Non-Jewish teachers writing about teaching in frum schools?

amother

Aqua

Fri, Dec 21 2018, 8:38 am

Does anyone know of any writing by non-Jewish teachers describing their experience teaching in a frum school? Anything: blog posts, articles, forum posts, doesn't have to be formal.

I'm always really curious about what it is like for them and what they think about the things they observe. I realize their experiences will vary a lot from someplace like Ramaz to someplace much more right wing, small OOT school to huge school and so on.

I'm specifically interested in non-Jewish teachers. Non-frum Jewish teachers teaching general studies is a totally different perspective, which is also valuable but not what I am looking for.

amother

Ruby

Fri, Dec 21 2018, 8:40 am

when asked what was different about his experiences in public school vs jewish highschool - my brother's science teacher answered 'the kids have straighter teeth'.

amother

Brunette

Fri, Dec 21 2018, 8:44 am

if you search jewish schools and reviews from employees you'll get some responses in terms of their views on the kids behaviors. they won't necessarily be positive though....

amother

Aqua

Fri, Dec 21 2018, 8:57 am

amother wrote:

if you search jewish schools and reviews from employees you'll get some responses in terms of their views on the kids behaviors. they won't necessarily be positive though....

Thanks that was a good idea. I found two semi-descriptive ones from teachers. Most results were either irrelevant or uninformative, but I will look some more later.

Maya

Fri, Dec 21 2018, 9:08 am

oliveoil wrote:

https://www.amazon.com/Teacha-Stories-Yeshiva-Gerry-Albarelli/dp/1930180047

Yes, that one.

amother

Puce

Fri, Dec 21 2018, 9:13 am

Do you read French? There is a French-Canadian woman who taught in Belz Montreal and went on to write a novel based on her experiences.

http://www.myriambeaudoin.com/hadassa.html

amother

Aqua

Fri, Dec 21 2018, 9:13 am

oliveoil wrote:

https://www.amazon.com/Teacha-Stories-Yeshiva-Gerry-Albarelli/dp/1930180047

Thanks! That's exactly the kind of thing I'm looking for. First-person accounts.

amother

Aqua

Fri, Dec 21 2018, 9:14 am

amother wrote:

Do you read French? There is a French-Canadian woman who taught in Belz Montreal and went on to write a novel based on her experiences.

http://www.myriambeaudoin.com/hadassa.html

Sadly no, but maybe someone else will be able to enjoy your suggestion, thank you.

amother

Brunette

Fri, Dec 21 2018, 1:53 pm

aqua- that was beautiful! I'm so glad she had such a positive experience!

ILOVELIFE

Fri, Dec 21 2018, 3:25 pm

amother wrote:

Thanks! That's exactly the kind of thing I'm looking for. First-person accounts.

Please realize that he taught in the ‘80s if I recall. Much has changed since— some for the better and some for the worse but it would not reflect much of current scene

amother

Aqua

Fri, Dec 21 2018, 4:12 pm

ILOVELIFE wrote:

Please realize that he taught in the ‘80s if I recall. Much has changed since— some for the better and some for the worse but it would not reflect much of current scene

That's good to keep in mind. For what it's worth, I'm not looking to learn about the frum schools themselves as much as about how an "outsider" feels about them and reacts. If that makes sense.

amother

Ivory

Fri, Dec 21 2018, 4:54 pm

I spoke to a non-Jewish teacher that had taught public school too and had her own kids in PS.

She said the main thing she liked was the fact that the kids were not into drugs, smoking, opposite gender and garbage that most 7-8th grade kids are into.

On the other hand, when kids were chutspadik, she'd say, isn't that not a Mitzvah? Are religious kids allowed to do that?

Sometimes, I'd tell her that kids are kids and they are better behaved than the local PS. She mentioned that she never feels in danger from a student.

She loved learning about why we do things.

This is out of town, where bullying and chutzpah is rare.

amother

Seafoam

Fri, Dec 21 2018, 5:33 pm

My kids always said that their non Jewish teachers say that the frum kids are very chutzpadik. But maybe my kids didn’t hear the positive side

Ruchel

Sat, Dec 22 2018, 11:53 am

Yes, frum kids are... gasp!! kids.

But spoiled teachers should try public school - and not just the local bourgeois one - before speaking.

signed, a teacher

groisamomma

Sat, Dec 22 2018, 6:05 pm

Which publication do you write for? I want to read your article when it's done.

amother

Coral

Sat, Dec 22 2018, 7:03 pm

We once asked our non-Jewish teacher about it on the last said school. She said she used to teach in public school and that we were much better behaved.
Believe me, we were shocked because we were not well-behaved (by our standards at least) by her class.

amother

Aqua

Sat, Dec 22 2018, 7:09 pm

groisamomma wrote:

Which publication do you write for? I want to read your article when it's done.

Is this for me, the OP? I'm an attorney and on the rare occasion I write an article, it's on much more boring subject matter.

But if someone would like to run with this topic and it does become an article in a frum magazine, I would love to read it. I don't subscribe to any of them, so hopefully someone would post about it here.