Talmud Torah K'Neged Kulam -- And Now Graduate School

"It is a very grave mistake to think that the enjoyment of seeing and searching can be promoted by means of coercion and a sense of duty."

- Albert Einstein

And yet that seems to be the latest tactic in an effort to motivate and focus SBMP students towards their Torah learning. In an administrative move confirmed by Rabbi Daniel Rapp, grades for students in the SBMP program will now be recorded on their official academic records that are sent to graduate schools, irrespective of whether the grades are taken for credit or not. The move, Rabbi Rapp said, is "to ensure that people took shiur seriously."

Though experts in education we most certainly are not, punitive measures designed to coerce the student body into taking up learning Torah with earnest and intensity will most certainly fail. The move will only divert students from SBMP to less demanding MYP shiurim or IBC classes. Many of these displaced students may otherwise have found their niche in the SBMP program. For those who stay in SBMP, corralling them into taking shiur for credit may force them to invest more time into studying for midterms and finals, but it will hardly inspire them towards more active and intense Torah study in their personal lives.

If the goal of the morning programs is to help its participants grow in Torah skills, interest, and passion, then coercive measure will only make students resentful, nervous, and further strained under the burden of the dual curriculum that they carry every day. Perhaps SBMP can put down its stick and borrow a carrot or two from the MYP playbook. Learning contests with tangible rewards, shiur assistants who earnestly work with each student, and subsidized shiur shabbatons and chagigas all work towards motivating and reaching out towards its participants.

More troubling than the dearth of imaginative educational leadership, however, is the process by which the new policy was implemented. Widespread confusion about the specifics of the policy has left students and administration officials alike unsure about when and how it is to be implemented. That several BMP students, rabbis and Rabbi Reiss did not even know of its existence reveals a fundamental flaw in the administrative decision-making process in SBMP and the university at large. Furthermore, this rule now applies to the spring and fall semesters of 2008. In light of the fact that the decision was never clearly announced to students well in advance of this fall, it is patently unfair to current BMP students for this policy to apply to this past semester.

Decisions such as this one, which heavily impact the way students plan and conduct their already-strained schedules, would benefit from university-wide coordination as well as effective administration-student communication. Though SBMP administrative officials may feel that the grading policies within their own program may be made unilaterally, the profound bearing it has on the students' university experience on the whole, should require that it be made through an open process, in concert with YC and SSSB officials, and with student input. Too often decisions are made within departments, programs, or individual colleges without consideration of the larger impact it has on the time-pressed student experience.

The demands on individuals can only grow so heavy before they become impossible. And the YU student is stuck carrying the load.