“Everyone agrees an education is a basic right. It should be the same for frum children”
The Mishpacha article “Opening the Books” about school tuition was masterfully written. The article obviously resonated with so many; before the print article even came out, it was rapidly making the rounds, and was the subject of much discussion among friends and acquaintances.
Often, articulating a problem is the beginning of the solution. Yet the words I’ve heard most often from those reading the article were “hopeless,” “intractable,” and “impossible.” I don’t believe this is the case. Let me explain.
Our communities have a finite amount of available resources. We can choose collectively how to allocate and prioritize these resources. For the most part, these are not individual choices. One family cannot go it alone outfitting the kids in Target shoes and Walmart winter coats when every other child in the class is wearing Italian leather shoes and brand-name coats.
Likewise, we can hardly expect a family to make a simchah that is far below normal communal standards, or to set up a chassan and kallah with basic Ikea furniture when the standard is to pay for a $12,000 to $14,000 furniture and bedroom package. Baruch Hashem, we have beautiful organizations to help all of those who cannot afford the normal standards, but allocating those resources to these needs makes them not available for our mosdos or chinuch.
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