2008 Woodie Awards
A Teetering Balance
Avi Shteingart
Issue date: 12/27/04 Section: Opinion
"Our current economic administration proposed a $2 trillion tax cut, 43% of which will go to the wealthiest 1% of Americans!" "Our current economic administration cut programs to provide childcare to low-income families as they move from welfare to work!" "Our current economic administration cut federal spending on libraries by $39 million!" Surprisingly, these are not quotes attributed to Senator John Kerry during the pre-election Presidential debates. These were the opening lines of this year's Yeshiva College Drama Society production, Ben Younger's Boiler Room, directed by Anthony Beukas.
The production's theme is quite simple: although the young American has grown to believe that "the honor's in the dollar," the notion that money can buy happiness is false. However, I have failed to discover how the additional commentary about "our current economic administration" and politics are significant. Instead of directing the Yeshiva College Dramatics Society to perform an entertaining play, Beukas attempted to do what many other professors and teachers do everyday in Yeshiva: preach his personal convictions by exploiting a public forum available to him. As Dr. Beukas, more lovingly called "Doc," personally explained to me, since nobody thinks for themselves these days, we need others to think for us. This is especially true, he continues, within the realms of Yeshiva University where the rabbis instruct us how and what to think. Beukas therefore considers it his duty to do the thinking for the intellectually devoid, misinformed and uneducated student body.
As a first year student in Yeshiva College, I take offense to Beukas's attempt to impose his liberal agenda on the student body. I found it demeaning that he feels that the students of Yeshiva don't think for their own, that they allow others to think for them. Additionally, I was surprised that most of the students in the audience passively allowed the wonderful actors to ramble on about Beukas's personal convictions. I doubt most people even recognized the propaganda that was exhibited on stage. I have discovered that this phenomenon and flaccid attitude are commonplace on the Yeshiva campus, from the classrooms to the lecture halls. Teachers openly discuss their personal opinions without regard to the feelings, beliefs, and ideals of others. At the same time, students, many of whom do not share the same convictions, never once object to their teacher's slanted "lecturing." Maybe I'm just an energetic, idealistic young sophomore who still thinks he can save Yeshiva from the hands of the leftist rhetoric that has infiltrated most other college campuses. Or maybe I just have to learn to accept my fate and reconcile living in this slanted, liberal environment for the next two years.
The production's theme is quite simple: although the young American has grown to believe that "the honor's in the dollar," the notion that money can buy happiness is false. However, I have failed to discover how the additional commentary about "our current economic administration" and politics are significant. Instead of directing the Yeshiva College Dramatics Society to perform an entertaining play, Beukas attempted to do what many other professors and teachers do everyday in Yeshiva: preach his personal convictions by exploiting a public forum available to him. As Dr. Beukas, more lovingly called "Doc," personally explained to me, since nobody thinks for themselves these days, we need others to think for us. This is especially true, he continues, within the realms of Yeshiva University where the rabbis instruct us how and what to think. Beukas therefore considers it his duty to do the thinking for the intellectually devoid, misinformed and uneducated student body.
As a first year student in Yeshiva College, I take offense to Beukas's attempt to impose his liberal agenda on the student body. I found it demeaning that he feels that the students of Yeshiva don't think for their own, that they allow others to think for them. Additionally, I was surprised that most of the students in the audience passively allowed the wonderful actors to ramble on about Beukas's personal convictions. I doubt most people even recognized the propaganda that was exhibited on stage. I have discovered that this phenomenon and flaccid attitude are commonplace on the Yeshiva campus, from the classrooms to the lecture halls. Teachers openly discuss their personal opinions without regard to the feelings, beliefs, and ideals of others. At the same time, students, many of whom do not share the same convictions, never once object to their teacher's slanted "lecturing." Maybe I'm just an energetic, idealistic young sophomore who still thinks he can save Yeshiva from the hands of the leftist rhetoric that has infiltrated most other college campuses. Or maybe I just have to learn to accept my fate and reconcile living in this slanted, liberal environment for the next two years.