By Rabbi Yossi Rosenblum
If you’re a parent, then chances are you’ve recently asked your child, or their teacher, what was covered in class.
But is that the most important thing to know about our children’s education? Perhaps, to use a play on words, we should rather ask about what was uncovered.
Imagine that you are a parent or teacher of a fifth grader who is 10-years-old. 20 years from now, at the age of 30, that child may remember that he learned Bava Metzia in fifth grade, or that she learned five Parshyos over the course of the year in Chumash class. But if, instead, he would remember that in 5th grade he learned how to follow to the intricate structure of a Sugya in Gemara, and she recalls learning how to identify what’s bothering Rashi, wouldn’t that be so much more valuable?
The litmus test might be that the child who only remembers what he covered during the years of his schooling may graduate without the tools to increase his knowledge, while the student who learned less Rashis but gained an understanding of how Rashi works can learn Chitas with a chayus for the rest of her life.
This brings us to a question that lies close to the heart of education: Is our goal to teach students a lot of information, topics and texts, or is more less, and less more? The answer hinges upon what the ultimate goal of education is.
A delegation from the Board of Jewish Education (BJE) once came to the Rebbe and asked for guidance on Chinuch. The Rebbe responded with an analogy: When you go hunting, you don’t shoot your arrow at where you see the animal now. Rather, you aim for where it will be by the time the arrow gets there. The nimshal as it applies to education is clear.
We would all like our children to graduate school with the skills and ability to be ehrliche and knowledgeable Jews – a big portion of which is the ability and inclination to pick up a sefer and learn. It is indisputable that exposure to a large quantity and variety of texts can build a student’s knowledge base and proficiency in Torah concepts. Covering a wide range of texts can even have the advantage of exposing students to a variety of skills. But the goals related to coverage cannot eclipse the need to build independent learners, particularly since a skill-based approach to Chinuch will ultimately enable much more learning and “coverage” than eight or twelve years of schooling can possibly allow for.
The key, then, is to approach Chinuch with its intended outcomes in mind. In Igros Kodesh, Chelek Daled, the Rebbe articulates the goal of Chinuch, quoting the Frierdiker Rebbe: “A good teacher is one who teaches his student in such a way that ultimately, the student can learn on his own, without needing the teacher.” In other words, an educator has succeeded when he has made himself unnecessary, and empowered the child to continue educating himself for a lifetime.
A final narrative from the Gemara in Bava Basra illustrates the need for an education to take responsibility for its outcomes. When Shaul failed to wipe out Amalek, only killing its male population, Dovid Hamelech confronted him. Shaul answered, “But isn’t that what it says in the Torah – Timche es z’char Amalek, you should wipe out the males of Amalek?” Dovid corrected Shaul’s pronunciation, from “z’char” to “zecher” (from a shva to a tzeireh), changing the meaning of the Posuk to “You should wipe out the memory of Amalek.” But Shaul defended himself, saying, “That’s how my teacher taught it to me.”
The Gemara continues to tell the story, referring to that teacher as עושה מלאכת ה’ ברמי-ה – doing Hashem’s work dishonestly. Tosfos asks why he earned such an epithet. Was it for teaching Shaul the wrong pronunciation?
No, answers Tosfos. This teacher certainly taught the Posuk with the correct nikud. His fault was that he never bothered to find out what Shaul heard and retained. This teacher may have taught the material correctly, but failed to take responsibility for what his pupil actually learned.
If our goal in education is coverage, than the focus is still on what the teacher is doing, instead of on the pupil. Next time your child comes home from school, ask what was “uncovered” in school that day. The kind of answer we can hope for is not only how many pesukim or pages Rebbe or Morah taught, but that I know how to learn a possuk in Chumash or a blatt Gemara so much better.
–Rabbi Yossi Rosenblum is the principal of the award-winning Yeshiva Schools in Pittsburgh, PA. He is also on the faculty of the Menachem Education Foundation (MEF), directing the Zekelman Standards Project. To find out more about what MEF does to shift the focus in schools from teaching to learning and from coverage to skills, visit MyMEF.org
..what questions did you ask in class today?.
I was lucky to have Rabbi Feldman who taught the boys how to understand what they are learning and taught them how to open a gemarah and learn. Today he is in zal and loves to learn, Thank You Rabbi Feldman ( today he is a teacher 8th grade o.t.) Lucky those boys who have him. May Hashem continue to give him kochos to be able to teach many more years and have hashpah on many more talmidim!
Go Rabbi Feldman!!!!!Much Hatzlocha!!!!!!
The most important thing to assure first is that the child LOVES learning Torah (and doing mitzvos). Without that love all the skills and knowledge in the world will be discarded in favor of what the individual is attracted to.
Once you’ve taken care of the love, you can work and skills and knowledge retention.
Question to every parent and teacher.
Do you know what will make your child LOVE what you teach?
THAT is the KEY issue.
As #7 writes, the story is in Bova Basra 22b, with Dovid Hamelech and Yoav, not with Shaul. Also, even though tosfos (interestingly without a dibur hamaschil) says that the teacher taught correctly, that is not our girsah in the gemorah. According to our girsah Yoav specifically went back to his teacher and asked him what he taught, and the teacher answered the wrong way. According to one opinion in gemorah Yoav then killed him.
Our Grandson Berel Simon was in Rabbi Levi’s class. I was amazed and grateful for the wonderful year he had doing so many hands on projects (He was so excited about The Megillah and Menorah)
“The only place we cover ground is in a cemetery”
Every caring parent and teacher must go to http://www.mastertorah.com Rabbi Pogrow’s system is the only system that I have found to work in making children into successful learners. His principle is that a student must first KNOW what he has been taught and then REMEMBER what he has learned. The only way for students to remember what they learn is by having constant DAILY chazara. I taught “skills” to my students and I felt so unsatisfied because there was no way for anyone to tell whether or not I had been successful. If they would test one of the students… Read more »
Just like The more you drive the better driver u become so too the more text you cover the the better u will be !!
Both are equally important
As a melamed for a number of years, I thinkthis article is misleading many parents and melamdim alike. I’ve observed many classes and many yeshivos in action. Today it has become the in thing to teach “skills and skills and skills.” well guess what? if you don’t practice those skills you don’t remember them! Take Gemara as an example, a rebbi teaches his class the essential skills to knowing how to read a piece of Gemara. I see this being done in every class I visit; they put so much focus on the “skill” and looking at the skill from… Read more »
I agree 100%! It is amazing to have such principals who care so deeply about the Chinuch of our children!
Keep up the great work!
Wasn’t with Shaul but with Dovid and Yoav
Gut gezugt!
Firstly, I agree 100% with all you’ve said.
The pressure to cover ground vs. teaching skills ca often come from exactly those parents who want to know what the kids have covered and how fast were moving through the text. Teaching skills is alot less measurable.
Also, there is tremendous pressure from the hanhola in most schools to move quicker, cover more ground and not “waste time”.
As a teacher I WISH I was given the space to focus on essential skills.
Rabbi Yossi Rosenblum is one of the top mechanchim in our times. Well written and explained. Thank you
these words are a re-eye opener to me its something that’s long long overdue in being addressed and something that is lacking tremendously.
people might say now doesn’t quantity (information) bring to quality don’t say that!!!!
A fantastic Rebbi that follows this principle of teaching. He succeeded in teaching his students life-long skills including (but not limited to) opening up a Gemara and understanding it on their own, safrus (the boys wrote Megillas Esther), ta’amei hamikra – my son learned how to “lein” way before his B”M, Jewish history – so important, but much forgotten in the boys’ yeshivos.
If only there were many more Rabbeim like him – and he taught in his humble manor with no fanfare and attention to himself.
Thank you (again)!
Akiva’s mother
Give a student tools and he is set for life. I wish I would have been given tools at the school I went to in the UK. Perhaps it has changed…