Jewish Literacy vs. Identity

One of the things I've been thinking about recently is the question of goals in Jewish education, and more specifically, the goals for Religious Schools (also known as "part-time supplementary congregational educational programs"). If you could boil it down to one thing, what is the primary goal of Religious School? 

From what I gather, in the past - perhaps 50 or 100 years ago - the answer was likely related to Jewish knowledge.  Parents sent their children to Religious School so they could improve their understanding of Judaism.  They wanted their children to learn Hebrew, prayers, Jewish history, Torah stories, etc.  However, I think the goal has shifted in the last 10 or 20 years from Jewish literacy to Jewish identity.  In previous generations, Jewish identity was more of a 'given.'  You might have more or less knowledge of Judaism and its traditions, but there was a clear sense of Jewish identity.  Today, identity is multi-faceted, and we all make choices about which of our identities matter most.  Given the rise of inter-faith marriages, along with the notion that each of us makes choices as a "sovereign self", it is not a given that all children raised by one or two Jewish parents will necessarily view themselves as Jewish.  Therefore, our Religious Schools have begun to emphasize Jewish identity above everything else. 

This is certainly true at Temple Isaiah.  We say in our Religious School Program Vision that our goal is for "our children, our families, and all members of our community... to be challenged, exhilarated, and energized by the power of Jewish ideas and traditions."  In other words, we want them to WANT to be Jewish.  We want our families to identify as Jews and find meaning in our sacred tradition.

Of course, you cannot teach Jewish identity with teaching Jewish content.  We hope our students will learn Jewish knowledge and improve their 'literacy' as Jews.  However, there is sometimes a tension between the goal of Jewish literacy and the goal of Jewish identity. 

And so I ask you, dear blog readers - what do you think?  In what ways does the tension between the goals of teaching Jewish identity and Jewish literacy play out in Religious Schools?  In what ways are those two goals complementary?  If you are a parent, what are your goals for your child/ren?  What are the benefits and what gets sacrificed if we were to focus more on identity than literacy?  And vice versa - what are the benefits and what gets sacrificed if we were to focus more on literacy than identity? 


P.S. Coincidentally, David Brooks wrote an article for the NY Times today which talks about Western vs. Chinese views of learning.  The article addresses, at least in part, the tension I outline here.  He describes the difference between seeing learning as an 'academic' / knowledge-acquisition process, vs. learning as a moral process... there's definitely a parallel with my thoughts here!