In an earlier post I touched upon the subject of education, writing that Russian Jews of a certain age often view college as a pressure cooker for liberal propaganda. I find that, in addition to this one-sided view, many Russian Jews both old and young approach the term “liberal arts” with general skepticism, if not…
In the early days of Princeton Review, when roughly half of the test prep company’s employees were Jewish, it was often Jews vs. goyim in the annual football game. “They were taller, but we were faster,” said John Katzman, co-founder with Adam Robinson. Katzman also recalled “Talmudic” discussions on how to schedule tutoring sessions around…
The enemy, Sami Adwan believes, “is the person whose story you haven’t heard.” So, together with his American colleague, Robert Vogel, he has embarked on a mission to make sure Israeli and Palestinian school children hear each other’s stories. Adwan, a professor of education from Bethlehem University, and Vogel, from Philadelphia’s La Salle University, are…
Toward the end of his life, Apple’s visionary leader, Steve Jobs, was visited by another computer innovator, Microsoft’s Bill Gates. The conversation turned to the future of education. As related in Walter Isaacson’s recent biography of Jobs, both men agreed that computers had made surprisingly little impact on schools. “Computers and mobile devices would have…
George Washington University will launch a groundbreaking master’s degree program this fall in Jewish cultural arts, the first graduate program in the U.S. to mesh Jewish culture with management training. The Class of 2015 will include just a handful of students — perhaps 10 or fewer — but the program’s goal is audacious: to ensure…
The Class of 2012 will graduate this May with the unique distinction of having begun college when the economy first nosedived, four years ago. But as far as university career centers are concerned, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Many of them revamped their offerings at the start of the downturn, giving them four years…
When ninth-grader Shulamit Izen fought to establish a group uniting gay and straight students at her Boston-area Jewish high school in 2001, the effort seemed remarkable enough to inspire a film. “Hineini,” the 2005 documentary chronicling the young lesbian’s struggle, became a touchstone for a nascent movement encouraging openness and support for teenagers grappling with…
A group drives up to the Mount of Olives and takes in the vista below: the Old City of Jerusalem; the Dome of the Rock in the near distance; the modern city a bit farther off. An Israeli tour guide begins to explain the importance of this spot to the Jewish people. “King David,” he…
דער בעל־שׂימחה האָט יאָרן לאַנג געדינט ווי דער רעדאַקטאָר פֿונעם ייִדישן פֿאָרווערטס.
100% of profits support our journalism
