Dr. Chaim Y. Botwinick
I recently heard a podcast featuring a futurist whose vocation is to engage in scenario planning for major corporations and institutions.
Scenario planning, is defined as a process which was created in the 1950’s by Herman Kahn of the Rand Corporation. It was then adapted by Pierre Wack at Royal Dutch/Shell in the early 1970’s in order to manage economic uncertainty.
The purpose of scenario planning (or as some refer to it as “what-if planning”) is to provide institutions and industry with an array of future options and eventualities by analyzing current events, assumptions, trends and variables.
Unlike “predictions,” scenario planning help guide institutions plan for their future in real time and are based on empirical facts that are inspired by intellectual curiosity, creativity, wisdom, knowledge and vision.
Over the past several years, scenario planning has been complimented and supported by AI technology. This has created technologically-driven strategic planning and innovation as never before experienced in history, making this planning process more in-depth, reliable and comprehensive.
After listening to the podcast, I began thinking about the numerous ways in which scenario planning can potentially assist our community imagine or reimagine the future of our Jewish day schools and yeshivot.
This inspired me to think about the following question:
Assuming our Jewish communities had unlimited funding and resources in support of our yeshivot and day schools, what would these institutions actually look like in the future?
Despite the fact that I am not a futurist by far, I started to reflect, dream, and imagine what our Jewish day schools can in fact become in the future if the “right conditions” where to exist.
The assumptions that follow are theoretical and based on current trends. Transcending these assumptions is a vision for the future of our Jewish day school community, unencumbered by today’s fiscal and philanthropic barriers, obstacles or challenges – such as affordability sustainability or a lack of human capital.
As we know, transformative advances in history are inspired by dreams, aspirations and vision. Many of these advances were once thought to be impossible or unimaginable. Nevertheless, they emerged and evolved as a result of society’s ability to stretch its creativity and imagination and to think boldly and creatively about “what could be”, as opposed to “what is” or “what was”.
Therefore, my theoretical starting point is as follows:
Imagine if day school affordability and sustainability were no longer a significant obstacle facing our day school/yeshiva school community. And, imagine our schools focusing all of their resources and energy on curriculum innovation and creativity, enhanced student learning and academic achievement, teacher recruitment, training and retention, as well as the creation of safe and attractive state of the art physical facilities.
In addition, what would our communities look like if we offered generous tuition subsidies for families in need, increased salaries for Rabbeim and teachers, impressive compensation levels for teachers and administrators; and, the creation of philanthropic conditions whose sole purpose is not limited to reducing or eliminating budgetary school deficits, but rather to focus on supporting educational creativity, and innovation as well as successful AI-driven initiatives in both limudei kodesh and chol
It’s so hard to believe that if these scenarios came to fruition that we would not experience a far more expansive, successful and robust Jewish day school or yeshiva community, unencumbered by obstacles.
But, is this thinking truly valid? Is this necessarily the case? Or might there be other important variables, realities or factors which must first be addressed in order for school transformation to be realized?
Friends, the fact that I am even posing these questions suggests that there are indeed other obstacles, limitations, challenges and barriers which scenario planning may not or cannot necessarily address.
These may include what I refer to as the heart and the neshama (soul) of chinuch.
Educating our children is a sacred value, commitment and obligation. It is deeply anchored in our mesorah, in our heritage and in our very DNA.
In order for day school/yeshiva chinuch to grow, flourish and succeed, we must create a sense of urgency, obligation and responsibly. To be sure, as my Rosh HaYeshiva once commented….all the creative technology and educational trappings and innovations in the world may help guide us in the learning process, but they are only tools that will never substitute the profound power of “intellectual curiosity” of chavuta learning or the profoundly important close relationship and interaction between a student and a teacher.
It is therefore imperative that we view the future of our schools through this prism of reality anchored in human relationships and interaction.
The Use and Over-Reliance of (AI) in our Jewish Day Schools and Yeshivot
As we move into the future, we see how AI technology in our schools has rapidly transformed chinuch through personalized learning, automated grading, lesson planning and a host of custom tutoring and personalized learning opportunities. But, as we know, it is not the end-all or be-all.
As a teacher, school consultant and educator, I have witnessed more and more schools that use AI as a valuable tool to enhance the level of education in their respective schools.
Although it would be shortsighted to think about the future of our Jewish day schools and yeshivot in the total absence of these technological advancements, it is important to note that there are many other venues and tools at our disposal which impact upon the successful future of our day schools.
Friends, in spite of these technological innovations, and their future utility in our schools, we must be extremely careful, diligent and circumspect regarding AI impact on student learning.
Over the past several years, I have seen way too many students who are dependent upon AI technology for quick-fixes and shortcuts in their studies and assignments – whether they be for reading, book reports, essays or critical thinking.
This does not bode well for the future as it shortchanges our student’s ability and capacity to think independently, conceptualize and imagine. It also minimizes social and academic interaction and skills which are so desperately required in today’s environment.
One Final Thought
As we imagine and re-imagine the future of our Jewish day schools and yeshivot, we should remind ourselves that effective education is a dynamic teaching-learning process which is greatly dependent upon human contact, understanding, emotion and interaction.
It is important to know that our total reliance on AI technology has the potential to compromise and minimize student independent thinking, intellectual curiosity and motivation. It can also diminish the essence of chinuch and its reliance upon human interaction and the human transmission of information, knowledge and values from one generation to the next.
At the end of the day, as we imagine and re-imagine the future of our day schools and yeshivot, we should not minimize technology; but rather embrace it carefully and cautiously with maturity and balance and as an important tool in our perpetual quest for quality chinuch and the realization of our mesorah
Remember, the future is now. And what we do today, will ultimately impact our future.
About the Author:
Dr, Chaim Botwinick is a senior executive coach and an organizational consultant.
