Why Choose Jewish Day School Education?

Excerpts from Media and Magazines

"Jewish communities around the U.S. are creating new day schools even faster than they can be built. …In recent years, non-Orthodox schools have flourished. In 1965, there were 24, today, there are more than 170. By comparison, the total number of private schools has increased by a much slower 53% from 1965 to 2000, the National Center for Education Statistics shows. Non-Orthodox Jewish high schools, in particular have blossomed in the past decade, nearly tripling since 1990 from 10 to 27, with 10 more set to open by 2003.

Increasingly, Jewish parents feel that they, and consequently their children, are losing the meaning of their traditions. A 1990 report published by United Jewish Communities, said the intermarriage rate of Jews had crept above 50%. Some communities think Jewish day schools are the answer.

People realize they “can be Americans and still be passionate Jews, “ say Rabbi Yossi Prager."

Keepers of the Faith, Jewish Day Schools Spread in U. S. 
While Earlier Generations Sought To Fit In, Parents Today Want
Offspring to Observe Traditions
By Heidi J. Shrager, The Wall Street Journal, Monday, May 20, 2002

"One of the fastest growing sectors of the North American Jewish community is day school education. After generations of immigrant acculturation into American society in public school settings, a new age of Jewish re-acculturation in Jewish all-day schools is blossoming before our eyes. Whereas once Jewish day schools were viewed as a counter-cultural vehicle for educating the fervent few, today more Jewish children--from every sort of Jewish home-- are in day school than at any other time in history. For those of us who work in day school education, the energy is palpable, rich with potential, and very, very exciting.

Within the universe of Jewish day schools, Jewish community day schools are the fastest growing and most far-reaching. The community day school, by definition, is independent of any one denominational movement of Judaism (Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, Reconstructionist), open to Jewish children and their families from across the spectrum of the Jewish experience, and focused on the Jewish future. This commitment to openness is generally extended to all family structures as well: traditional two Jewish parent families, the intermarried, gay and lesbian families, and single-parent families."

Dr. Marc Kramer, Head of RAVSAK

"Some parents turn to Jewish schools in an attempt to shield their children from “sex, drugs, rock ‘n’ roll, and body piercing.” Parents who choose a private school for their children often consider Jewish schools to be just another option—that is, they are no so much interested because the schools are Jewish but because the teacher-student ratio may be better than in public school, and the children are insulated from the social pressures of a more diverse student body…”Our friends tell us we’re sheltering our kids, and to a degree we are. So What? In a Jewish school, the nerds are Jewish, the jocks are Jewish. I think of it as a cocoon, and I want my daughter to grow up to be a beautiful Jewish butterfly."

Excerpted from: Why More Parents Are Choosing Jewish Day Schools
by Rachel Blustain, Moment Magazine, February 1997