כי את תבת 'חנוך' מפרש רש"י ז"ל (בדברים כ', ה') על הפסוק: "בנה בית ולא חנכו" – 'חנוך לשון התחלה'... בפרשת לך (י"ד י"ד) מפרש רש"י לנו יותר וזה לשונו: ׳"חניכיו" וכו' – שחנכו למצוות, והוא לשון התחלת כניסת האדם או כלי לאומנות שהוא עתיד לעמוד בה, וכן "חנוך לנער", "חנוכת המזבח", "חנוכת הבית"׳ עד כאן לשונו.
As Rashi, may his memory be blessed, explains the word chinukh (education), in the verse (Deuteronomy 20:5), "who built a house but did not dedicate it (chankho) - "Chinukh is a term for beginning."... In Parashat Lech Lecha (Rashi on Genesis 14:14), Rashi explains it further to us, as follows: Chanikhiv, etc. whom he had trained in the commandments. It is a term for introducing a person or a thing, for the first time, to some particular occupation in which it is intended that he should remain.
תבה לעצמה היא תבת חנוך, ונאמרה על הוצאת ההכשרה אשר באדם או בכלי מן הכח אל הפעל, אם לא נוציאה תשאר בהעלם וצריכים אנו להוציאה ולחנך את האיש הזה שיעשה לבעל מלאכה זו, והבית או הכלי לתשמישם, כל חדר לתשמישו אשר הוא מכשר והכלי לתשמישו אשר הוא מכשר.
The word, chinukh... is said about bringing out the readiness that is in a person or a thing from the potential to the actual. If we do not bring it out, it will stay hidden. So we need to bring out and ready (lechanekh) a particular man to do a particular craft, or a house or a vessel for its use - every room for the use for which it is meant; and [every] vessel for the use for which it is meant.
וכשנאמרה תבה זו על חנוך הבנים, אז הכונה היא לגדל ולפתח את טבעו והכשרתו של הילד שנמצאה בו במדה קטנה או בכח או בהעלם לבד ולגלותה. וכיון שהאיש הישראלי עוד בילדותו רוח ד' נשמת שדי טמונה וגנוזה בו. צריכים לגדל ולחנך אותו להוציאה לגלותה ולהפריחה והיה ליהודי נאמן עבד יהוה, בתורתו מעצמו יחפץ, ומדרכו גם כי יזקין לא יסור, והמצוה אף המרגיל אינו בטוח שהבן או התלמיד המצוה והמתרגל יעשה כמצותו, גם כשיגדל ויהיה ברשות עצמו. ועל זה צוה שלמה המלך "חנך לנער" וכו' תחנכו, אל קרבו תחדר, ואת קדשת הישראל אשר בו בהעלם – תגלה, ורק אז גם כי יזקין לא יסור ממנה.
And when this word is used about educating children, the intention is to expand and develop the nature and talent of the child found in small measure, in potential or even in hiding - and to reveal it. And since the essence of God and a Godly soul is hidden and stored away in a Jew even when he is a child, we must raise him and educate him to bring it out, to reveal it and to have it flourish - so that he will be a faithful Jew to God. [Then] he will desire His Torah on his own, so that also in his old age he will not veer from His path. But one who commands or habituates the son or student cannot be sure that [the child] will do according to his command also when he grows up and becomes independent. And that is why Solomon commanded, "Teach (Chanokh) the lad, etc." - you must delve inside him and reveal the Jewish holiness that is hidden there. And only then, "also in his old age he will not veer from it."
R. S. R. Hirsch "A Classic Principle of Jewish Education":
The wise educator will believe he has truly accomplished something only if he has found a way to instill convictions in his student, if he has succeeded in having the pupil acquire and absorb into the very essence of his being a knowledge and understanding of goodness and truth... if he has succeeded in reaching his student's heart through his mind, inspiring his student with a genuine deepfelt desire to do good, to make the will of God his own.
R. S. R. Hirsch "A Classic Principle of Jewish Education":
Al pi darkho has a twofold meaning: 1) Taking into account the path your student would probably follow without your guidance due to his personal disposition and such formative influences as time, place, family, social station, environment, occupation and associations with contemporaries. 2) The path your student should follow in the midst of all these probable influences with the guidance you are in a position to offer him.
R. S. R. Hirsch "VeHagadata Lebincha":
The parent's personal involvement in the vital matter of Jewish education cannot be replaced by instruction from anyone else, including the teacher.... And why not? יָכוֹל מֵראשׁ חֹדֶשׁ? תַּלְמוּד לוֹמַר בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא. אִי בַיּוֹם הַהוּא יָכוֹל מִבְּעוֹד יוֹם? תַּלְמוּד לוֹמַר בַּעֲבוּר זֶה – בַּעֲבוּר זֶה לֹא אָמַרְתִּי, אֶלָּא בְּשָׁעָה שֶׁיֵּשׁ מַצָּה וּמָרוֹר מֻנָּחִים לְפָנֶיךָ. Here we have the crux of the matter. Any teacher at school could probably lead your child to theoretical knowledge. [But] the child can only learn from you the most important thing of all: how to apply his knowledge in his everyday life, how to make every aspect of his existence a happy, devoted realization of what he has learned... Only from you can he learn the earnestness, as well as the happiness, inherent in the ideals that the school seeks to have him learn so that he may translate them into reality... Only from the lips and the face of his father can the child read the solemn import, as well as the pure joy, inherent in observing the Law.
... עלינו לבאר ... למה בדורות הקדומים לנו כל חנוך שהוא היה מועיל, תלמידי כל מלמד ובני כל אב רבם ככלם היו עובדי ד', ולא כן עתה. הסבה הפשוטה והעקרית היא, שהנער קם וחושב את עצמו לאיש בטרם בא מועדו... רוח שטות זה עבר על בני הנער לחשב את עצמו לאיש בדעת ורצון, בעוד בו דעת מהפך ורצון בסר ומר, ועוד הודיעו לנו חז"ל מראש (סוטה מט, ב): 'בעקבות משיחא חצפה יסגא'...
Why is it that in previous generations any type of education was effective - almost all the students of every teacher and almost all the children of every father were servants of God - but now it is no longer so? The simple and main reason is that youths are thinking that they are already adults before their time. What we are saying is not a fanciful conjecture, as the whole world laments this now. We are not coming to give a reason and cause for this here - as to why children are doing this. But regardless, it is a fact. This spirit of insanity has taken hold of youth to think of themselves as having the mind and will of adults, while their minds are still unstable and their wills, unripe and bitter. Moreover, the Sages, may their memory be blessed, informed us from the beginning (Sotah 49b), "In the time before the messiah, brazenness will grow."
ושתים רעות נמשכות מזה. האחת, שבשביל זה על כל מדריך מלמד ומחנך מביט הנער כעל עריץ זר, שבא למשל עליו ביד חזקה ולשלל ממנו שלטון עצמותו דעתו ורצונו, ומין התנגדות אף שנאה מתעוררת בקרב הנער פנימה אל מלמדיו ואביו, עד שאינו נותן לב לשמוע את דבריהם ואיך לקלטם בלבו, רק איך להתפטר מהם ולצאת מן ידיהם.
There are two evils that grow out of this. The first is that as a result, a lad will look at every advisor, teacher and educator as a foreign tyrant that is overbearingly coming to control him and take away his independence, his opinions and his ability to choose. So a type of opposition, even hatred, wells up inside the child towards his teacher and father - to the point that he pays no attention, to listen to their words and how he should internalize them. Instead, he only thinks about how to get rid of them and escape their hands.
והשניה – שאפשר גדולה פרצתה מן הראשון – היא, שבראשונה שאישיות הילד ועצמותו לא מהרו להתגבל ולהתגדל בעודו בסר, גם הרגשותיו ודעותיו ובכלל כל השקפותיו ושאיפותיו לא מהרו להתפתח קדם זמנן... לא כן עתה שאישיות ועצמות הילד ממהרת להתגבל ולהתגדל קדם זמנו גם שאיפותיו דעותיו והשקפותיו ממהרות להתפתח בעודן בסר מרים וארסיים
And the second - which may cause even more damage than the first - is that it used to be that the personality and independence of a child would not crystallize and develop so quickly while he was still immature. Likewise would his emotions and opinions, as well as his worldview and aspirations, not develop so quickly before their time... This is not the case today when the personality and independence of the child crystallize and develop quickly before their time; and when his emotions, aspirations, opinions and worldview blossom quickly while they are still immature, bitter and poisonous.
לא די ללמד את הנער רק שחוב עליו לשמע לקל המחנך ותו לא, כי לא יועיל בזה בלבד, כי לסוף יראה את רבו למתנגדו ועריץ זר עליו כנ"ל. העקר הוא להכניס בלבו דעה זו, שידע שהוא – הנער בעצמו הוא עקר המחנך, לא קטן ונער הוא, רק נצר מטע ד' בכרם ישראל הוא, ועליו הטיל ד' חוב זה לגדל ולחנך את נצר זה, את עצמו לעץ גדול עץ החיים ולעשותו לעבד ד' צדיק וגדול בתורה, וכיון שדעתו ורוחו קטנים ותורה הרבה לא למד, יצרו מרקד בקרבו, לכן אם פחד ד' לנגד עיניו וירא הוא שלא יחטא נגדו ולא ישחית את כרם ד' צבאות, מכרח הוא לשמע את תורת ד' ודרכו מפי רבו ואביו, בין בדברים המפרשים בתורה ושלחן ערוך, בין בדברים שאינם מפרשים.
It is not enough to just teach the lad that he is obligated to listen to the educator, and nothing more. For in the end, he will [still] see his rabbi as his opponent and as a foreign tyrant, as mentioned earlier. The main point is to bring this opinion into his heart: To know that he - the child himself - is the main educator. He is not a minor and a lad. Rather, he is the sprout of God's planting in the garden of Israel. And God has placed the responsibility to nurture and educate this sprout upon him, himself - to be a great tree of life and to make himself into a servant of God, a tzaddik and a Torah great. But since his mind and spirit are young, there is much Torah that he has not learned and his evil impulse is active. So if he is God-fearing and does not want to sin towards God and to destroy the vineyard of the the Lord of hosts - he will need to listen to the Torah of God and His path from his rabbi and his father, both regarding that which is explicit in the Torah and in the Shulchan Arukh and that which is not.
אבל בדברים אלו בלבד לא יצאנו עוד ידי חובתנו, כי אף אם נחדר אל עצמות ישיות שכל הנער על ידי שנשכילהו, עד שבדעתו יבין כי האחריות על עצמו, ובדעת עצמו ירצה להתחזק ולעבד עבודת הקדש, מכל מקום הלא אמרנו שלא בלבד שכלו רק גם ישיות הרגשותיו, התפעלותיו, אף התלהבותיו, מתקדמות לצאת קדם זמנן להיות לאיש עצמאי, להתרגש ולהתלהב מיפי המדמה של שטותי העולם, כבתי הטרטיראות וכן ממיני הוללות והפקרות העולם, ואם לא נקדם אנו לעורר את נפשו שתתרגש מכל מצוה ותתפעל מן התורה ואור ד', לא נפעל מאומה חס ושלום.
However with these things alone, we will not yet have fulfilled our obligation. For even if we delve into the independent selfhood of the lad's intellect and make him understand to the point that he grasps intellectually that he bears the responsibility, and will want to strengthen himself in his divine service - nevertheless, have we not already said that it is not only his intellect that comes out prematurely to be like that of an independent adult? Rather it is the selfhood also in his emotions, his excitations and even his enthusiasm that cause him to be excited and enthused by the imagined beauty of the stupidities of the world - such as the theaters and all the other types of licentiousness and unbridledness in the world. So if we ourselves do not stimulate his spirit early on, to get excited from every commandment and to be enthused by the light of God's Torah, we will have done nothing, God forbid.
Rabbi Shlomo Wolbe (Transcript from aTalk): It seems to me that education in faith is really weak today. You have to start talking about faith already in heder, telling the students that they were created from God, explaining how it is God who gives them life. God gave the Torah that they are learning. Then later in yeshiva ... you have to talk more about faith.
RFN: Such an educational need has arisen because these things are no longer assumed in the surrounding society. Schools do not teach that we need to eat food or that the sun keeps us warm, because these ideas are universally accepted. Once faith has lost its universal acceptance, attentive teachers like Rav Wolbe will see a need to "teach" it.