The Real Problem Behind UTS’s Attendance Issue

Call me a teacher’s pet. Call me a nerd. But you have to admit: Undergraduate Torah Studies (UTS) has a serious attendance problem. Everyone knows that there is a small but not insignificant group of students in Mazer Yeshiva Program (MYP) and Beit Midrash Program (BMP) who rarely, if ever, show up to seder or shiur. Fortunately, UTS has a built-in solution: Students can join a different program more suited to their interests. However, a prerequisite for that to happen is people seeing the different programs on equal levels, and therefore being more comfortable choosing the one right for them. 

There are four morning Torah learning programs on the Wilf Campus at YU. Two of them, MYP and BMP, have a few hours of unsupervised learning with a chavrusa followed by a shiur from the shiur rabbi. Of those two, MYP goes later into the afternoon. The vast majority of the time spent in those programs is on the Yeshiva Masechet, but sometimes, the rabbi will give a hashkafa shiur. The other two, Isaac Breuer College (IBC) and James Striar School (JSS), are structured more like a typical class, with little to no unsupervised learning time. They focus on a variety of topics in Judaism as opposed to just the Yeshiva Masechet. The major difference between those two programs is that JSS is targeted at students who are newer to Jewish ideas, and IBC focuses on those who already know a lot about Judaism and are looking to explore further. 

The different track offerings imply that UTS wants to tailor their course offerings to fit students’ needs. Despite this, not enough has been done to help students find the proper morning track. This is clearly not due to a lack of knowledge of the attendance issue, because every shiur takes attendance and knows who is showing up and who is not. Rather, other factors likely influence UTS’s hands-off approach: First, if people are forcibly moved from one program to another, it might cause certain programs to be looked down upon; and second, UTS forcing attendance would be extremely unpopular. No one wants to force anyone, or be forced by anyone, to go and learn.

Let’s address the first one first. If you ask most YU educators, they will tell you the same thing: There is no higher or lower morning track; there are different tracks for different people, and everyone has to find what is right for them. The Talmud attests to this idea when it asserts, “A person can only learn Torah in the place that his heart desires” (Avodah Zara 19a). Each person has to find the program that is right for them because that is the only place where they can learn properly. For many students, that program is IBC.

MYP is the most challenging track and hence people view it as the most religiously virtuous, and it is certainly inspiring that many people want to be in it. But that does not mean that everyone should be in it. Similarly, everyone agrees that calculus is harder than what most people will need in their daily jobs. Still, for some reason, not everyone is clamoring to take calculus just because it is more challenging. This is because they realize that difficulty isn’t the most important factor in choosing a course — a basic level of interest matters, too. 

The attendance problem also extends to students who are in the program they’re most suited to. This leads to the second problem with enforcing attendance policy: It will create a toxic environment if people are forced to come to sedarim. That is certainly a real issue. As mentioned before, people can only learn in a place they want to, and forcing them to be in shiur will cause a lot of negative feelings towards Torah study. Even students who do come to shiur might feel negatively when presented with the threat of attendance being taken. Despite this, there is an easy solution: UTS should create a standard of attendance lower than what most students are already doing. That way, it will set the bar low enough so as not to cause an issue for the vast majority of people while still creating change for the necessary audience. For example, enforcing the low standard that people have to show up for fifty or sixty percent of the shiurim or sedarim will be effective in encouraging the targeted students to either attend more often or realize MYP is not for them. Students who always come to seder will remain unaffected, and shiurim will enjoy higher attendance. 

The reason I’m so passionate about these things is because frankly, I see value in all of the UTS programs. While I chose to be an MYP student, I wish I also had the opportunity to take classes in IBC. A quick survey of IBC’s course offerings reveals extremely intriguing options, including Jewish Meditation, Reward and Punishment in Judaism and Happiness. These are all classes I personally wish I could take to deepen my understanding of Judaism. For those who want to learn the Yeshiva Masechet, IBC also offers an option to learn Ketubot. I’m choosing to miss out on IBC’s course offerings because I love the shiur where I am now, but students who aren’t taking advantage of the full morning seder programs shouldn’t have to. 

If someone is not showing up for the majority of their shiur, it is clear that it’s not working for them. What’s more, they would probably be really interested in IBC classes. I think the reason many people do not switch is fairly obvious: They are concerned that they will be considered less serious or not “shtark” for doing so, even though they know they would benefit from it. If UTS works to motivate people to join the correct program for them, people can move past the superficial considerations and actually learn the way they are supposed to. Current attendance data can actually be helpful in this regard. 

By ignoring the problem, both the students and the Jewish community are harmed. The students lose out on the best way for them to connect with Judaism, while their communities lose out on the budding scholars they would possess on the wide range of issues that IBC teaches. Back when my grandfather attended YU, IBC was considered an integral part of UTS. He was part of the IBC program, and he recently wrote a book on Hebrew grammar. He describes IBC as an integral part of his Judaism. I don’t think my generation understands IBC this way, and it’s a huge loss to the YU community. Let’s create this new generation of scholars by taking the simple step of encouraging people to show up, regardless of which Torah program they’re in.

Photo Caption: A man standing in the middle of the woods

Photo Credit: Vladislav Babienko / Unsplash