One of Many: (I see that PBA called you OOM but that becomes confusing with Oomis…) I have no pretensions about my understanding of seminary, and I have no problem explaining the limited information that my opinion is based on. I readily admit that the hashkafah and halacha that girls learn in seminary is not something that I value at all, mostly because I believe that it’s not legitimate halacha or hashkafah. I see the appeal of a ten month extended camp, and I see why it costs what it does, simply based on multiplying the cost of camp by ten; but I question its value as anything more than that. We can debate the specifics of the halacha and the hashkafah and the camp and the mechanisms through which people are induced to participate in the seminary exercise; but that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
Though seminary ends up being one of the largest “investments” (LOL) that middle class frum families make, it is not susceptible to “objective” studies because it does not purport to offer anything “objective”. And as PBA pointed out, my mother, wife and sisters all went to seminary and I saw nothing in their experiences that justified the stress and financial strain that it involved.