H. S. (1989). A cross-cultural view of Jewish education. In H. S. Himelfarb & S. DellaPergola (Eds.), Jewish education worldwide: Cross-cultural perspectives (pp. 3–41). Lanham, MD: University Press of America.
Holtz, B. (1980). Towards an integrated curriculum for the Jewish school. Religious Education, 75(5), 546–557.
Hyman, T. (2008). The liberal Jewish day school as laboratory for dissonance in American-Jewish identity formation. Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development. New York, New York University. Doctor of Philosophy.
Ingall, C. K. (1998). The Nachshon School: Portrait of a caring community. Religious Education, 93(3), 227–240.
Ingall, C. K. (2006). Down the up staircase: Tales of teaching in Jewish day schools. New York: Jewish Theological Seminary of America.
Ingall, C. K., & Malkus, M. (2001). Negotiating the borderlands: Implementing an integrated curricular unit in a Jewish day high school. Journal of Jewish Education, 67(1/2), 36–47.
Jacobs, M. R. (2003). The Jewish Academy of Metropolitan Detroit: The experience of the pioneering graduating class. Unpublished report submitted to the Partnership for Excellence in Jewish Education. Retrieved November 22, 2009 from http://peje.org/docs/DetroitHSgraduates.pdf
JESNA. (1999). Task force on Jewish day school viability and vitality. New York: Jewish Educational Services for North America.
JPPPI. (2007). Background policy documents. Jerusalem: Jewish People’s Policy Planning Institute.
Kanarfogel, E. (1992). Jewish education and society in the high middle ages. Detroit, MI: Wayne State University Press.
Kapel, D. E. (1972). Parental views of a Jewish day school. Jewish Education, 41(3), 23–38.
Kashti, O. (2007). Viva la Pluralism. Haartez, June 25. Retrieved July 26, 2009, from http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/862398.html.
Katz, J. (1978). Out of the ghetto: The social background of Jewish emancipation, 1770–1870. New York: Schocken Books.
Kelman, S. L. (1979). Why parents send their children to non-orthodox Jewish day schools. In M. Rosenak (Ed.), Studies in Jewish education (Vol. 2, pp. 289–298). Jerusalem: Magnes Press.
Krakowski, M. (2008). Isolation and integration: Education and worldview formation in ultra-Orthodox Jewish schools. Evanston, Il: Northwestern University. Doctor of Philosophy.
Kramer, M. N. (2000). The pathways for preparation: A study of heads of Jewish community day schools affiliated with the Jewish community day school network, 1998–1999. New York: Columbia University. Doctor of Education.
Kramer, M. N. (2003). Teaching in a Jewish community school. In N. S. Moskowitz (Ed.), The ultimate Jewish teacher’s handbook (pp. 66–73). New York: Behrman House.
Kress, J. S., & Reimer, J. (2009). Shabbatonim as experiential education in the North American community day high school. In A. Pomson & H. Deitcher (Eds.), Jewish day schools, Jewish communities: A reconsideration (pp. 342–361). Oxford: The Littman Library of Jewish Civilization.
Lauer, C. (2001). Thoughts on tuition reduction, fundraising and education. Agenda: Jewish Education, 14, 21–23.
Lehmann, D. (2007). Literacies and discourses in the two worlds of a modern Orthodox Jewish high school. New York: Columbia University. Doctor of Philosophy.
Lieberman Research Worldwide. (2004). Understanding the needs of Jewish parents in the Greater Boston to more effectively market day schools. Retrieved December 12, 2008, from http://www.peje.org/docs/DAFStudy.pdf.
Lookstein, J. H. (1945). The modern American Yeshivah. Jewish Education, 16(3), 12–16.
Lukinsky, J. S. (1978). Integration within Jewish studies. Jewish Education, 46(4), 39–41.
Marcus, I. G. (1996). Rituals of childhood: Jewish acculturation in Medieval Europe. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Markose, J. O. (1998). Individualism and community: A study of teachers in a Canadian Jewish day school, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. Toronto, ON: University of Toronto. Doctor of Education.
Marom, D. (2003). Before the gates of the school: An experiment in developing educational vision from practice. In S. Fox, I. Scheffler, & D. Marom (Eds.), Visions of Jewish education (pp. 296–331). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Miller, H. (2001). Meeting the challenge: The Jewish schooling phenomenon in the UK. Oxford Review of Education, 27(4), 501–513.
Murphy, C. (2001). Longing to deepen identity, more families turn to Jewish day school (p. B1). Washington Post. Washington, DC.
Pomson, A. (2004). Jewish day school growth in Toronto: Freeing policy and research from the constraints of conventional sociological wisdom. Canadian Journal of Education, 27(3), 321–340.
Pomson, A. (2005). Parochial school satisfactions: What research in private Jewish day schools reveals about satisfactions and dissatisfactions in teachers’ work. Educational Research, 47(2), 163–174.
Pomson, A. (2009). Introduction. In A. Pomson & H. Deitcher (Eds.), Jewish day schools, Jewish communities: A reconsideration (pp. 1–28). Oxford: The Littman Library of Jewish Civilization.
Pomson, A., & Deitcher, H. (2009). Much ado about something: Clarifying goals and methods of Israel education. HaYediyon (Spring), 32–34.
Pomson, A., & Schnoor, R. F. (2008). Back to school: Jewish day school in the lives of adult Jews. Detroit, MI: Wayne State University Press.
Prager, Y. (2000). All things to all people? Sh’ma, 31, 6–7.
Prager, Y. (2005). The tuition squeeze: Paying the price of Jewish education. Jewish Action, 66, 13–18.
Prell, R. E. (2007). Family formation, educational choices, and American Jewish identity. In J. Wertheimer (Ed.), Family matters: Jewish education in an age of choice (pp. 3–33). Waltham, MA: Brandeis University Press.
Reiss Medwed, K. G. (2005). Three women teachers of Talmud and rabbinics in Jewish non-orthodox day high schools: Their stories and experiences. Humanities and Social Sciences in the Professions. New York: New York University. Doctor of Philosophy.
Rosenblatt, G. (2009) Jewish day school model may now be thing of past. The Jewish Week, June 5, Retrieved July 22, 2009, from http://www.thejewishweek.com/viewArticle/c52_a15707/Editorial__Opinion/Gary_Rosenblatt.html.
Sarna, J. (1998). American Jewish education in historical perspective. Journal of Jewish Education, 61(1–2), 8–21.
Sarna, J. (2009) Lesson from the past. EJewishPhilanthropy.Com, February 22. Retrieved July 22, 2009, from http://ejewishphilanthropy.com/lessons-from-the-past/
Schaap, E., & Goodman, R. L. (2006). Recruitment of college students into the field of Jewish education: A study of the CAJE Schusterman college program alumni (1990–2003). New York: CAJE.
Schick, M. (2003). The impact of the economic downturn on Jewish day schools. New York: AVI CHAI Foundation.
Schick, M. (2005). A census of Jewish day schools in the United States, 2003–2004. New York: AVI CHAI Foundation.
Schick, M. (2009). Summary of key findings: A census of Jewish day schools in the United States, 2008–2009. http://www.avi-chai.org/Static/Binaries/Publications/Key_Findings_of_2008_09_Day_School_Census_Final.pdf
Schiff, A. I. (1966). The Jewish day school in America. New York: Jewish Education Committee Press.
Shapiro, S. (1996). A parent’s dilemma: Public vs. Jewish education. Tikkun, 17, 13–16.
Shapiro, Z. (1988). From generation to generation: Does Jewish schooling affect Jewish identification? New York, New York University. Doctor of Philosophy.
Shevitz, S. L., & Wasserfall, R. (2009). Building community in a pluralist high school. In A. Pomson & H. Deitcher (Eds.), Jewish day schools, Jewish communities: A reconsideration (pp. 376–395). Oxford: Littman Library of Jewish Civilization.
Shkedi, A. (1993). Teachers’ workshops encounters with Jewish moral texts. Journal of Moral Education, 22(1), 19–30.
Shrage, B. (2007). Jewish renaissance: A broad vision for the next decade. In S. Berrin (Ed.), Ten years of believing in Jewish day school education (pp. 9–14). Boston: Partnership for Excellence in Jewish Education.
Simon, K. G. (1998). Bring it up with the Rabbi: The specialization of moral and spiritual education in a Jewish high school. Journal of Jewish Education, 64(1&2), 33–43.
Solomon, B. I. (1984). Curricular integration in the Jewish all-day school in the United States. In M. Rosenak (Ed.), Studies in Jewish Education (Vol. 2, pp. 150–174). Jerusalem: Magnes Press.
Solomon, B. I. (1989). Curriculum innovation: What Jewish education must learn from educational research. In J. Aviad (Ed.), Studies in Jewish Education (Vol. 4, pp. 63–82). Jerusalem: Magnes Press.
Syme, D. B. (1983). Reform Judaism and day schools: The great historical dilemma. Religious Education, 78(2), 153–181.
Tanchel, S. (2008). “A Judaism that does not hide”: Teaching the documentary hypothesis in a pluralistic Jewish high school. Journal of Jewish Education, 74(1), 29–52.
Tyack, D., & Tobin, W. (1994). The “grammar” of schooling: Why has it been so hard to change? American Educational Research Journal, 31(3), 453–479.
Valins, O. (2003). Defending identities or segregating communities? Faith-based schooling and the UK Jewish community. Geoforum, 34(2), 235–247.
Wasserfall, R., & Shevitz, S. L. (2006). The language of pluralism in a Jewish day school. Waltham, MA: Brandeis University.
Wertheimer, J. (1999). Who’s afraid of Jewish day schools? Commentary, 108, 49–54.
Wertheimer, J. (2001). Talking dollars and sense about Jewish education. New York: AVI CHAI Foundation.
Wessely, N. H. (1995). Words of peace and truth. In P. Mendes-Flohr & J. Reinharz (Eds.), The Jew in the modern world (pp. 70–74). New York: Oxford University Press.
Zeldin, M. (1988). The promise of historical inquiry: Nineteenth-century Jewish day schools and twentieth-century policy. Religious Education, 83(3), 438–452.
Zeldin, M. (1992). What makes the reform day school distinctive? A question of purpose and practice. In D. J. Margolis, E. S. Schoenberg (Eds.), Curriculum, community, commitment: Views on the American Jewish day school in memory of Bennett I. Solomon (pp. 67–77). West Orange, NJ: Behrman House.
Zeldin, M. (1998). Integration and interaction in the Jewish day school. In R. E. Tornberg (Ed.), The Jewish educational leader’s handbook (pp. 579–590). Denver, CO: A.R.E.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2011 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Pomson, A. (2011). Day Schools in the Liberal Sector: Challenges and Opportunities at the Intersection of Two Traditions of Jewish Schooling. In: Miller, H., Grant, L., Pomson, A. (eds) International Handbook of Jewish Education. International Handbooks of Religion and Education, vol 5. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-0354-4_40
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-0354-4_40
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-007-0353-7
Online ISBN: 978-94-007-0354-4
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and LawEducation (R0)