The Jewish school in Budapest where talent is valued over money

The Javne Lauder Jewish School in Budapest was founded in 1990 and guides children all the way from kindergarten to the university entrance exams. The Javne Lauder School is different from any other elementary or high schools, this can be seen from the following interview conducted by business daily Pénzcentrum with the school’s director, Gábor Horányi.

Previously, you have revealed that Lauder builds on communication and cooperation. How will this help your students to set out unto the labour market?

Our students have impeccable communication skills which are in part thanks to our education strategies. Since they are not judgemental, they easily strike up a conversation with anyone under any circumstances. Also, the kids are very good at working together with others. They prefer group sports, group competitions over individual activities. They enjoy success much better when they can share it with others.

Are the subjects changed due to the different teaching setting at Lauder?

Most of our subjects are the same as in other places. The difference with Lauder is that there are more overlaps and collaborations between the subjects. We also emphasise activities that could not be structured as subjects but are nevertheless important. Our teachers know that the success of a subject depends on the students too.

The closer our students are to finish high school, the more we help them with their desired carrier plans.

So we encourage the focus on their chosen subjects and lift the weight represented by other subjects, that would not be useful for them, off their shoulders.

What is Lauder’s stance on the digitalisation of education?

Frist of all, a lot of the administration work is digitalised now: we have an e-catalogue where the teachers put in feedback regarding the students, and this is the main platform where teachers and parents can contact each other. A lot of other paperwork (checks, requests, etc.) is done online.

There is even an option for writing a test online, and students can use several online applications during lessons. We have laptops, smartphones, tablets, digital blackboards which are dedicated to different tasks and are used in the measuring The older ones can look up anything related to the lesson’s topic online, but the younger classes are more restricted in this question.

Do you consider smartphones to be helpful or to be a distraction?

Depends. If there are over 20 small children in the classroom, it might be effective to collect the phones at the beginning of the course and then give them back as soon as class is finished. The situation is different with those about to finish; they have more self-control.

Some argue that the Hungarian education is constantly declining. What do you think about this?

The biggest issue at hand is that several subjects and topics are deemed to be important and beneficial, when in reality they are not.

The government thinks that chemistry and physics are crucial, but only those students will actually learn and remember anything from the courses who need these subjects later in their studies. The rest will not make use of these things as they are irrelevant to them.

Your numbers have grown in the past years, do you receive much more applications?

Let me give you an example: 43 students applied for a position in the 8^th grade. Although, there is not a serious growth in the number of applicants in the 1^st grade. You might think that students run away from the public system and seek help at us, but our aim is not to collect these students: we wish to take in the kids of those Jewish families who share liberal views.

So is this a religious school?

No, since the Jewish community of Budapest is not particularly religious.

What values do you consider important?

I do not believe in setting goals for the long term. I think we have to create a suitable process, and good things will come.