I learned something interesting this morning in the non-stop talk about the repealing of the core curriculum (in Haredi schools) law.
It seems that the Haredi leadership is not really against studying English and math (and some other subjects). as the various spokespeople said. They point to the many schools that teach these courses at some level or another.
They say it is up to each school to decide (based on consultation with its rabbonim and the gedolim) what is the appropriate curriculum to teach based on its parent body's wishes and needs. Some teach more, and some teach less. And each person can decide what school to send his kids to - nobody forces anybody to send to a school that does or does not have the extra topics of study.
What they don't want, and what they won't accept, is the government telling them what to do and what to teach. They do not want the government involved in the pedagogic decisions of the Haredi schools. Even if today all they are demanding is something that is really acceptable, like English or math, tomorrow they might make other demands of things that are not acceptable. And, as Motka Bloi said, if we wanted to teach gemara "Eilu Metzios" and the government told us to start teach gemara perek "Hamafkid", we would refuse, as it would be a "gezeira" from the government.
The Haredi opinion, it seems, is that specific topics of study might or might not be ok, but the government telling them what to study is never ok and they will always oppose whatever the government tells them to study, no matter what it is.
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