A member of one of my professional chat rooms reported an incident that happened to him this week. He wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry. He and his wife and three other couples went out to dinner together. They picked a local diner to eat at. Because it's summer and high schoolers are now on vacation, this particular diner hires a number of those highschoolers for various positions, although not normally as wait staff. However, the diner was busy so one of the busgirls was co-opted into taking their dinner order. She asked what everyone wanted. Two people ordered fried chicken. As she was writing down their orders she repeated them aloud: "Okay, that'll be 2 fried cluck."
One of the people who had ordered the chicken corrected her and said, "I'd like fried chicken." The busgirl replied: "Yeah, I know. You get fried cluck." Finally someone at the table asked her why she was calling it fried cluck. She answered: "Everyone knows that chickens cluck and the word is shorter to say and write then chicken is." Yes, one of those at the table is a professor of English, and I can understand why he couldn't resist saying "You know, chickens only cluck if you are a native speaker of English. In other languages they make different sounds and different words are used to represent those sounds. What if we had been non-native speakers of English? Using cluck would have told us nothing we could understand."
What was the busgirl's answer? Quite seriously she said: "Let 'em learn English!"
Yes indeed.
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Thursday, June 23, 2011
San Francisco, cut it out
To mangle a few common sayings "Necessity makes strange bedfellows." Jews and Muslims in San Francisco are joining together in common cause re the proposed ban on all circumcisions.
This is not the first time that anti-circumcision measures have been proposed here in the US. Yes, even in New York there have been those in favor of the measure who have tried to get it adopted here.
Please go to http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0611/circumcision_jews_muslims.php3 for an interesting update on the situation in San Francisco.
This is not the first time that anti-circumcision measures have been proposed here in the US. Yes, even in New York there have been those in favor of the measure who have tried to get it adopted here.
Please go to http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0611/circumcision_jews_muslims.php3 for an interesting update on the situation in San Francisco.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
School Change
While we in Klal continue to debate the high price of a yeshiva education, others here in the US frame that education debate in other terms: should the US be on a year round educational calendar.
Our standard calendar--September through June--is traditionally thought of as having been put into place when our country was a more agrarian one. Children were needed as help during the productive growing months. There is a flaw with this, however; huge swathes of our population lived in cities, in urban environments, and there wasn't any farming going on in those areas. So why did we have the long summer vacation from school?
Frederick Hess, in a WashingtonPost.com article, gives some reasons. "Summer vacation once made good sense -- back when we lived in a brawn-based economy, academic achievement
mattered less, an absence of air conditioning or modern hygiene turned crowded schools into health risks, and children had moms who were home every day.
Historian Kenneth Gold has noted that summer vacation, as we know it, was an invention of the mid-19th-century belief that "too much schooling impaired a child's and a teacher's health." Community leaders fretted that summer was a "period of epidemics, and most fruitful of diseases generally," and sought to keep children at home or send them to
the countryside.
In that era, the nation's first professional educators believed that too much schooling would exhaust both teacher and student. They thought that placid summers under parental supervision would be more beneficial than time spent in humid, crowded schools. " http://www.nayre.org/Frederick%20Hess.pdf
At present there are some two million students across 46 states that are on a YRE program--year round education. This represents about 5% of all K-12 students in the US. To my knowledge, with the exception of yeshivas of higher education (batei medrash and kollelim), there is no yeshiva that is on the YRE system. So, would there be an advantage for parents if yeshivas went to a YRE system?
First, let's look at the cost. For families where both parents work some type of summer program is a necessity, not a luxury. Someone has to have the care of those children when the parents are not home. For some parents this translates into day camp plus a care provider in the home until the parents return--cost of camp plus the cost of after camp provider. For other parents this translates into sleep away camp. The cost of day camp is highly variable; the cost of sleep away camp pretty much falls into the $3-4K range.
Now look at yeshiva school tuitions. The cost of tuition falls into the range of $10-15K per child per year, with outliers on either end. Using the $15K figure, this is $1500 per month of the 10-month school calendar year. Go to YRE and you would add $3K for the additional two months of school. That $3K is pretty much the cost of either the day camp/home provider expense or the sleep away camp expense. In other words, that YRE calendar should not really cost more than it already costs working parents who must provide childcare during the summer months, whether at some type of camp or in-home.
On the negative side, older high school children in YRE would lose the chance to make money over the summer by working in summer camps or at other jobs. In addition, those parents whose children go to summer camp now would find their summer budgets having to expand to include the cost of food for children who would now be home, for entertainment expenses when not in school, for added electricity expenses for running air conditioning in bedrooms that would be occupied for over the summer, adding back in laundry expenses that aren't there when kids are in camp etc..
There's also this: Some families do not have working mothers, and children, particularly young children, are cared for at home by the mother, with no camp being used, either by choice or by not being able to afford camps. Some parents simply cannot meet the costs of a yeshiva education as it is formulated right now. Add $3K more to the bill for YRE and you might be providing the proverbial straw that breaks the camel's back--you will be pricing these parents completely out of providing a yeshiva education. The only way such parents could hope to send their children to yeshiva would be with a hefty tuition reduction. And just where would yeshivas get the additional monies needed to provide such tuition reductions? They are in trouble now, with only a 10-month schedule, in trying to make up the deficit created by numerous parents on scholarships (in addition to poor management, excessive spending etc.).
YRE comes up every year in virtually every state. Slowly many municipalities are adding YRE schools. In addition, a high percentage of schools on YRE are charter or private schools. Many whose job it is to forecast such trends believe that YRE is where our educational system has to be heading. Would there be any benefit to Klal in adding discussion of YRE? Would YRE offer any pluses to yeshiva parents or would there be more minuses? And if YRE is where education is heading in this country then what changes are going to have to be made to the tuition structure to allow yeshiva parents to be able to pay for this education?
Our standard calendar--September through June--is traditionally thought of as having been put into place when our country was a more agrarian one. Children were needed as help during the productive growing months. There is a flaw with this, however; huge swathes of our population lived in cities, in urban environments, and there wasn't any farming going on in those areas. So why did we have the long summer vacation from school?
Frederick Hess, in a WashingtonPost.com article, gives some reasons. "Summer vacation once made good sense -- back when we lived in a brawn-based economy, academic achievement
mattered less, an absence of air conditioning or modern hygiene turned crowded schools into health risks, and children had moms who were home every day.
Historian Kenneth Gold has noted that summer vacation, as we know it, was an invention of the mid-19th-century belief that "too much schooling impaired a child's and a teacher's health." Community leaders fretted that summer was a "period of epidemics, and most fruitful of diseases generally," and sought to keep children at home or send them to
the countryside.
In that era, the nation's first professional educators believed that too much schooling would exhaust both teacher and student. They thought that placid summers under parental supervision would be more beneficial than time spent in humid, crowded schools. " http://www.nayre.org/Frederick%20Hess.pdf
At present there are some two million students across 46 states that are on a YRE program--year round education. This represents about 5% of all K-12 students in the US. To my knowledge, with the exception of yeshivas of higher education (batei medrash and kollelim), there is no yeshiva that is on the YRE system. So, would there be an advantage for parents if yeshivas went to a YRE system?
First, let's look at the cost. For families where both parents work some type of summer program is a necessity, not a luxury. Someone has to have the care of those children when the parents are not home. For some parents this translates into day camp plus a care provider in the home until the parents return--cost of camp plus the cost of after camp provider. For other parents this translates into sleep away camp. The cost of day camp is highly variable; the cost of sleep away camp pretty much falls into the $3-4K range.
Now look at yeshiva school tuitions. The cost of tuition falls into the range of $10-15K per child per year, with outliers on either end. Using the $15K figure, this is $1500 per month of the 10-month school calendar year. Go to YRE and you would add $3K for the additional two months of school. That $3K is pretty much the cost of either the day camp/home provider expense or the sleep away camp expense. In other words, that YRE calendar should not really cost more than it already costs working parents who must provide childcare during the summer months, whether at some type of camp or in-home.
On the negative side, older high school children in YRE would lose the chance to make money over the summer by working in summer camps or at other jobs. In addition, those parents whose children go to summer camp now would find their summer budgets having to expand to include the cost of food for children who would now be home, for entertainment expenses when not in school, for added electricity expenses for running air conditioning in bedrooms that would be occupied for over the summer, adding back in laundry expenses that aren't there when kids are in camp etc..
There's also this: Some families do not have working mothers, and children, particularly young children, are cared for at home by the mother, with no camp being used, either by choice or by not being able to afford camps. Some parents simply cannot meet the costs of a yeshiva education as it is formulated right now. Add $3K more to the bill for YRE and you might be providing the proverbial straw that breaks the camel's back--you will be pricing these parents completely out of providing a yeshiva education. The only way such parents could hope to send their children to yeshiva would be with a hefty tuition reduction. And just where would yeshivas get the additional monies needed to provide such tuition reductions? They are in trouble now, with only a 10-month schedule, in trying to make up the deficit created by numerous parents on scholarships (in addition to poor management, excessive spending etc.).
YRE comes up every year in virtually every state. Slowly many municipalities are adding YRE schools. In addition, a high percentage of schools on YRE are charter or private schools. Many whose job it is to forecast such trends believe that YRE is where our educational system has to be heading. Would there be any benefit to Klal in adding discussion of YRE? Would YRE offer any pluses to yeshiva parents or would there be more minuses? And if YRE is where education is heading in this country then what changes are going to have to be made to the tuition structure to allow yeshiva parents to be able to pay for this education?
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
A Shared Summer #1
For the fourth year in a row I made plans for an absolutely free summer--a time to take care of whatever I wanted to take care of and to do whatever I wanted to do (except for my summer job, of course). Sigh. As the saying goes, the best laid plans of mice and men oft go astray. Not going to have all that free time to develop postings for the blog, or for anything too much else for that matter. My mother is having surgery next week and that will take a lot of my time, as it should.
So, I came up with one way to keep the blog regular--shared information. Once a week on Tuesdays I'll be putting up a topic and asking my readers to share resources relating to that topic. They can be online, print or "real world" resources. Please don't just pick a random Internet site to post--make it sites or sources that you personally have found useful or informative. Just to get you started thinking ahead, what sites/places--whether informational or actual sales sites--have you found that make shopping easier/safer/cheaper and that have reliable information?
Just to get this started, I'm posting links to some prior posting on good reading matter for kids (and for adults too in some cases). Feel free to add any works/sites you've read/used that you think others would also enjoy.
http://conversationsinklal.blogspot.com/2008/07/online-reading-treasure-trove-for-young.html
http://conversationsinklal.blogspot.com/2008/07/some-recommended-books-for-reading-part_15.html
http://conversationsinklal.blogspot.com/2008/07/another-great-find-for-childrens.html
http://conversationsinklal.blogspot.com/2008/09/and-yet-another-site-for-childrens.html
So, I came up with one way to keep the blog regular--shared information. Once a week on Tuesdays I'll be putting up a topic and asking my readers to share resources relating to that topic. They can be online, print or "real world" resources. Please don't just pick a random Internet site to post--make it sites or sources that you personally have found useful or informative. Just to get you started thinking ahead, what sites/places--whether informational or actual sales sites--have you found that make shopping easier/safer/cheaper and that have reliable information?
Just to get this started, I'm posting links to some prior posting on good reading matter for kids (and for adults too in some cases). Feel free to add any works/sites you've read/used that you think others would also enjoy.
http://conversationsinklal.blogspot.com/2008/07/online-reading-treasure-trove-for-young.html
http://conversationsinklal.blogspot.com/2008/07/some-recommended-books-for-reading-part_15.html
http://conversationsinklal.blogspot.com/2008/07/another-great-find-for-childrens.html
http://conversationsinklal.blogspot.com/2008/09/and-yet-another-site-for-childrens.html
Monday, June 20, 2011
Daytime Programming
Note: I've been thinking about the present and upcoming "senior problem," and what follows are some practical suggestions that could be put into place now.
Back when my children were very little PTA functions for their schools were held during daytime hours. Most of the women back then were not working full time or had the types of schedules that made daytime programs acceptable. Today the reverse is true: school programs are held in the evenings or there would be almost noone in attendance.
However, the need for daytime programming is once again arising. Those who are in our older generations, who are no longer working, have those daylight hours available and yes, many need something to fill those hours with.
Not every community has a free-standing senior center, specifically set up to meet the needs of seniors. Nor is it necessary for every community to go to the added expense of building such a center. There are already buildings available that could house such senior programs. For one thing, shuls could do so. Most shuls not only have meeting space available but also kitchen facilities so that some kind of food offering during the day could be made. In larger communities with multiple shuls it would be possible to share such programming responsibilities, so that Shul A offers Monday's programs, Shul B offers Tuesday's programs, Shul C offers Wednesday's programs, Shul D offers Thursday's programs and Shul E offers Friday's programs. Or certain shuls could offer morning programs and other shuls could offer afternoon programs. Or certain shuls could offer programming appealing to men and other shuls could offer programming appealing to women. In short, the possibilities are really endless as to how shuls could be involved in providing activities for seniors.
Now let's look at schools--they, too, could be involved in programming for seniors, whether once a week or more often. And yes, I mean during the daytime hours. Most schools offer a lunch program to their students--and the amount of food that has been paid for that gets thrown out is horrible. Schools get government subsidies and supplies for their lunch programs. Why not invite seniors down to the school at a lunchtime hour, offering either a free or $2 lunch? The kitchen is open and working, the food is there and a few tables of seniors sitting in "their" section of the lunchroom isn't a space problem for most schools. Even if space might be an issue, hold the senior luncheons right after the last class has eaten. It would give seniors someplace to go for a meal and company to converse with.
What's more, with the variety of staff available in a school there would be any number of people available to perhaps give an interesting "shmooze" during lunch. For example, a school librarian could certainly run a book club meeting during or right after the lunch. Any number of people in a school who could give a series of small workshops or classes to seniors, such as on how to use X on their computers. And some of the specialized assemblies that schools hold for their students--such as speakers or programs for Yom Ha'Atzmaut--might also be enjoyed by seniors. School lunchrooms and auditoriums stay empty for most of the day, and these facilities could certainly be put to use for senior programming.
Oh yes, and there is this: just because you are older doesn't mean you suddenly stop being interested in learning about something. Surely in a school, of all places, there would be people available who could give interesting lectures on topics of interest to these seniors. Many schools have chesed programs that include visiting the elderly in their places of residence--reverse that and have the elders come visit the students in their "place of residence." [Note: and if anyone should be wondering why schools, of all places, should be offering these types of services, kindly remember that it is precisely these seniors who once provided the money and manpower to build the schools--what goes around comes around.]
Another thought on daytime programming: get the medical community involved. Seniors have questions and concerns about medical issues that they might experience in the years to come. The rules change about what constitutes proper nutrition when you get older. Drug interactions change as you age and/or start taking more types of medications. Safety issues may change. With the number of professionals involved in the health care field it is more than possible to schedule and provide a wide variety of programs and activities that would both appeal to seniors and be instructive for them. And again, shuls and schools could provide the space for such activities.
And then there are the seniors themselves: thousands of people with skills and interests and specialties that could provide an interesting daytime event or activity for others to join in with. One of the problems for seniors who don't have the same energy they once had and who don't run around as frenetically as they once may have done is that they can spend far too much time alone, not seeing other people for days on end. They miss face to face conversation. Provide them with a facility and some basic services and let them input what they want to do there. Some just want a chance to see others, eat a meal and have some conversation. Others would welcome hearing one of their own talk about topics that are of mutual interest. Others have interests they'd like to pursue but need some help with the practicalities of pursuing them. Talk to the seniors! Find out how together you can offer programs they'd like to participate in.
Back when my children were very little PTA functions for their schools were held during daytime hours. Most of the women back then were not working full time or had the types of schedules that made daytime programs acceptable. Today the reverse is true: school programs are held in the evenings or there would be almost noone in attendance.
However, the need for daytime programming is once again arising. Those who are in our older generations, who are no longer working, have those daylight hours available and yes, many need something to fill those hours with.
Not every community has a free-standing senior center, specifically set up to meet the needs of seniors. Nor is it necessary for every community to go to the added expense of building such a center. There are already buildings available that could house such senior programs. For one thing, shuls could do so. Most shuls not only have meeting space available but also kitchen facilities so that some kind of food offering during the day could be made. In larger communities with multiple shuls it would be possible to share such programming responsibilities, so that Shul A offers Monday's programs, Shul B offers Tuesday's programs, Shul C offers Wednesday's programs, Shul D offers Thursday's programs and Shul E offers Friday's programs. Or certain shuls could offer morning programs and other shuls could offer afternoon programs. Or certain shuls could offer programming appealing to men and other shuls could offer programming appealing to women. In short, the possibilities are really endless as to how shuls could be involved in providing activities for seniors.
Now let's look at schools--they, too, could be involved in programming for seniors, whether once a week or more often. And yes, I mean during the daytime hours. Most schools offer a lunch program to their students--and the amount of food that has been paid for that gets thrown out is horrible. Schools get government subsidies and supplies for their lunch programs. Why not invite seniors down to the school at a lunchtime hour, offering either a free or $2 lunch? The kitchen is open and working, the food is there and a few tables of seniors sitting in "their" section of the lunchroom isn't a space problem for most schools. Even if space might be an issue, hold the senior luncheons right after the last class has eaten. It would give seniors someplace to go for a meal and company to converse with.
What's more, with the variety of staff available in a school there would be any number of people available to perhaps give an interesting "shmooze" during lunch. For example, a school librarian could certainly run a book club meeting during or right after the lunch. Any number of people in a school who could give a series of small workshops or classes to seniors, such as on how to use X on their computers. And some of the specialized assemblies that schools hold for their students--such as speakers or programs for Yom Ha'Atzmaut--might also be enjoyed by seniors. School lunchrooms and auditoriums stay empty for most of the day, and these facilities could certainly be put to use for senior programming.
Oh yes, and there is this: just because you are older doesn't mean you suddenly stop being interested in learning about something. Surely in a school, of all places, there would be people available who could give interesting lectures on topics of interest to these seniors. Many schools have chesed programs that include visiting the elderly in their places of residence--reverse that and have the elders come visit the students in their "place of residence." [Note: and if anyone should be wondering why schools, of all places, should be offering these types of services, kindly remember that it is precisely these seniors who once provided the money and manpower to build the schools--what goes around comes around.]
Another thought on daytime programming: get the medical community involved. Seniors have questions and concerns about medical issues that they might experience in the years to come. The rules change about what constitutes proper nutrition when you get older. Drug interactions change as you age and/or start taking more types of medications. Safety issues may change. With the number of professionals involved in the health care field it is more than possible to schedule and provide a wide variety of programs and activities that would both appeal to seniors and be instructive for them. And again, shuls and schools could provide the space for such activities.
And then there are the seniors themselves: thousands of people with skills and interests and specialties that could provide an interesting daytime event or activity for others to join in with. One of the problems for seniors who don't have the same energy they once had and who don't run around as frenetically as they once may have done is that they can spend far too much time alone, not seeing other people for days on end. They miss face to face conversation. Provide them with a facility and some basic services and let them input what they want to do there. Some just want a chance to see others, eat a meal and have some conversation. Others would welcome hearing one of their own talk about topics that are of mutual interest. Others have interests they'd like to pursue but need some help with the practicalities of pursuing them. Talk to the seniors! Find out how together you can offer programs they'd like to participate in.
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Words to Ponder
So often we look at others both for the source for and the blame for the absence of happiness.
"Happiness depends upon ourselves."
Aristotle
"Happiness depends upon ourselves."
Aristotle
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
When All Else Fails to Delight
Early, early in the morning with the sun as yet not high and bright in the sky. There's a stillness in the yard broken only here and there with the faint stirring of a leaf. The creatures of the outside take full opportunity of the shade still present to start their busy days before the sun beats down.
Bees busy gathering nectar from the waving flower heads, bouncing from blossom to blossom in a rhythm uniquely their own. In the corner of the yard a hummingbird hovers over a plant we put in precisely for its delight. Forward and backwards it flies, stopping to take a refreshing sip here and there. Our blue jays are out for an early morning stroll, perambulating around the grass like guests at a smorgasbord. Every few feet they stop to sample a morsel. Last year brought us a new treat: we have a chipmunk family in residence. They are a delight to watch as they hurry across the patio on their way to gather up the bounty available to them in the yard. Occasionally one of them will stop for a second by the sliding door and give me a quizzical look. It's a time for fancy, and I imagine that chipmunk wondering as to what kind of creature has been locked into that glass box he passes.
Early morning, when all things for this day are still possible, when enthusiasm begins to build, when I can face anything and do anything. If my outside creatures can face the day with enthusiasm then how can I do any less? I head upstairs to begin my day officially and the sound of birdsong lends ease to my steps. No better way to start the day than this.
Bees busy gathering nectar from the waving flower heads, bouncing from blossom to blossom in a rhythm uniquely their own. In the corner of the yard a hummingbird hovers over a plant we put in precisely for its delight. Forward and backwards it flies, stopping to take a refreshing sip here and there. Our blue jays are out for an early morning stroll, perambulating around the grass like guests at a smorgasbord. Every few feet they stop to sample a morsel. Last year brought us a new treat: we have a chipmunk family in residence. They are a delight to watch as they hurry across the patio on their way to gather up the bounty available to them in the yard. Occasionally one of them will stop for a second by the sliding door and give me a quizzical look. It's a time for fancy, and I imagine that chipmunk wondering as to what kind of creature has been locked into that glass box he passes.
Early morning, when all things for this day are still possible, when enthusiasm begins to build, when I can face anything and do anything. If my outside creatures can face the day with enthusiasm then how can I do any less? I head upstairs to begin my day officially and the sound of birdsong lends ease to my steps. No better way to start the day than this.
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