This is something that has been bothering me for awhile and maybe someone can come up with some explanation other than the only one I can think of.
Yeshivat Rambam has a really good ECC program. When kids finish the ECC they start Elementary school. For some reason this transition from ECC to ES takes place in Gan (kindergarten) and this is what I fail to understand. Sure the educational structure of Gan has more "real" education (i.e. structured classroom time) than the "learning through play" style of the ECC, but it is still a much more relaxed and playful type of setting than 1st grade or the rest of the ES. Anyone who is part of the school will notice that many of the events geared toward younger students are advertised as being for ECC and Gan. Also, at the end of the Gan year they have graduation. Not sure I get this - wow, you managed to make it through your first year of ES! No - it is obviously meant as the end of the younger stage of education prior to entering into 1st grade and the true start of ES.
So why is it that Gan is considered ES and not ECC. The only explanation I can come up with is a financial one. ES school tuition is consideriably more than that of the ECC. Additionaly, the parent obligations (such as the journal) start in ES and do not apply to ECC parents. One thing I wonder is if there are any potential parents who are wavering between Rambam and another school for Gan and end up going elsewhere because they really weren't sure and don't want to "try things out" at the higher cost. If there are, then this move of having Gan in the ES may end up costing the school students who may have decided after Gan they wanted to stay longer.
If anyone has any other ideas on this please let me know!
Posted by ravomess at September 23, 2007 07:34 PM | TrackBacki cannot agree with you more. even if they don't want to make it as low as ecc (costwise)-they should lower it from 1st grade prices, both by and ta don't start their higher tuitions until 1st grade, and you are right, for a lot of ppl. the decision is a financial one. i think rambam has to be a bit more financially competetive. also, we did not send our kids earlier to the school (when the older ones were younger), one of the reasons being that the higher tuition makes the school a bit more elitist, and we didn't want our kids to have to keep up with disney during vacation and israel during succos etc.
Posted by: yehudit shields at September 24, 2007 05:47 AMYehudit,
I am not sure if the elitist attitude comes from the higher tuition or just from the underdog feeling they get from others in the city but it is a good point to consider.
Posted by: ravomess at September 24, 2007 12:45 PM