This weekend I was researching public-charter schools for another class I am in and came across a very interesting few articles on the Ben Gamla Charter School in Hollywood, Florida. Before I begin to look deeper into this particular school, I will copy and paste Merrian Webster's definition of a charter school: "a tax-supported school established by a charter between a granting body (as a school board) and an outside group (as of teachers and parents) which operates the school without most local and state educational regulations so as to achieve set goals." All in all, these are public schools, meaning any American student attend.
What makes Ben Gamla extremely interesting is that it is the first bi-lingual, Hebrew-English, charter school in the country. Interesting concept, isn't it? As stated in the NYT article, Ben Gamla "is run by an Orthodox rabbi, serves kosher lunches and concentrates on teaching Hebrew." This school opened its doors (amidst great debate) last August and while it drew 80% of its students from other Miami-Dade public schools, the remaining 20% came from Jewish day schools. The stats get more interesting from here. Because the school is public, and must maintain a strict distinction between CHURCH and STATE, the school cannot report on how many of its students are Jewish. However, 37% of parents said Hebrew was their first language, 17% Spanish, 5% Russian and 5% Russian.
So many questions arise from this institution but I will begin with wondering, what implications will this have on Jewish education. For those parents who pulled their children out of Jewish day school, where they were learning about Judaism for half of their school day and spending the other half studying secular studies, was Hebrew the only reason they felt a day-school education was important? What a statement.
I should also mention that this bi-lingual charter school model is not new to the Miami area, or to American public schools at all for that matter. Newspapers closely following the installation of this institution are also paying fairly close attention to Khalil Gibran International Academy, another charter school with a focus on Arabic language and culture. Several problems arise our government takes a laissez faire approach to governing our nation's schools, for example the blurring of lines between Church and State. (And this is something we Americans take great pride in.) At the same time, Ben Gamla is allowing Jewish AND non-Jewish students the opportunity to learn Hebrew for two hours a day, and this is costing parents nothing more than the check they write out each year around April 15.
I can't help but ask, what does this mean for Miami Jews? Before opening its doors, the principal decided that after dealing with the Church and State debate, not to write the Hebrew term for "Welcome" in the entrance hall because "Bruchim Ha'ba'im" has a literal translation that roots itself in a religious context. For these Jewish students attending Ben Gamla - will they grow up making a major distinction between the Hebrew language and Judaism? With the rising costs of Jewish Day Schools, could this become the new alternative form of "Jewish" education. I also cannot refrain from thinking about the larger implications this will have on public schools in general. First off, to what degree can a public institution honestly separate Hebrew, the language of the Jewish people, from Judaism? Sure you can teach a lesson in math using Hebrew words, but there's a deeper meaning when Hebrew is used as a common tongue and I would be shocked to find someone argue otherwise. The revival of the Hebrew langauge by men like Ben Yehuda is a recent game. Before a nation declared Hebrew their language sixty years ago, it was about as practical as Latin.
This institution has spurred great debate online and I have included a few interesting links to articles and blogs where people have commented on Ben Gamla. At the end of the day, if I was raising a family in Miami, I would choose to send them to this very school, even if I had all the money in the world to afford the "best" Jewish Day school. Public school is something we Americans should take a great deal of pride in, and this statement is coming from a mut (as half of my k-12 education was spent in day school and the other half in public). There's a lot more to say here, but I certainly plan on following the progression of the Ben Gamla and the other Hebrew-English charter schools who I believe will soon follow suit.
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