How Day School Prepares Your Child for High School and Beyond

Photo Credit: Milwaukee Jewish Day School

Common assumption: If my kid goes to a Jewish day school, their studies will focus more on Jewish/religious education than academics and learning and social skills. Wrong.

Yes, Jewish day school education will include Jewish education, but day schools are concerned about your children’s successful as much as you are. Equipping students with skills and knowledge is a top priority. Here are some examples of how this is happening in Jewish day schools in Milwaukee:

• Thinking: the study of Jewish texts is perfect preparation for critical thinking skills. The rabbis of the Talmud give us great examples of questioning, rethinking an argument, and structuring responses. A great example is when Bader Hillel Academy combined Torah study with project based learning in their Torah Fair.

• Problem Solving: our local day schools are working hard to bringing modern technology and approaches to Jewish education. For example, Milwaukee Jewish Day School approach to Student Owned Learning engages children with finding a problem, researching it, and then creating a solution.

• Working with Others: Jewish day school education is a perfect place to learn teamwork and cooperation through Jewish values. Yeshiva Elementary School uses an award winning Midot Curriculum to infuse their school with Jewish values.

• Confidence: The small class sizes at our local day schools make them great places for leadership development and confidence building. Many day school alumni go on to take on leadership roles in high school, college and adulthood. The annual productions at Torah Academy of Milwaukee are a great example of how day school students build confidence through the creative arts.

• Perseverance: In today’s world, one of the most important things students can learn is stick-to-it-ness. One look at the schedule (a typical school day goes from 7:30 am-10:30 at night) at Wisconsin Institute for Torah Study shows that their students learn perseverance every day.

• Grit: Students today need to learn sustained effort and interest towards long term goals. The individualized learning plans, like the Jewish Studies Program at Bader Hillel High School give students a chance to set high goals for themselves and strive to meet them.

These are just a few examples. All of our local day schools work on all of these traits! Read their websites or visit the schools to learn more.

Why Go Jewish? A day school education will prepare your child for the future! If you would like some help finding the right program for your child, contact Tzipi Altman-Shafer to talk about how you can “Go Jewish” with your family (414-963-2718 or TziporahA@MilwaukeeJewish.org).