KNOWLEDGE THAT DOESN'T JUST SIT THERE: CONSIDERING A RECONCEPTION OF THE CURRICULUM INTEGRATION OF JEWISH AND GENERAL STUDIES

Abstract

Since the onset of modernity, Jewish all-day schools have widely aspired to the curriculum integration of Jewish and general studies. This article surveys some of the most significant reasons why this ideal has largely remained unrealized. It argues that schools committed to an integrative ideal might benefit from reconceiving of integration in a manner which involves grounding it within constructivist/cognitivist assumptions about teaching and learning. A working model is offered for what the integration of Jewish and general studies might look like when conceived in this way. The article draws evidence from the curriculum of a recently established Jewish day school in Britain, suggesting that the instances displayed by this case, while constituting a weak form of integration, strongly embody a fertile notion of how students might be initiated into making sense of their world in an integrated fashion.