Avi K- re setting curriculum. Yes, the secular majority is worried about the time when there will be a chareidi majority who are undereducated, and are worried that the economy and highly technical industries will collapse. To solve this, if they could get away with it, they would force a core curriculum on the Chareidi schools.
Counterargument: 1. force has never worked. Chareidi schools give varying amounts of secular subjects- just looking at the numerous chadarim in my neighborhood, it ranges from 0 to several hours a day, without any force. But if you force it, likely as not, those who now give secular studies will stop in protest.
2. I do not think that the term “mass of people who refuse to work” is accurate. Unless you define work as being in hi-tech or being a lawyer, etc. Many chareidim work- it may even be a majority- they work as educators, in kashrus, as business owners, and in many areas that service the chareidi community. There are many training courses for those who need to brush up on their skills. For those who want a job outside of the traditional chareidi job market, something funny happens. Even when qualified, suddenly no one wants to hire them. The same chilonim who are screaming that chareidim should leave Yeshiva and go to work, are the ones who don’t want to hire those who do want to work in these fields.
3. What has prevented many men from going out to work when they are no longer producing in their learning, or when they need the parnassa, is that work has been linked to army service. For the chareidi bochur/young avreich, going to the army is a spiritual non-starter. Get rid of that condition, and many more would join the workforce, as you see among chareidim in the US. I believe the Tal Law saw the fallacy in linking work to army service, after a certain age, but the Tal Law no longer exists.
4. Do you really think that the Yeshiva world will hold by exams set by the Chief Rabbinate to determine who is a talmid chochom?
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