The supreme court is currently hearing a case regarding the denial of admission of a boy to the Jewish Free School (which is state funded), under the claim that the boy is not Jewish. In Judaism, a child’s religious lineage is identified through his mother’s religion, even if she has converted. However, in this particular case, the mother converted through a Masorti synagogue not recognised by the Jewish Free School (JFS), which identifies as Orthodox. The parents of the boy decided to take the school to court, and although the judges ruled in the school’s favour the first time around, the Appeals Court judges held that because Judaism was an ethnicity, and because the mother and child were practicing Jews, the denial of his admission could be classified as racism.
This case raises a lot of issues. Notably: should the state be permitted to override a religious body on who meets the criteria of a religion? While several national editorials have covered that topic already, I am interested in addressing the question of whether publicly funded institutions should be paying for specialised education and how it can manage its public role with the private nature in which faith schools are run.
First of all, many reject the idea of funding specialised schools because they don’t feel they should be paying for other people. What these people forget is that taxes are designed to do just that. Everyone puts their money into a large state pot and some of it reaches you; some of it acts as your insurance; and most of it probably goes to other people. For example, in the UK, everyone pays for the NHS. Does Healthy Girl have access to a knee surgery that she does not require? No, she does not, but does she help to pay for Unhealthy Knee Man’s surgery? Absolutely!
More importantly, however, one of the principles that many industrialised states aim to uphold is equality, and the manifestation of that principle in policy is often specified as equality of opportunity. While some like to live in the dream that identical education provides citizens of a state with equal opportunity to jobs, income or general happiness, it is becoming increasingly evident that because children have different backgrounds, different talents and different learning styles, their education must be designed to meet those unique needs. If states are genuinely committed to equality of opportunity, then it is necessary for it to fund education that will help achieve this reality for students of all types.
This particular issue must be taken past faith schools and into the larger realm of identity-focused schools, which can loosely be defined as schools that integrate a particular identity into their curriculums. Some examples might include Afrocentric schools, and LGBT schools. While many perceive Judaism to be simply a religion, many Jews (myself included) do not consider Judaism their religion, rather their ethnicity, culture and heritage. In fact, I consider myself an agnostic Jew, and I have many atheist Jewish friends. Obtaining a Jewish education can be much more of a cultural foundation than a religious education, depending on the emphasis of the individual. Having gone to a school where I saw my own heritage reflected in the curriculum, I believe this type of integration sustains the empowerment of students by valuing their histories and contributions to the world.
That being said, while I am a firm advocate for state-funded faith and identity-focused schools, I do not believe they should exist to the exclusion of others. While I do feel that my Jewish school enriched my life and increased my confidence, one thing it did not do was lend itself to critically analysing Jewish practices and dogmas, nor did it teach students about other religions. While I know nothing about the JFS’ curriculum and whether or not it focuses on living a Jewish life as part of a larger multi-ethnic community, I know my education would have been significantly enhanced if non-Jewish members of my Toronto community felt they had access to the school, and were able to challenge the Jewish status quo, and ask questions about Jewish practices.
Related posts:
- Restoring our faith in journalism
- Social engineering gone made? – 3
- Social engineering gone mad? – 1
- Social engineering gone mad? – 2
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on Monday, November 2nd, 2009 at 13:53 and is filed under Comment.
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You gotta have (the right) faith
by Talia Radcliffe on 2 Nov 2009 in Comment
The supreme court is currently hearing a case regarding the denial of admission of a boy to the Jewish Free School (which is state funded), under the claim that the boy is not Jewish. In Judaism, a child’s religious lineage is identified through his mother’s religion, even if she has converted. However, in this particular case, the mother converted through a Masorti synagogue not recognised by the Jewish Free School (JFS), which identifies as Orthodox. The parents of the boy decided to take the school to court, and although the judges ruled in the school’s favour the first time around, the Appeals Court judges held that because Judaism was an ethnicity, and because the mother and child were practicing Jews, the denial of his admission could be classified as racism.
This case raises a lot of issues. Notably: should the state be permitted to override a religious body on who meets the criteria of a religion? While several national editorials have covered that topic already, I am interested in addressing the question of whether publicly funded institutions should be paying for specialised education and how it can manage its public role with the private nature in which faith schools are run.
First of all, many reject the idea of funding specialised schools because they don’t feel they should be paying for other people. What these people forget is that taxes are designed to do just that. Everyone puts their money into a large state pot and some of it reaches you; some of it acts as your insurance; and most of it probably goes to other people. For example, in the UK, everyone pays for the NHS. Does Healthy Girl have access to a knee surgery that she does not require? No, she does not, but does she help to pay for Unhealthy Knee Man’s surgery? Absolutely!
More importantly, however, one of the principles that many industrialised states aim to uphold is equality, and the manifestation of that principle in policy is often specified as equality of opportunity. While some like to live in the dream that identical education provides citizens of a state with equal opportunity to jobs, income or general happiness, it is becoming increasingly evident that because children have different backgrounds, different talents and different learning styles, their education must be designed to meet those unique needs. If states are genuinely committed to equality of opportunity, then it is necessary for it to fund education that will help achieve this reality for students of all types.
This particular issue must be taken past faith schools and into the larger realm of identity-focused schools, which can loosely be defined as schools that integrate a particular identity into their curriculums. Some examples might include Afrocentric schools, and LGBT schools. While many perceive Judaism to be simply a religion, many Jews (myself included) do not consider Judaism their religion, rather their ethnicity, culture and heritage. In fact, I consider myself an agnostic Jew, and I have many atheist Jewish friends. Obtaining a Jewish education can be much more of a cultural foundation than a religious education, depending on the emphasis of the individual. Having gone to a school where I saw my own heritage reflected in the curriculum, I believe this type of integration sustains the empowerment of students by valuing their histories and contributions to the world.
That being said, while I am a firm advocate for state-funded faith and identity-focused schools, I do not believe they should exist to the exclusion of others. While I do feel that my Jewish school enriched my life and increased my confidence, one thing it did not do was lend itself to critically analysing Jewish practices and dogmas, nor did it teach students about other religions. While I know nothing about the JFS’ curriculum and whether or not it focuses on living a Jewish life as part of a larger multi-ethnic community, I know my education would have been significantly enhanced if non-Jewish members of my Toronto community felt they had access to the school, and were able to challenge the Jewish status quo, and ask questions about Jewish practices.
Related posts:
This entry was posted on Monday, November 2nd, 2009 at 13:53 and is filed under Comment. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.