Beatrice Weber wakes up most mornings afraid that her son’s Hasidic Jewish school is setting him up to fail.
Her 10-year-old, Aaron, brims with curiosity, and has told his mother that he wants to work for NASA. But his school, like other Hasidic boys’ schools in New York, teaches only cursory English and math and little science or social studies. It focuses instead on imparting the values of the fervently religious Hasidic community, which speaks Yiddish rather than English and places the study of Jewish law and prayer above all else. Recently, Weber said, Aaron’s teacher told him that the planets revolve around the Earth.
