Rebecca Klamen English 2150

Rebecca Klamen

English 2150 Dr. Blankenship

April 28, 2016

Paper 2: Narrative Argument

 

Dear Dr. Blankenship:

The title of my paper is “The Benefits of a Dual Curriculum.” I attended a Jewish Day School with a dual curriculum- half day English, half day Hebrew. I think that there are many benefits to such a schooling system, and I would like to argue that in my paper. I had a very very difficult finding sources to back me up, but I think that I managed. At first I thought that I would focus specifically on the dual curriculum, but because I found it very hard to find sources for that, I decided to also focus on dual language, private schools in general, and religious studies. The audience I have in mind is people who may not know much about the Jewish Day School system, or even people who know of it but think of it as more detrimental than beneficial. My thesis is “Children learning in a dual curriculum are given skills that they would not have had otherwise.” I learned through my research that dual curriculum is a phrase and concept unique to Jewish Day Schools. I support my thesis using studies that show the benefits of Jewish school, of a private school, and of learning a second language at a young age. It was interesting for me to do this because it’s the only schooling I have ever known, and while I have gone back and forth in my head as to whether it’s more beneficial or detrimental, I have now come up with legitimate reasons and sources to back me up why it was beneficial.

 

The Benefits of a Dual Curriculum

 

There are numerous subjects that are universally taught- math and science and history. They are essential to one’s education, to learning about the world that we live in. Wherever you are around the world, these subjects are being taught, being learned. And wherever you are, they are almost exactly the same. Two to the third power is always eight, and although England and France may disagree as to who won the war, it’s not debatable that there was a war. But then there are things that are different- the most obvious being language. Students in India are learning Indian, students in Japan are learning Japanese. And although students in both England and the United States are both learning English, there are differences to be found between the English in England and the English in the States. There are other subjects that are dependent on the school, such as religion.

 

I grew up in a Modern-Orthodox Jewish home. From the time I was born, Hebrew was interweaved into the language. We may have been speaking English, but someone who didn’t know a word of Hebrew, or who didn’t understand the Jewish culture, would be lost listening in. I call my parents “Imma”, for the Hebrew word for mother, and “Abba” for the Hebrew word for father. As far back as I can remember, I’ve been praying from a Hebrew prayer book. Learning how to read and write English was equally important as was learning how to read and write Hebrew.

It wasn’t only in school. I went to a private Modern-Orthodox Jewish day school. I was not one of the few, it was the norm. The entire community, local and beyond, did the same. In our Jewish day schools, we not only learned the universally taught math and science and history, and the language of the country- English, but also the language of our culture- Hebrew, and many religious studies accompanying it. Since Kindergarten, the day was split into two- the morning for Hebrew studies, and the afternoon for the General studies curriculum.

It was challenging at times- I’m not going to deny that. Not that I knew anything different, but the challenge of being in school until 5 every night, of taking tests all the time because, as a middle schooler, I was taking 10 or 12 subjects, and as a high schooler, 20. Thinking in Hebrew and then hearing a bell ring and switching to English, learning Jewish history and learning world history at the same time, it’s a challenge. But more than a challenge, it’s a skill. It’s an advantage I’ve been given. Children learning in a dual curriculum are given skills that they would not have had otherwise.

 

A study analyzing the earnings of Jewish men in the workforce found that men that had attended a Jewish day school for their high school career, earned 30% more than those who did not. Looking into even more detail, for each year that the student was in a Jewish day school for their high school years, they received a pay 6% higher than those who were not. This study also proved that it was not simply the Jewish education that made the difference, for those enrolled in part time programs had no significant pay increase. It is thus arguable that it is the dual curriculum of a Jewish day school, and not simply the Jewish education that leads them to have higher earnings in the future. While it is likely that it is the long day, focus on two languages, focus on analytical thinking, and dual curriculum that led to these results, the study did not rule out that the possibility of parental income being the cause of these results.

 

An argument that is made against sending children to these Jewish day schools is that we are depriving them of being exposed to the multi-cultural world around us. While this argument is a valid one, there are other ways to expose a child other than school. We live in communities, go to stores, community events… school is not the only place to meet other people. And the children attending these Jewish day schools usually attend college afterwards- and it is rarely a strictly Jewish college.

In Baruch alone, 11% of the population is Jewish. While there are no statistics to prove the percentage of these students who went to Jewish school, according to Pew Research, 23 % of Jews in America attend Jewish Day School. I can testify personally to the fact that coming from a Jewish Day School into college, we have not been deprived. It is undeniable that there are differences in our past education and our current college education, but it’s easily adaptable. And there are benefits of Jewish Day School that do help for adapting to college- for example, the hours. College is sometimes hard for students to adapt to because of it’s long hours, but as a student who has had at least 8 hour school days her entire life, college hours aren’t too hard. The skills of being able to handle a huge workload, developing a good work ethic, and being able to properly manage your time because you’ve come home from school at 6pm and you have 18 subjects with homework in all, are all extremely beneficial for college and beyond.

 

Perhaps the biggest benefit of being in Jewish Day School is being bilingual. Alongside English grammar, students are learning Hebrew Grammar. They don’t just learn it in language class. They learn Hebrew music, and Hebrew texts. Half of their day is spent speaking, reading, and writing in Hebrew. They perform Hebrew plays and make Hebrew Mother’s Day cards. It’s not simply one subject in school, it’s truly a dual curriculum.

 

Many medical studies have shown the benefits of a child learning two languages. Studies have actually shown that when a child learns a second language, it prolongs and aids with, mental illnesses such as Alzheimer’s and dementia. A study was done in York University of Toronto, that tested 450 Alzheimer’s patients. Of the 450, half of them were bilingual, and half were not. They found that those who were bilingual were diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, on average, 4 years later than those who were not bilingual. They also found that those who were bilingual developed the symptoms for Alzheimer’s, on average, 5 years later than those who weren’t. Alzheimer’s affects a part of the brain called the Executive Control System- the most important part of your brain. Bilingual people have to exercise this part of the brain much more often than those who speak only one language. They do so to choose which word from which language to use, to keep them in two separate compartments and properly use both. Because of this, people who are bilingual prolong Alzheimer’s and it’s symptoms.

 

There has also been studies that prove that learning a second language significantly improves a child’s skills in their first language. While the grammar and use of both Hebrew and English is different, the increased focus on grammar in general arouses a child’s brain to think more carefully about the grammar of their native tongue, in this case English, and improve their usage.

Many- perhaps all children in America learn a second language at some point in their primary or-more likely-secondary education. And thus they receive these benefits as well. However, there are also studies that describe the benefits of learning a second language specifically at a young age. Children that learn a second language at a preschool age show cognitive advantages over those who don’t. They have also been shown to grasp concepts earlier, for example, the idea of object permanence. A cat is the same object- no matter if you call it a “cat” in English, a “chatul” in Hebrew, or a “paka” in swahili. It is hard for some children to grasp this concept, but learning a new language helps aid them into understanding that the thing they see in front of them is the same whether they describe it in the first or second language.

Students who learn a second language at an early age not only show increased understanding of concepts encompassing language- but also of  classic problem solving and creativity as well. Children who learn a second language at a young age have shown to do better on the MCAS, Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System, and even increasingly better on the assessment seven or eight years later.  Critics of a dual curriculum may argue that it takes away time from learning other subjects such as math, but studies actually prove that children who learn a second language, and thus take away some of the time they were to be learning math, perform better in math than those who haven’t learned a second language and are spending that extra time doing math.

 

As stated earlier, many high school students learn a second language, typically Spanish, or French, or Latin. However the benefit to learning it in a dual curriculum setting could stem from the long,continuous, contact with the language that has proven to be beneficial both to the learning of the language, and to the child in general.

 

There have been people in the past that have been worried that learning a second language interferes with a child’s attention and may give them language confusion. However, studies in the Cornell Language Acquisition Lab prove just the opposite. According to these studies, children who learn a second language mantain language regardless of other distractions, better than children who do not learn a second language.  This is an important skill in further education and in life beyond, and has been proven to have correlation with those who learn a second language.

There are some that claim that learning religious studies in school is a detriment for it teaches children to believe in “fantasy” and not be able to separate fantasy from reality. However, there are studies that show that those who learn religious subjects and therefore believe in “fictional” stories, or stories of religion that are not realistic in our day to day life, actually have creative minds that are beneficial to brain development.

 

William Jeynes, a professor of education at California State University in Long Beach, did a study that proved that students in private, religious schools performed better than those in charter schools or public schools. One possible reason used to explain the results are that faculty and teachers in religious schools encourage their students to take more rigorous classes, and more of them. Another reason given is that those in religious schools have a more positive and encouraging attitude, a “can do it” attitude as they call it. He also found even more significant differences in behavioral performance, with those in religious schools much less likely to get suspended, get into fights, or get caught with drugs. Such behavioral actions are highly correlated with academic performance as well.

 

A similar study was done in 2006 using scores from the National Assessment of Educational Processes (NAEP) scores. Researches took the scores on Reading and Math Assessments for four graders and eighth graders in private schools and public schools. The results of the research and comparison were that the private school students did significantly better in every area. For the fourth graders- the average reading score for private school students was 14.7 points higher than that of the average public school student. All of the categories had similar results. It is possible that the results were due to the fact of student characteristics that are different in the schools. After controlling for many characteristics, they found that the difference was much smaller, yet still present.

 

Students also have proven to be more proficient in understanding economics. On the National Assessment of Economic Literacy given to students in twelfth grade, 62% of private school students received above proficient scores and only 41% of public school students. This is important because economic literacy is so vital in society- from managing money, making investments, or even politics.

 

There has also been research that shows that Private School students perform better on the SATs, than public school students. The College Board, the creators and administrators of the SAT, created a benchmark score, of 1550, a combination of reading, math, and writing. This benchmark is put in place, according to the College Board, to “identify students who are likely to be ready to take college-entry, credit-bearing courses in college and not need remediation.” David Coleman, the CEO and President of the College Board, said that “For a long time, institutions like ours have been reporting that too many students aren’t ready for college.” While the national average for public school students on their SATs is 1471, which is 79 points below the benchmark, the national average for religious school students is 1597, which is 47 points above the benchmark.

 

There is also a great benefit to being connected to a culture and a community. Being in a school with people who have the same beliefs, values, and customs, helps create a self identity and identify with a greater group identity. This helps a child develop as a person and find a place in the world. Human beings have an innate need for affiliation. This is what causes us to create friendships and relationships, and to join clubs and groups. Religion is one of the major affiliations a person has, and being surrounded by a school, and a group of people that one affiliates with, fulfills this psychological need. Being around people with similar interests and values also causes less conflict, and people have stronger and better relationships. Although the saying goes “opposites attract,” one opposite that does not go with this motto is values. People want to associate and communicate with those who share similar values as them, and this is accomplished in a religious school.

Perhaps the biggest benefit to a dual curriculum education is its duality. It’s not simply learning two curriculums separate from each other, it’s learning them together, in the same day, in the same place. The mission statement of the Rudlin Torah Academy Richmond Hebrew Day School in reference to it’s dual curriculum, is “Our dual curriculum enables students to develop critical thinking skills by analyzing ancient texts, then move seamlessly to digital classrooms that foster imagination.” In a Jewish religious education, majority of the studies are focused on history, and on ancient texts. But the schools are not stuck in the past- they do this along with using the newest technology to best educate their children. As a fifth grader, I was learning a story from an ancient text, and then walking down the hall to the computer lab to make an animated video of it. This the benefit of a dual curriculum.

 

As Ramaz, a prominent Modern-Orthodox Jewish Day School on the Upper East Side of Manhattan has on their website, “The dual curriculum also provides a unique bi-cultural perspective on problem-solving and analytic methods.” It’s not only that students get the opportunity to learn Hebrew, along with religious studies, along with the general studies curriculum. It’s the ability to learn them together. A student in such a school can approach a question in so many different ways- using Jewish History, or American History, using Science, or the science that they learned in Talmud, using law according to American Law, or Jewish law. This allows for everything to become a part of your life. Religious studies are not just some rituals- it’s a way of thinking, it’s brought into every part of your life. And science and language are not just subjects in school, they are also brought into every part of your life. It also gives students the skills of being able to approach something in multiple ways. The greatest skill someone can have when problem solving is not the ability to solve it- but the ability and understanding of approaching the problem in the best way so that he/she can solve it using what he/she has, using the skills that they have, regardless if it is the classic and expected way or not.

 

I feel fortunate to have the education that I did. I can think of so many arguments that of reasons not to send a child to a school with a dual curriculum such as mine, randing from the lack of diversity to the skyscraper price. But there are scientific studies and profod to it’s benefits- studies that outweigh any previous doubts. I can approach a problem in two different ways, tell you the same thing in two different languages. Children who attend these schools attain skills, learn two languages, and come out more prepared than those who do not.

 

Abbot, Martha G., Therese Sullivan Caccavale, and Ken Stewart. “COGNITIVE BENEFITS OF LEARNING LANGUAGE.” DUKE GIFTED LETTER 8.1 (Fall 2007): n. pag. American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages. Web. 10 Apr. 2016.

 

“Baruch College.” (n.d.): n. pag. Hillel International. Web. 12 Apr. 2016.

 

Chiswick, Barry R., and Jidong Huang. “The Earnings of American Jewish Men: Human Capital, Denomination, and Religiosity.” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 47.4 (2008): 694-709. Web.

 

“Dual Curriculum.” Rudlin. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Apr. 2016.

 

“Http://www.pewforum.org/2013/10/01/chapter-3-jewish-identity/.” (n.d.): n. pag. Pew Research Center. 1 Oct. 2013. Web. 13 Apr. 2016.

 

Lang, Susan S. “Learning a Second Language Is Good Childhood Mind Medicine, Studies Find.” (n.d.): n. pag. Cornell Chronicle. Cornell University, 12 May 2009. Web. 12 Apr. 2016.

 

Moskowitz, Clara. “Learning a Second Language Protects Against Alzheimer’s.” LiveScience. TechMedia Network, 18 Feb. 2011. Web. 14 Apr. 2016.

 

“Private School Students Boost National SAT Scores.” Cape Outlook 399 (November 2014): n. pag. Web. 16 Apr. 2016.

 

“NAEP Studies – 2006461: Comparing Private Schools and Public Schools Using Hierarchical Linear Modeling.” NAEP Studies – 2006461: Comparing Private Schools and Public Schools Using Hierarchical Linear Modeling. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Apr. 2016.

 

“Study Finds Advantages for Students in Faith-Based Schools.” Cape Outlook 385 (May 2013): n. pag. Web. 18 Apr. 2016.

 

“Study: Religious Schools Perform Better Than Public, Charter Schools.” Christian Post. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Apr. 2016.

 

“The Ramaz School: Curriculum.” The Ramaz School. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Apr. 2016.