Without Comment
At a meeting of the Vaad Hanholo of Agudath Israel last (Monday) night, two senior staff members working with youth programs noted separately that they are seeing and hearing from menahelim and mechanchim that younger teens and children are learning less today than their age peers of several years back. A Rosh Yeshiva was quoted as saying 'my younger children learn so much less than my older children did'.
Whereupon an older businessmen of German Jewish derivation exclaimed excitedly "it's because of the internet!"
4 Comments:
Since the 12 & 13 year olds don't have IPods or XBoxes or DVDs or cell phones or hand held games, the old man may have something there.
When I was growing up and not frum, I had every distraction under the sun to keep from doing homework or chores. I had a TV in every bedroom of my home. I had a radio. I also had two parents who couldn't be bothered. Next time you - yes you old man - hear that your son, son-in-law or daughter, daughter-in-law would rather be honored or honoring someone for 4 hours, 4 times a week, explain again why your grandchildren are not "learning".
If the internet were the cause of our children not learning on a par with the baby boomer generation, then we should observe the same effect on teenage girls in our various Bais yakov schools as with our boys in yshivos. Fact is that today's girls are learning more quantity content as well as quality than their mothers did 30 to 40 years ago. The fault then doesn't lie with internet or TV or hand-held games. Maybe the menahalim and mechanchim of our yeshivos should rethink their curriculum content. Maybe they should offer the boys a curriculum which has both quantity and quality content as well as giving the boys a feeling of accomplishment. Throwing the fault of every chisoron on the internet definitely won't solve the problem. How about looking within ourselves for once.
giving the boys a feeling of accomplishment. OK I agree with that, boys are either Roshei Yeshivah or arbiters. There was once a middle ground and a sense of fulfillment with the middle ground.
I do agree that the quantity and quality of the Bnos Yaakov's has risen, so have the stakes it what makes a boy - a good boy. I still go back to the parent, the foundation of the family.
Yeshivos have been hounded by baalei batim for years, faulting the menahalim and mechanchim for their children's lack of midos and character. These attributes are NOT the responsibility of a yeshiva, albeit most yeshivos are doing a decent job inculcating their students with character qualities. Midos tovos and quality of character are the specific responsibilities of parents. The yeshiva'a responsibility is teaching Torah and the ideals of Yiddishkeit.
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