“As for Darchei Binah, hopefully this won’t get edited – is it a serious place?”
I don’t know the answer to that question, but I am also not sure if I would be allowed to answer it online if I did.
I can tell you that I know that there are a lot of serious girls there, but I do not know whether or not they are all like that. I have no particular reason to think they are not, but I don’t know for sure (and even if I did, I’m not sure if I would be allowed to say so online).
In terms of American politics, I never heard of anyone (students or teachers) discussing American politics in seminary. I’m sure in every seminary you can find someone who is into politics, but it is usually not a major topic of discussion for seminary girls! (Note the practical absence of any females on the political threads in the CR, and probably complete absence of seminary-age females on those threads). So I really don’t think you have to worry about American political views in seminary.
Regarding M’s post, I strongly disagree! Most of the seminaries mentioned have many teachers who are very learned. First of all, they have a lot of men teachers whose background in learning does not consist of “one year of learning”. In terms of the women teachers, you can not tell how learned they are based on what is written in the brochures/websites. Most women either found ways to learn on their own or they attended institutions whose names they may not want to put down.
I know many of the women who teach in these seminaries and they are extremely learned! To name some examples – Rebbetzin David, the head of BJJ, is extremely learned. She did not even attend seminary – she had a private melamed, which is something that probably few people know and I doubt it’s written anywhere. Rebbetzin Heller, the head of B’nos Avigail, is extremely learned even though I think her official education ended after seminary. I don’t know where she got her learning from, but she got it from somewhere.
I know someone else who taught in seminaries who learned for about 10 years after high shool but doesn’t write it anywhere official.
Many seminary teachers attended Michlalah or Stern for college where they studied Limudei Kodesh for several years.
But many of the most learned women throughout Jewish history have been women who were dedicated and motivated to learning enough that they found ways to learn even without being officially enrolled in any official institution. Where did Bruriah learn for that matter?