American Jewish History Of Traditional Education

American Jews have become an important group in current American society. During 350 years immigration to the United States, they have not only integrated into the mainstream of American society successfully as well as having made great achievements in the political, economical and cultural fields; meanwhile they well preserved their own ethnic characteristics. In this process, a great variety of factors contribute to the Jews' success, especially the Jewish traditional education. Traditional education of American Jews has diverted from the family education to the synagogue education and later to the school education of community in the course of its development. Each stage has its own characteristics. In this thesis, the process of development of American Jewish traditional education is discussed using literature review from the perspectives of historical development. American Jews' traditional education practices can be reference for the development of ethnic education in China .This paper starts from American Jews' immigration to the United States, and is divided into five parts concerning the traditional education of American Jews During the colonial period, the early period of nation's foundation and development, the period from 1881 to 1924 as well as the period of after 1924. During the colonial period, traditional education of American Jews is mainly carried out at home where parents assume the responsibilities to educate their children. The contents of family education include religious knowledge, ethics and life skills. Traditional education of this period is characterized by attaching great importance to the study of knowledge and skill training, emphasizing moral education, religious education and vocational education with simple teaching method. In the period of initial foundation and development of America, the traditional education of American Jews is beyond family education. Meanwhile, synagogue education and school education in community came into being. The schools emerged during this period were the Portuguese Jewish school, German Jewish congregational day (parochial) schools, Private Jewish boarding schools, the Jewish Sunday Schools and Jewish "Mission Schools" and so on. These schools make up for the lack of family education. To some extent, they meet the needs of American Jews for traditional education. It's a very important period from 1881 to 1924 in which a large number of Eastern European Jews immigrated to the United States. Eastern European Jews set up Oriental Jewish schools, Talmud Torahs and Yeshivas as three-tier schools with a low-to-high level to teach Jewish religion and a certain proportion of secular curriculum. American Jews entered a new stage of development since 1924. The Holocaust and the anti-Judaism waves in Europe and in America promoted the sense of nationality and religion of American Jews unprecedentedly. Consequently, they focus their attention on the traditional education of American Jews again. American Jewish secular schools, Jewish religious schools, Jewish day schools and sectarian colleges/universities were established at that time. Traditional education of American Jews has manifested its openness and compatibility. In the light of the status of Chinese minority education, combined with the characteristics of traditional education of American Jews, the writer puts forward several suggestions in Chapter five: valuing the importance of family education; strengthening vocational skills and ethno-cultural education; learning from other nationalities to improve oneself as well as taking proper religious education and moral education. The conclusion part makes a brief review over the whole paper.