“We are deeply uncomfortable about the [professed] link between poor English language skills and extremism, which does not appear to have any evidence base. Conflating these two issues stigmatizes parts of society in a way that can only increase the feelings of unease and marginalization of the targeted groups.…Schools should not be used as a tool for social engineering,” Friedman of the haredi Interlink organization continued. “We do not accept that independent faith schools should be branded inadequate because children have a simple and conservative understanding of family life.…"
Haredim Lash Out At British Prime Minister’s Assertion Children In Religious Schools Should Learn English To Counter Extremism
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
Haredi leaders in the UK lashed out at the British government’s decision to close a noncompliant haredi school in the Stamford Hill neighborhood of London, the Jewish News reported today.
Especially upsetting for the haredi leaders was Prime Minister David Cameron’s statement that all children in Great Britain should learn to speak, read and write the English language as a counter to extremism.
“We are deeply uncomfortable about the [professed] link between poor English language skills and extremism, which does not appear to have any evidence base. Conflating these two issues stigmatizes parts of society in a way that can only increase the feelings of unease and marginalization of the targeted groups,” Joel Friedman of the Interlink Foundation, which represents the haredi community, reportedly said.
Britain’s Department for Education ordered the 221-student illegal haredi Talmud Torah Tashbar school to close after it repeatedly failed government inspections and after Cameron made his remark about the English language. Talmud Torah Tashbar operated openly but illegally for more than four decades.
Talmud Torah Tashbar has almost no secular studies at all and students are not proficient at speaking, writing or reading English.
“Schools should not be used as a tool for social engineering,” Friedman of the haredi Interlink organization continued. “We do not accept that independent faith schools should be branded inadequate because children have a simple and conservative understanding of family life.…Many schools and early years’ settings ranked outstanding by Ofsted [the British government's schools inspection service] in the last five years have now been assessed as inadequate. We are also deeply concerned that the new requirements of schools relating to their curricula are being imposed unilaterally and sometimes unrealistically.”
The British Humanist Association, which has championed for a government crackdown on noncompliant religious schools, applauded the government’s move to close Talmud Torah Tashbar.
“We are glad the DfE has now moved to shut this school down, which after all this time is an incredibly welcome move. There are clearly many more [noncompliant religious schools] out there just like it.…Every year, every month, every week that these places are allowed to stay open, a huge number of children remain isolated, indoctrinated, and very likely abused,” a British Humanist Association spokesperson reportedly said.
British haredi students who cannot proficiently read, write or speak English are largely cut off from knowledge their rabbis do not want them to have because the media inside the British haredi community, which is primarily published in Yiddish, is under strict rabbinical control – control the rabbis cannot exert over science textbooks, largely secular publications and largely secular websites.