Did the eighth-grade rebbi shut my son out of high school?
Why did you torpedo our son’s chances to get into the right yeshivah?
I can’t in good conscience recommend a child to a school that isn’t the right fit.
Iwent to yeshivah in the days before “the system” had everything neatly compartmentalized: this yeshivah for alef boys, that yeshivah for the academically weak, a third for boys struggling with Yiddishkeit. My parents picked a high school for me simply for its location; two blocks away from our home meant I would be able to avoid dorming. The yeshivah catered to the academically inclined, while I was anything but. Still, I have good memories of those years. The rebbeim were dynamic and clearly loved what they did, the other bochurim in my shiur were good guys who still knew how to have a good time, and I managed to tread water for the most part while saving most of my pent-up energy for Friday afternoon ballgames.
I went to work before I got married, which my parents took in stride. “The main thing is yiras Shamayim and being a mentsch,” I remember my father saying firmly when I talked to them about leaving yeshivah. They were happy I had good friends and a solid grounding in Torah hashkafah; my career track was secondary.
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