2008 Woodie Awards
ASC, YC Faculty Shake Up Jewish Studies
Issue date: 8/31/05 Section: Editorials/Op-Ed
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At the end of last semester, the Yeshiva College faculty approved an Academic Standards Committee ruling (see front page story, "IBC Loophole Abolished by YC Faculty") which stipulated that students enrolled in YC must show 20 credits worth of academic Jewish Studies courses on their transcripts in order to graduate; students enrolled in the Isaac Breuer College for their entire matriculations suffice with 18 Jewish Studies credits. The decision primarily affects YC students who, in the past, have transferred from the Mazer Yeshiva and Stone Beit Midrash programs to IBC in order to discharge the course distribution requirements mandated heretofore by YC. Under the new policy, ACS has shifted the focus of the Jewish Studies requirement from the number of courses students must complete to the number of credits they must accrue.
One byproduct of the ruling is that more students will take the superior Jewish Studies courses offered in YC as opposed to their less challenging counterparts in IBC. By insisting that students tally a specific number of credits rather than simply fulfill a distribution requirement in an academic structure in which YC credits (two or three credits per course), by definition, can be accumulated more quickly than IBC credits (only up to three a semester), the faculty correctly assumes that most students will opt for the quicker solution: YC. This seems to be precisely what the administration desires. Since YC offers more sophisticated, rigorous Jewish Studies courses than IBC, it is only natural that administrators currently prefer the former for students capable of that instruction, while they prefer the latter for students with less of an advanced background.
This, of course, begs the question: Is the YC faculty right-should most students be diverted from IBC so as to prioritize their Jewish Studies education?
In a word, yes. The faculty has taken one step toward ensuring that a second-class education never becomes the ideal scenario at Yeshiva. While some students might question the prospect of being "forced" to take more rigorous courses, and in particular, may wonder about the relevance of a discipline that is quite often strictly academic, Yeshiva must not shortchange the interaction between its two prized ideals, Torah and Madda. Quite literally, academic Jewish Studies comprises the very essence of these ideals, incorporating the "best of both worlds" toward a scientific end. Too often, students at Yeshiva see Jewish Studies myopically, insisting upon the traditional fabric of the Beit Midrash; perhaps because of previous lack of exposure, they consider the modern approach markedly inferior. To counteract this mentality, the administration should, as a general approach, continue to promote the confrontation between the Beit Midrash and the Academy so as to provoke critical thought on the part of students.
At the same time, what message does the ruling, which clearly places IBC and YC on different planes, send to IBC students who feel comfortable with the level of instruction offered in IBC, but would not feel the same way in YC? Perhaps more than a message just to IBC students, YC has, intentionally or otherwise, actually sent a message to the entire student body: this curriculum needs fixing. Indeed, the IBC leadership has allowed the gradual dilapidation of the curriculum's standards for far too long; it is high time that that change. By acting to ensure that IBC receives a permanent cadre of students, rather than a revolving-door of MYP/BMP transfers, the YC faculty has taken one step in the right direction.
One byproduct of the ruling is that more students will take the superior Jewish Studies courses offered in YC as opposed to their less challenging counterparts in IBC. By insisting that students tally a specific number of credits rather than simply fulfill a distribution requirement in an academic structure in which YC credits (two or three credits per course), by definition, can be accumulated more quickly than IBC credits (only up to three a semester), the faculty correctly assumes that most students will opt for the quicker solution: YC. This seems to be precisely what the administration desires. Since YC offers more sophisticated, rigorous Jewish Studies courses than IBC, it is only natural that administrators currently prefer the former for students capable of that instruction, while they prefer the latter for students with less of an advanced background.
This, of course, begs the question: Is the YC faculty right-should most students be diverted from IBC so as to prioritize their Jewish Studies education?
In a word, yes. The faculty has taken one step toward ensuring that a second-class education never becomes the ideal scenario at Yeshiva. While some students might question the prospect of being "forced" to take more rigorous courses, and in particular, may wonder about the relevance of a discipline that is quite often strictly academic, Yeshiva must not shortchange the interaction between its two prized ideals, Torah and Madda. Quite literally, academic Jewish Studies comprises the very essence of these ideals, incorporating the "best of both worlds" toward a scientific end. Too often, students at Yeshiva see Jewish Studies myopically, insisting upon the traditional fabric of the Beit Midrash; perhaps because of previous lack of exposure, they consider the modern approach markedly inferior. To counteract this mentality, the administration should, as a general approach, continue to promote the confrontation between the Beit Midrash and the Academy so as to provoke critical thought on the part of students.
At the same time, what message does the ruling, which clearly places IBC and YC on different planes, send to IBC students who feel comfortable with the level of instruction offered in IBC, but would not feel the same way in YC? Perhaps more than a message just to IBC students, YC has, intentionally or otherwise, actually sent a message to the entire student body: this curriculum needs fixing. Indeed, the IBC leadership has allowed the gradual dilapidation of the curriculum's standards for far too long; it is high time that that change. By acting to ensure that IBC receives a permanent cadre of students, rather than a revolving-door of MYP/BMP transfers, the YC faculty has taken one step in the right direction.