I want to highlight what Dovie said about Authenticity and Change. The feeling that you must be authentic to your current self prevents you from changing and growing.
I also thought he was spot on with the consumer driving the tuition cost. His example of the gym is the modox version.
The yeahivish version is no one wants their child to be the class with fresh-out-of-seminary teacher. Everyone wants well trained rabbeim and as much extra services possible.
It all cost money. And I dont believe any rebbe, teacher, principal, administrator etc is getting a cushy salary.
The same way a fancy gym isn't extra for a community where every school has it.
Within the yeshivish world there are schools where the majority of teachers are fresh grads and there are others where they are well trained and experienced.
The schools with fresh grads are usually the schools with super-experienced princepals and small classes. I disagree with Dovie here. Parents want good schools that are also cheaper. Sending your kid to cheap-poor quality school is worse than a waste of money.
I also disagree with his assertion that we should accept lower quality education for lower prices.
But his point is parents are asking for high quality education for low price. That won't work. And I agree with that assessment.
His solution is lower the quality of education (that may mean an older gym or less experienced teachers or whatever). I don't agree with that although I also don't have an alternative solution. So I'll just keep paying tuition.
His answer is a bit silly, but the correct answer is for us, as a community, to rigorously study what does make a difference to a kid's education and what doesn't. My favorite topic is all the hashkafic nuances people use to discriminate between one school or another, as if the primary vector for your kids' worldview is their teachers and not their parents. There are more, and the way we'll get costs down is to shed the things that we think matter but don't.
And this, right here, is exactly why tuition is expensive: because people do, actually, want to spend the money, even as it means they're breaking their backs trying to afford it. And I'm not at all pretending for a second that I'm not making that decision too. We just need to be honest with ourselves that that's the decision we're making.
I think the "fancy gym" story is oversold. What makes a school expensive is teacher salaries, teacher benefits, administration size, and capital projects. A nicer gym is a one-time capital expense that won't meaningfully move a school's budget compared to having a minimal-quality gym.
NYC public schools lay out $37k per student. That doesn't factor in the cost of buildings, which is handled by a separate capital projects budget that runs something like $10k-$15k per student. Everyone needs to reset their intuitions about whether yeshiva tuition is expensive in the first place.
That was an amazing podcast, and yours was an amazing take.
Also, why is no one talking about the complete tragedy of a meaningful minute app? The app that copied the worst parts of social media doomscrolling behavior by hijacking your dopamine system, but with a big fat hechsher on it because it's about Torah.
at least its not as bad as KFK, but not by much...
Look into the YIMBY movement https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YIMBY. Lots of non-Jews are against arbitrary zoning restrictions too, it makes it impossible to build apartments or cheap homes in most locations. However, the Jews should still be careful not to antagonize their neighbors.
Kind of a fun court jester making fun of the too serious people. Important and Maybe even meaningful. Of course he is saying some transparently retarded things
The balhablog says my understanding of his self description was wrong and that he is Frum. Part of the routine to pretend to be off the derech which is cool and entertaining. Maybe the whole episode is ironic which would also be cool+retarded.
I want to highlight what Dovie said about Authenticity and Change. The feeling that you must be authentic to your current self prevents you from changing and growing.
I also thought he was spot on with the consumer driving the tuition cost. His example of the gym is the modox version.
The yeahivish version is no one wants their child to be the class with fresh-out-of-seminary teacher. Everyone wants well trained rabbeim and as much extra services possible.
It all cost money. And I dont believe any rebbe, teacher, principal, administrator etc is getting a cushy salary.
But that's not an extra.
The same way a fancy gym isn't extra for a community where every school has it.
Within the yeshivish world there are schools where the majority of teachers are fresh grads and there are others where they are well trained and experienced.
The schools with fresh grads are usually the schools with super-experienced princepals and small classes. I disagree with Dovie here. Parents want good schools that are also cheaper. Sending your kid to cheap-poor quality school is worse than a waste of money.
I also disagree with his assertion that we should accept lower quality education for lower prices.
But his point is parents are asking for high quality education for low price. That won't work. And I agree with that assessment.
His solution is lower the quality of education (that may mean an older gym or less experienced teachers or whatever). I don't agree with that although I also don't have an alternative solution. So I'll just keep paying tuition.
His answer is a bit silly, but the correct answer is for us, as a community, to rigorously study what does make a difference to a kid's education and what doesn't. My favorite topic is all the hashkafic nuances people use to discriminate between one school or another, as if the primary vector for your kids' worldview is their teachers and not their parents. There are more, and the way we'll get costs down is to shed the things that we think matter but don't.
Whoa...I'd be careful using the word 'silly'...
And this, right here, is exactly why tuition is expensive: because people do, actually, want to spend the money, even as it means they're breaking their backs trying to afford it. And I'm not at all pretending for a second that I'm not making that decision too. We just need to be honest with ourselves that that's the decision we're making.
One of the most difficult things for people to do is be honest with themselves.
I think the "fancy gym" story is oversold. What makes a school expensive is teacher salaries, teacher benefits, administration size, and capital projects. A nicer gym is a one-time capital expense that won't meaningfully move a school's budget compared to having a minimal-quality gym.
NYC public schools lay out $37k per student. That doesn't factor in the cost of buildings, which is handled by a separate capital projects budget that runs something like $10k-$15k per student. Everyone needs to reset their intuitions about whether yeshiva tuition is expensive in the first place.
That was an amazing podcast, and yours was an amazing take.
Also, why is no one talking about the complete tragedy of a meaningful minute app? The app that copied the worst parts of social media doomscrolling behavior by hijacking your dopamine system, but with a big fat hechsher on it because it's about Torah.
at least its not as bad as KFK, but not by much...
Just maintain zoning restrictions and will have decent relations with the neighbors. I don’t want Jackson to become another Lakewood!!
Look into the YIMBY movement https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YIMBY. Lots of non-Jews are against arbitrary zoning restrictions too, it makes it impossible to build apartments or cheap homes in most locations. However, the Jews should still be careful not to antagonize their neighbors.
See this article about Lakewood from a YIMBY https://www.newgeography.com/content/006098-the-sacred-cul-de-sac-lakewood
My thoughts: https://unsupervisedlomdus.substack.com/p/the-alleged-tuition-crisis-and-other
Kind of a fun court jester making fun of the too serious people. Important and Maybe even meaningful. Of course he is saying some transparently retarded things
The balhablog says my understanding of his self description was wrong and that he is Frum. Part of the routine to pretend to be off the derech which is cool and entertaining. Maybe the whole episode is ironic which would also be cool+retarded.
Username checks out.
He is absolutely frum. Not sure why you are spreading motze Shem ra
Oops! Didn't know this guy besides his self description. We all have to act a part and I'm glad to act mine
Hah well played