When I was finally coaxed back into the classroom, it was for something I’d never imagined
Yeshivos can contract with LifePrep to essentially outsource a full-service secular studies department. LifePrep hires the teachers and designs the curriculum, taking the burden off the individual schools.
So where do I come in? As part of LifePrep’s goal of bringing abstract knowledge into the practical sphere, to make learning come alive, Rabbi Efroymson sought to bring in teachers who are recognized in their respective fields. So there are financial advisers and accountants teaching financial literacy and budgeting. Paramedics teach health and the human body. And as he wanted professional writers to teach English, he went around recruiting talent from the Jewish media world. “What will it take to get you?” I recall him asking. (One day I had to erase a board written by the previous teacher, a writer for Ami magazine. The boys appreciated the irony.)
I was hooked when Rabbi Efroymson described the program. Afternoon classes have long been the Achilles heel of any school, even more so in yeshivos where the morning and early afternoon are occupied by rigorous Gemara study. While secular studies in many yeshivos outdo those in public schools and are, to borrow a familiar phrase, more than substantially equivalent to whatever course load the constitutional mandate throws at them, LifePrep seeks to go the next level and make it practical for today’s students.
“Instead of teaching biology,” Rabbi Efroymson explained, “we have a health course called ‘Your Body, Health, and Life.’ It’s extremely practical. The classes are all self-contained and teach about your mouth, your nose, your eyes. We learn about what can go wrong, which medications you should take when something goes wrong. What happens when you get allergies. When we teach about the lungs we have a few classes on smoking and vaping. This is very powerful.”
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