Teachers' perception of struggling students in the orthodox Jewish community

E Dovid Bak

doi:10.15761/cbhc.1000107

Abstract

This study looks at teachers’ perception of the emotional struggles of students in their classrooms within one Orthodox Jewish Community. Seventeen teachers within one school were surveyed using a 29 question Likert scale instrument. It was hypothesized that while stigma of mental illness in the Orthodox community may have decreased over time, misunderstanding of mental illness and cultural biases continue to prevent children from receiving the maximum help possible. The majority of respondents reported that between 11-20% of their students were struggling with some form of emotional/behavioral problem. Attribution was primarily linked to poor parenting, a lack of coping skills, and inborn personality rather than to bullying and abuse. These findings suggests that cultural stigma and teachers’ lack of preparedness in understanding the full range of their children’s emotional needs may be an issue for the educational system. Potential solutions would include the development, with input from school administrators, teachers and social workers, of a comprehensive teacher-training program. This intensive training would go beyond classroom management and teaching methods. Its focus would be to educate teachers in child development, and a basic understanding of child psychopathology. Further research is needed to determine if the findings of this study are reflective of the larger Orthodox Jewish community.

Highlights

With the growing awareness in the Unites States of the tremendous burden and difficulty mental illness places upon individuals, families and communities, in 1999 the Surgeon General issued its first–ever report on the nation’s mental health [1]
When people understand that mental disorders are not the result of moral failings or limited will power, but are legitimate illnesses that are responsive to specific treatments, much of the negative stereotyping may dissipate (p. 9)
Pirutinsky et al [3] found that the shift to and inclusion of medical causes as it relates to mental illness while possibly decreasing stigmatization across the United States brought about an increase among Orthodox Jews

Summary

Introduction

With the growing awareness in the Unites States of the tremendous burden and difficulty mental illness places upon individuals, families and communities, in 1999 the Surgeon General issued its first–ever report on the nation’s mental health [1]. In it the Surgeon General stated that: Stigma must be overcome. Research that will continue to yield increasingly effective treatments for mental disorders promises to be an effective antidote. When people understand that mental disorders are not the result of moral failings or limited will power, but are legitimate illnesses that are responsive to specific treatments, much of the negative stereotyping may dissipate Pirutinsky et al [3] found that the shift to and inclusion of medical causes as it relates to mental illness while possibly decreasing stigmatization across the United States brought about an increase among Orthodox Jews. As the authors noted, the nature of the study may have excluded the more traditional subgroups of Ultra-Orthodox Jews where it is possible that even higher levels of stigmatization may occur

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