On Wednesday morning, Assemblyman Simcha Eichenstein and Councilman Kalman Yeger endorsed Andrew Yang in the upcoming race for NYC Mayor on the Democratic ticket. The local Jewish political leaders cited Yang’s fresh perspective and unique skill set that will be necessary to solve the city’s many problems.
At the press conference announcing their support for Yang, New York Times reporter Liam Stack asked Yang for his thoughts about the “investigation” against yeshivas who are seemingly not compliant with the city’s “substantial equivalency” standards of education.
Assemblyman Eichenstein jumped in and took to the podium with a powerful and passionate response to Stack’s question.
“I actually take issue with that question,” said Eichenstein, who pointed out that only 5 out of 275 yeshivas in New York City were actually considered underdeveloped, per NYC Department of Education’s report.
“Five out of two hundred and seventy five is a pretty good ratio,” said Assemblyman Eichenstein. “And I challenge any school system to match that.”
In contrast, Assemblyman Eichenstein quoted the shockingly dismal proficiency rates of the local School District 20 public school system, which are as low as 3% for fifth graders. “Perhaps the New York Times should do a story about that,” said Eichenstein. He also called the public schools data in his district “criminal neglect.”
Eichenstein addressed Yang as “the next Mayor of New York,” who can work to solve the problems of the city’s public school system and called out the New York Times reporter for his “disingenuous” questioning, wondering aloud if he had even read the report on Yeshiva education.
Watch full video of the exchange:
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
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13 Responses
Let’s not kid ourselves I am a chasidesh graduate and the secular education we get in the chasidesh schools is a joke there are some exceptions but the overwhelming majority do not even provide the min required . I am not bitter about it it just bothers me how we can just lie and claim otherwise.
The question by the Times reporter, as quoted in YWN’s article, is reasonable and not at all problematic. Eichenstein is either too sensitive, or wanted an opportunity to beat up The New York Times, which conservatives and frum Jews find unacceptable. You may not like their opinions, but their news is as accurate as any other news source.
He wasn’t trying to kid anyone – he was saying that whatever “joke” if an education you get, it’s better than your local public school so it’s disingenuous to chase after and fight with yeshivos…
” I am a chasidesh graduate and the secular education we get in the chasidesh schools is a joke”
So am I and my seven children. I had the highest education from all my children and have the least money. All my children bh are doing very well and I struggled all my life and bh still struggling. Nobody lies, you wrote “secular education” you don’t need a secular education to succeed you need a Gemara Kop to succeed. The secular educated work for the Gemara kep.
Yeshiva World News Moderators please remove the inaccurate and potentially very damaging post from israellakewood. Not only Yidden read this news site (DeBlasio not too long ago retweeted a YWN story). Allowing israellakewood’s inaccurate post to remain up uncontested could cause unnecessary harm and impede on the progress that our askanim have been making.
In general, people should think before they post.
@ploni almoni18 Please tell my comment is inaccurate I grew up and still in the chasidesh world for the past 42 years and I dodnt think I was misrepresenting anything. Dodnt misunderstand me I am not bitter I am bh financially very comfortable and I thank hashwm for that every day it just bothers me when people just lie and insist that our chasidesh mosdos provide a solid secular education when this is not Emes and it’s pure sheker. I know there are public schools in new york that provide a horrible education but that’s not the point.
Kudos to Simcha! I am a graduate of a Chasidisshe Yeshiva! I am willing to challenge any NUC PS student to a game of Scrabble. My classmates who were obedient in class, went on to lead quite successful lives.
israellakewood, that is the point. Who is the secular world to criticize yeshivos when in their schools they are churning out criminals by the dozen, their students fail consistently in all subjects, their teachers are teaching rap songs and gender studies that gender is “fluid” and garbage like that. The public schools do not make the grade so the fingers should be pointed at them. In addition. although the basics of the English language and math should be taught, generally a “higher” education does not mean more financial success. That’s why entitled college students are advocating for their student debt to be paid off by the government because their degrees are, for the most part, not worth two cents.
Chasidishe Mosdos do not provide adequate secular education.
Whether you can succeed without it is a different disscussion.
israellakewood is right
do not vote for him he is a librel
So many Yeshiva students don’t need a good secular education because many won’t attend college. Filling out paperwork and getting city, state and federal subsidies should be a course instead of math.
Huju, “their news is as accurate as any other news source”?! Only if you’re comparing it to such garbage as the Washington Post and CNN.
Just look at this past week, and the blatant, outright lies that the Times published about the FBI having warned Giuliani that he was being used by Russia to spread misinformation. Or go all the way back to 1939, when the then-pro-nazi NYT reported that Poland had invaded Russia!