Would you send your non-jewish child to a jewish school?
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Anonymous
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My kids attend a lovely Jewish preschool and there are a fair number of non-Jewish kids that attend. I can tell you honestly that nobody treats the non-Jews differently at ALL. In fact, nobody really knows exactly what anybody else is. It's not like other moms ask before they decide if they want to make a playdate with your kid. Our school draws from a wide, diverse area, and even the Jewish families who attend are mostly not temple members and didn't know each other before. Plus many families at our school are interfaith and haven't totally decided what role Judaism is going to play for their kids.
Bottom line, nobody particularly knows what anyone else is. And you can't judge by their names-- these days there are plenty of Jews with last names like DeMarco, Sullivan, or Patel. Now that my oldest is done with preschool I know the families much better and I know their situations, but that hasn't changed anything. |
Anonymous
| Heck no. That would be weird. |
Anonymous
I am going to hope that this post is being intentionally absurd. I am Jew who went to church run preschools as a kid and sent my kid to a year at a local church, but also posted I would not send my kid to religious preschool if I was not that religion. If they are going to be teaching the kids about the Jewish holidays, including shabbat, I probably would not do it (but if it's less then I would-- I agree UU is not too different from where many liberal Jews are). |
Anonymous
| No. |
Anonymous
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Assuming that you are looking at preschool and not K in a day school, you need to consider a few things:
First, the school is going to follow the jewish holidays. The jewish holidays do not coincide nicely with the christian holidays. This year, spring break and easter is March 27 and Passover April 22- April 30. If you need child care, passover is going to be a pain. Jewish holidays start the night before. If you're in a synagogue, the building needs to be made ready for the influx of congregants. School usually has an early dismissal or is closed the day before a holiday to accommodate this. The logistical issue of school closings are a big factor. Second--your kid will need to follow the dietary rules--you can't send a turkey sandwich to school. And then add to that the no peanut policies that are prevalent, and lunch options take creativity. My kids ate a lot of carbs for lunches. So that takes care of the day to day considerations. The next thing to look at is who does the school serve? Yes, they state they are open to all but where do the majority of the kids come from? Are they neighborhood kids who may or may not be jewish? Or are they congregation kids? If they're neighborhood kids, you'll be fine. If they are congregation kids, it's a bit tougher. If they are congregation kids, then you want to know how many of the families attend shul. This is important because of playdates. On Sat, shul can be one big playdate. The kids hang out together during services, eat together at the oneg, and play together afterward. After shul playdates are loosely organized afterwards. Kids talk in school and if you're not at shul on Sat, your kid will be left out. If the majority of kids attending the school are congregation kids but don't really attend shul, this won't be an issue. Birthday parties---they will always occur on Sunday's. Many times they will occur on Sun mornings because if you have older kids in Sunday school, it's just easy to have a bday party with the little ones. If you are planning to attend church on Sunday mornings, that might be an issue. Synagogue based preschools will teach religion and expose the children to the torah. But at that age, it's more about judeo-christian values as a whole then religious teachings--be kind to each other, share, don't be jealous--that type of value. But of course there is the big one---the jewish kids know that Santa Claus is not real. In a synagogue preschool, amongst their own religion, it's okay to acknowledge that SC is not real. If you would have an issue with another child telling your kid that SC doesn't exist, you might want to think about that. One more thing--at our synagogue based preschool, our kids did a lot of life cycle events. Things like bring in show and tell from your naming, a picture of your parents under the chuppa, a momento from your bris, or share a story about a bar/bat mitzvah you've attended. Now---if you're talking about enrolling in the Gan at a day school and you're not jewish, I would vote that that is not a good idea. The teachings of Judaism become prominent in day school and are integrated into every part of the curriculum--secular and judiacs. I'm also not sure if any of the day schools in the area will admit a student who does not have at least one jewish parent and who's committed to raising the child jewish. |
Anonymous
| Absolutely! DS goes to church every Sunday and also attends Temple Sinai Nursery School. We are so not even remotely treated differently than anyone else, everyone has been incredibly welcoming. The only thing that has cramped our style is that weekend activities tend to be on Sunday morning, not Saturday morning (which conflicts with church) but we survive (and generally just skip church). |
Anonymous
That's ridiculous. I sent both of my non Jewish kids to Jewish preschools and never felt unwelcome or uncomfortable. If you are ok with them learning about and participating in Jewish holidays and Shabbat, then there's no reason not to send your kids there. |
Anonymous
| Maybe. My son went to a Jewish preschool for a year. Lovely school and welcoming community, but ultimately it seemed weird to have him spend so much time learning prayers and learning about holidays we don't celebrate. It's not like it's just a a little Hanukkah. It's learning about every holiday in detail and there are a lot. |
Anonymous
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I can't believe how scared most of the PPs are of Jewish people (or is it of being in the minority in any way?)
OP, if when you visit it seems like a good fit, do it! |
Anonymous
| The Jewish schools in our area have not been competitive academically with the independent (private) schools. Makes no sense to me to put your child at a disadvantage unless you are religious. |
Anonymous
| I'm Catholic and would have no problem with a Jewish day school or camp if my child wasn't bullied or ostracized. |
Anonymous
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Agnostic/cultural Christian here.
I'd be happy to send my child to a reform or conservative Jewish preschool, and have happily sent my kid to JCC camp. I probably wouldn't choose a Jewish K-12 school because the ones I have experience with spend a great deal of time on Hebrew and Judaica, which leaves less time for other subjects I value. |
Anonymous
| Op A couple of years ago my very Muslim very anti Israel friend sent her child to Jcc preschool in Rockville. No one batted an eye there and The child never felt unwelcomed. She sent him there because they live near by. She speaks fondly of JCc preschool but ultimately they left because it was a little unstructured. |
Anonymous
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Preschool at a Reform/Reconstructionist synagogue? Yes, because the social justice values that are important to my family would likely be reinforced.
Preschool at a Conservative synagogue? No Day school? No, because the options are either expensive (JPDS) or super religious around here. |
Anonymous
This is interesting to me. My kids are at JDS. The school is working to increase enrollment and one of the committees is focused on what can be done to bring more students to the school. If the school is not academically competitive with the independent private schools, then that is something that should change. My question is why do you think the jewish schools are not academically competitive? Which schools do you consider academically competitive? What do you think the differentiators are? |