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from PART I - Insights from Public and General Education
IN THIS BRIEF CHAPTER I want to respond to and elaborate on a few key points made by Deborah Meier, both in the preceding chapter and in her other writings. It is an honour to do so, for Deborah has been a great inspiration both as a teacher and as a role model to very many educators, including myself.
The first point takes me back to the first time I heard Deborah speak. It was on National Public Radio, where she was being interviewed by Christopher Lydon. I ordered a copy of the tape, summarized the interview, and gave it out to my staff, because it was so profound. I recall being deeply moved, particularly by her firm belief that our children need to have much more contact with many more adults than most of them do today. As she has said in her chapter in this volume, keeping the Company of adults must be built into schooling.
What makes Deborah such a credible advocate for this belief is that, both at the Central Park East School in Harlem and at the Mission Hill School in Boston, she actually built such schools. So she herseif is proof that these kinds of school are possible, that such beliefs are not pie in the sky. Her work, then, serves as a challenge to all of us. Why more adults? Because young people need to watch adults do what they do in the real world. Young people need to have things to which they can aspire, based on the adult models they see.
Increasing adult contact for our children represents to me a vitally important principle for Jewish day schools—in general education, in the Judaic part of the programme, and in those parts of the curriculum that are integrated, that is, where general and Judaic education are blended. This contact is vitally important to the theme of this volume, for adults can and do serve as bridges connecting the school and the broader Community.
Let me offer a few brief examples. In the area of the general academic disciplines, we should be bringing in scientists, mathematicians, artists, and retired people who have had distinguished careers in various fields. Today, an increasing number of Jewish day schools in North America are locating their permanent campuses right next to assisted living or senior Citizens’ facilities.
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