Stop slowing down, your kids are capable of more

Women are completing seven and a half years of Gemara study, one of the most difficult subjects for learning. Naama Alfasi takes the opportunity to teach parents a thing or two about setting goals, and believing in children

You can do a lot more (Photo: Reuven Castro)

Grade One Project Opening of Academic Year in Granot Rays (Photo: Reuven Castro)

This evening there is a festive event in the nation's buildings marking the end of the Talmud study for women. The Daily Page Project is a project of learning one Gemara page a day, and those who are constantly completing the entire Gemara study in seven and a half years. In recent years, women have also joined the initiative, women from all over the country are studying Talmud and expanding their knowledge of the Jewish cultural world. Learning Gemara requires perseverance and a lot of "black" work: an understanding of unfamiliar language, unfamiliar concepts and associative thinking that characterized learning in the beit midrash.

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Everything is really possible

At a time when we are engaged in making learning accessible to students in every possible way it is exciting to find that there are other people who are learning to work hard. As Minister of Education, Naftali Bennett pushed for an increase in the percentage of examinees to matriculation 5 mathematics units, at the same time, in the world of Jewish learning come out unequivocally: possible Gemara study for everyone. And, of course, you should start at an early age to acquire the skill that will allow the child access to the rich world of Jewish culture.

When we are engaged, we send a candid and obscure message to the children that says: It's big on you, it's hard. We will chew it up, wrap in exciting colorful wrappers and then bring you, because that is impossible for you. In other words, we don't trust you to cope with challenging and difficult learning. The truth is that children can learn a lot and can work hard. They will align with our expectations. When our expectations are low then they adjust to those expectations and when expectations are high they will go up and up.

Why lower the bar?

In the word expectation is not meant hope, but expectation in the sense of watching, seeing, knowing that the child wants and can. Two or three decades ago when first grade children were taught to read the expectation was clear: in Chanukah, all children in the class can read. The students did not come with prior knowledge and the great majority of them succeeded in the task. Some of the hardworkers have pulled the project up to Tu B'Shvat, and some individuals may have difficulty even until Passover. In today's first grade, the expectation is entirely different. The curriculum is structured so that only reading at the end of first grade ends and second grade begins to process and practice in order for learning to be The only thing that has changed is our expectations. Learning in school seems to us to be a tough challenge for the children and we feel sorry for them for sitting at a table and not running free in the yard. And do their homework, and feel sorry for them for studying. We forgot that kids are curious By nature, the education system does not silence their curiosity, which is what we all parents and teachers alike have stopped expecting.

Every child can learn and move forward. Every child is intrigued by its nature. Any boy and girl can learn Gemara and math without feeling like it's climbing Everest. When we stop thinking like that and exceed our expectation of the children we will discover wonderful things.