Combining Jewish and Secular Studies in London's Orthodox Schools

Abstract

As a provider of knowledge, the parochial school has the dual function of presenting two streams of knowledge to the child. One set of knowledge emanates from society at large, while the other set comes from the ethnic religious community which operates the school. How these two system s are combined in the classroom highlights the relationship or lack of it between the ethnic community and its host society. In their studies of Orthodox Jewish schools Rubin (1972) and Bullivant (1978) found that combining Jewish and secular learning is inherently problematic. These two streams of learning are generally at odds which creates dissonance in the learning process. However in presenting their taxonomies of rationales for combining Jewish and secular studies, Levi (1983) and Solomon (1984) disagree. They hold that these two streams of learning can somehow be “harmonized” to produce a broader and more cohesive world view. Which opinion then is more correct? Which one best describes knowledge transmission in Ortho...