NEW YORK
New York Post
Editorial
Kids in New York’s public schools aren’t learning because the education model is broken. But students in ultra-Orthodox yeshivas aren’t learning, critics charge, because they just aren’t being taught.
State law requires private and parochial schools to provide instruction “at least substantially equivalent” to that in public schools.
But last week, parents and former students claimed 39 ultra-Orthodox day schools in Brooklyn and Queens don’t provide even the most basic instruction in subjects like English, math and science.
Students between the ages of 7 and 13, they charge, get only six hours a week of English and math — and no science or history at all. English instruction for boys stops completely after age 13, leaving them lacking in basic skills and unprepared for the workforce.
Last summer, the Department of Education agreed to look into the complaints, though not with on-site inspections. Instead, it agreed to query the yeshivas and evaluate the responses.
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