Perhaps link here what can be worth reading?
I don't think I can link to the comments, but if you read the article online, in the top right you'll see the link to the 1.2K comments. Here are a few recent ones that try to point out deficiencies in the article:
Edy
Brooklyn 1m ago
As a product and parent of a hasidic school, and a graduate, with honors, with a bachelors degree from college, I can only say this article is terribly misleading.
If your conclusion of your research doesn't match reality, you should change your methodology.
I invite any of the readers to come visit the neighborhoods mentioned in this article.
See for yourself if these neighborhoods have the look of the most poorly educated products.
See for yourself if you are walking in the most depleted neighborhoods.
See for yourself streets full of high quality bustling commerce.
See for yourself streets empty of homeless people, drug trafficking, or hooligan street fighting.
See for yourself why every politician would brush away this article as not relevant due to the facts on the ground.
See for yourself if reality matches the conclusion of this article.
Then what is going on here?
I believe the main question that has to be asked is, what is school for?
You don't need to look long as this actual question was presented in an opinion article in this very NYT this September 1. The question had 12(!) Essays to define this very complicated question.
Now, maybe the hasidic schools fail according to one definition of School, but meet many other definitions. By that yard stick, the hasidic school system is a major success.
I firmly believe that it should be the parents to decide what the definition of School is and choose accordingly the school providing that product.
Aaron
Orange County, CA 7m ago
If they aren't teaching science, then how do they make their space lasers?
Don’t Be Dumb
New Jersey 40m ago
I am truly appalled at the ignorance displayed in the article and in the comments. There is NO Hasidic community. Grouping the many different Hasidic groups with varying ideologies and beliefs and vastly different schools diminishes the validity of the argument. While the premise of the investigation is well founded, the evidence used does not support the claims. Yes, there are some schools in Hasidic communities that don’t provide basic education and don’t meet the requirements to merit funding. However, there are also Hasidic schools that have strong academics and far outperform public schools on standardized tests (ie the regents). So portraying the poor standards of specific schools to be emblematic of all Hasidic schools as a whole is inaccurate and frankly anti-Semitic. Furthermore, the article depicted boy schools that don’t offer a secular education as not teaching anything, failing to disclose that many of these schools have a rigorous curriculum of Judaic studies (many boys receive a degree equivalent to a bachelors for Talmudic study). Additionally, the article provides examples of use of corporal punishment in Hasidic schools. One instance it gave involved the police, which declared the allegation unfounded. I’m sure with public schools too, over decades and with tens of thousands of students going through, under a dozen would come forth and claim to not receive a proper education or have a physical altercation with a teacher. Anecdotal evidence is meaningless
Biased and Anti-Semitic
NY 51m ago
This article not only marginalizes and makes biased claims about all hasidic schools, it also does not tell you about what they do learn in the schools. They are learning scripture in such an indepth level and the critical analysis of the scripture is far superior to any public school in the US. Many ultra-orthodox and Orthodox students will become lawyers, because they are educated on such complex ideas as a child and they learn to think like lawyers.
This article does not say if they gave them the testing in English or Yiddish? If you went to a Hispanic community and asked a child to preform a test in English, do you think they would pass? Would you go to a Russian speaking school and require them to speak to their students in English?
David Williams
San Diego county 2h ago
"Just one, the Lubavitch movement, encourages followers to speak English, so they can proselytize."
This is incorrect. I'm assuming here we're talking about the Chabad movement. The defintion of proseltyize is, "convert or attempt to convert (someone) from one religion, belief, or opinion to another." The key word is "convert." Chabad leaders do not try to convert anyone. They offer Jews the opportunity to be Jewish. If a gentile wants to convert, great, but it is in no way their mission.
