HAS ANYONE EVER PUT THEIR CHILD IN A PUBLIC SCHOOL?

Motek

Thu, Mar 31 2005, 5:41 am

again, in the opinion of the educator I spoke to, public high school "lo ba b'cheshbon" - it is simply not an option

sometimes, when something is ruled out, it frees you to think along different lines and come up with alternatives

as far as homeschooling - if tuition would normally be paid to put the child in a yeshiva, that same money might be paid to hire someone to teach the child at home

there's a tutor being paid already, shayna said, so what if a tutor also taught him Mishnayos, halacha etc.

what about this:

http://www.yeshivaonline.com/

elisecohen

Fri, Apr 01 2005, 4:09 am

May I step in having actual experience with this? For several years I homeschooled most of my kids while sending one public school. Why? Because our community had no school that could serve the one (the one special ed Jewish program that would have accepted him cost $25,000/yr, no scholarships available, and their idea of education would have been to allow him to color while the other children learned to read). The yeshiva school with what we felt had the right hashgocho allowed our 3rd grade daughter to be beaten up and have her lunch stolen because the children tormenting her were daughters of big money donators and a yeshiva Rav. So, we wound up homeschooling very successfully (even though one of the children has mental health issues and another has a life-threatening medical condition). Last year we pulled the 7 yr old from public school to send him to the Jewish school with the "wrong" hashgocho, which has been fantastic--the child we were told would never read is reading English AND Hebrew and doing 2nd grade math. It was such a success we enrolled the others too. However, due to financial considerations (we don't have $55,000 for next year's tuition) we may homeschool again next year. Meanwhile, several special needs (autistic) boys at the school may also be homeschooled next year depending on the families' decisions.

Yosefa

Wed, Jun 15 2005, 11:20 am

I'm not encouraging public school but...

I taught a girl w/ downsyndrome who did half day in public school, and all her teachers ended up being Jewish.

My roomate a couple years ago went on and off to public school and Beis Yaakov because her dad is military. She is one of the smartest, most with it people I know. I'm sure it's combo nature and nurture, but she is incredibly well versed in Halacha and Tanach, incredibly sensitive and tznius in dress, speech and actions. She is very mature, and I guess by keeping herself out of situations that were improper, she didn't loose her innocence. Living with her was a very good influence on me.

I became observant in tenth grade and stayed in public school. It was a little harder for me because my friends saw me change. There were a lot of challenges. Through 11th grade there were times where I felt I needed to wear pants or shorter sleeves. I would sit in restaurants and have soda or icecream I also couldn't get out of gym, so when I first was becoming frum, I would have to wear shorts in the gym, but if we went to the beach with my gym class, I would be in long sleeves and a skirt. It was also hard because I couldn't go on fun trips on Shabbos.

NechamaF

Tue, Feb 14 2006, 6:33 am

Even though I see that your postings were quite a while ago, I would like to respond. I have a child in public school. My advice to all is not to worry about it and to do whatever it takes to get your child to learn. My daughter is severely hard of hearing and needed a sign language program. Actually, it is a bit more complicated than this. She both signs and talks and uses sign language for clarification and support. This is a child who did not speak until she was 5 years old. Two years ago, her language delays were so sever that her teachers predicted that she would not learn to read. Now, in the right educational environment, she has made so much progress that she is reading on a 2nd grade leve, only one year behind her chronological age!
Contrary to popular belief (which stresses the idea that children need to be all the time in a Jewish environment with Jewish peers and all Jewish influences) most Jewish values, middos and Jewish learning are products of the home anyway. My child has no issues with Yiddeschkite. She has superior Jewish middos, and a strong Jewish identity. She keeps Kosher all day long and is very responsible for herself. She wears a skirt (even for gym) and is Tzniusdik. We have her tutored in Hebrew subjects after school and teach her at home ourselves in limudei kodesh and this works out very well. It helps that her school is very diverse. It is a city school with really no one ethnic majority. They are very supportive. If you have a choice of public schools in your area, try to get your child into one that is very multicultural. You will have no problems with holidays, a different diet, language issues, etc. Also, we have found that in the Yeshiva environment, there are not many children who are "different." Often, children have not learned to be very tolerant of others and this is a problem. In public schools, on the other hand, there are many kids with different issues. It makes a big difference. My husband and I are also strong in our educational philosophy, which is that school is not supposed to be a social experience. Schools should teach children how to think critically and how to learn. If children are taught goog critical thinking skills, they will learn to take in new information, evaluate it and either discard it, or put it to good use. A frum, Jewish child will learn to do this through the lense of Torah. Basically, Judaism makes a lot of sense, from a logical, as well as an emotional perspective. If a child is really taught to think and to evaluate information, they will see this and you will not have so many concerns about their environment. It is very, very important that children with disabilities maximize their opportunities to learn, so to anyone with a child with learning issues, public school can be a great choice!

Ruchel

Thu, Apr 19 2007, 11:12 am

This thread is OLD, but I wanted to contribute anyway.

I always was and still am in the public system.
It is only recently that so many Jewish schools started opening, and many of those who existed in "my" time were not under contract with the state, which means that they delivered NO degree. Not having your baccalaureat is out of question nowadays, at least for us. So it was public school and now public uni (there is no Jewish uni in France).

I think as long as you are able to provide a Jewish education, it is problematic because it won't be as good as a teacher, but apart from that it is totally fine. OF COURSE the child needs to go to Talmud Torah every week and probably other things too, especially if you cannot provide the education. Bad influences are everywhere, at least in public school they come from non Jews, you just have to tell your child that he is different. And it is very positive that the child will not be too sheltered about it and not "fall apart" if one day he has to mix with them.

Of course there is the food problem, he has to bring his lunch at school. And you must be sure the school is good. I also do not think high school is worse,because the child is more mature and knows what is good or not good.

In my community, everyone sends to public school because the town's schools are so good. I only plan to send to Jewish school because I want a more "pushed" Jewish education, but if no school opens around it will be very inconvenient.

Maybe I am no good example LOL

but many rabbis here have studied in public schools and those who live in smaller towns definitely send their kids to public too. Most of them have been to university. This includes the Chief Rabbi of France.

ssbarnes

Mon, May 07 2007, 8:00 am

Yes, I had to enroll my children in public school for financial reasons. The three day schools I knew about all turned me down for scholarships. When I found out that there was a Lubavitch school in the area, it took me a year to get up the nerve to apply for scholarship again. They were admitted and it was wonderful.

We were transferred to a new location and the Orthodox day school gave us a similar ultimatum. I have been homeschooling for the last two years. Since my oldest is now 12, I am looking into having to send him away to board at school if we can't transfer next year.