A national pension plan for Jewish educational personnel will go into effect this winter, it was announced today by Philip W. Lown, president of the American Association for Jewish Education which is holding here its 19th annual meeting. The pension plan is sponsored by the Association in cooperation with other Jewish educational agencies.
In addition, a preamble to a national code of practice for Jewish religious schools has been worked out and will be submitted to school boards and community agencies for Jewish education throughout the country for consideration and adoption. The preamble, Mr. Lown said, outlines the basic responsibilities and rights of teaching staffs.
The conference heard a progress report on the National Study of Jewish Education, submitted by Drs. A. P. Schoolman and U. Z. Engelman. Two major findings were discussed: the attitudes of children attending Jewish schools, and the forms of sponsorship in Jewish education. The national study examined 11,550 children in 24 communities by means of questionnaires administered in classrooms, and the major result revealed thus far is that the children, in substantial majority, approve of, and like the Jewish schools they are attending.
The study also Indicated that the congregation-sponsored school constitutes now the predominant majority in Jewish education. In the communities studied, 85 percent of all children enrolled in Jewish schools of any type were attending schools under the auspices of Individual congregations. Reports of various phases of the work of the Association’s Committee on Teacher Education and Welfare, which observed the first anniversary of its founding, were delivered by Joseph I. Sachs of New Haven, Michael A. Stavitsky and Ned C. Litwack, both of Newark.
Dr. Judah Pilch, executive director of the Association, in discussing “The Changing Community and Its Effects on Education, ” stated that “the community’s duty is not only to give moral and financial support to individual schools, school systems or bureaus of Jewish education, but to become concerned with the quality of education that these schools provide for our children and youth. ” Dr. Pilch appealed for greater support and moral encouragement to central agencies for Jewish education and particularly to the community Hebrew schools that are now struggling for their existence.
Michael A. Stavitsky, Newark, was elected president of the Association; Sen. Herbert H. Lehman, honorary president; Philip W. Lown, Boston, chairman of the board of governors; Samuel Daroff, Philadelphia, chairman of the advisory committee and Joseph I. Sachs, New Haven, treasurer.
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