Q&A: The Percentage of Secular and Sacred Studies in the Curriculum
Originally published:
This is an English translation (via GPT-5.4). Read the original Hebrew version.
The Percentage of Secular and Sacred Studies in the Curriculum
Question
Hello Rabbi,
If it were up to you, and no dispute would arise as a result of your value-based decision, what percentage of the curriculum in Jewish state education, in elementary school and in middle school and high school, would you allocate to secular studies and what percentage to sacred studies?
Thank you,
Mordechai
Answer
A strange question. What difference does it make whether a dispute would arise or not? I don’t know how to give percentages. I also don’t think there is one correct answer here—not for every student and not for every parent.
Discussion on Answer
Hello, I would appreciate the Rabbi’s response to the above clarification.
Thank you
In the end, a decision has to be made about how many hours each subject is studied—in secular state education, religious state education, and Haredi education.
I’m asking: if it were up to you, assuming there were no technical limitation such as a lack of teachers in the field, how would you divide sacred studies and secular studies?
In the end, value-based conceptions in education are measured mainly by the class schedule the child studies. If in a certain school, out of 30 weekly hours, 15 are spent on mathematics, the orientation is clear. My question is how you would propose dividing the schedule between sacred and secular studies, or according to any other categorical division—humanities/real sciences and the like.