the cons of seminary in Israel

I generally find Rabbi Yudel Shain's writings and comments (from what I have seen, usually about matters of kashrut) to be on the extreme side and, to me, distasteful.

However, I found this post of his intriguing:

Pros and Cons of "MUST go" to Seminary in Israel
There has been lately many that strongly oppose the ingrained concept that "must go to Seminary in Israel" in order to marry the right Ben-Torah.
The Pros are self evident.
The Cons;
The huge expense that most can't afford.
That $20,000.00 plus [saved] can help the new young couple.
Training for a parnosah delayed by at least a year.
They don't receive the tools needed to prepare for a Torah marriage, etc.
Delaying marriage by at least a year.
A girl should be under the supervision of their parents (enough said!)
We have heard of the tragic experiences in some Israel seminaries.
If we are talking about hashkofah, yahdus, etc in order to go into chinuch? Gateshead is more geared to that element.

Some of these are surely good reasons. Such as, people who cannot afford it, delaying parnassah training - for those that need that cannot wait another year, even marriage for those that feel marrying at 18 is a must

tragic experiences? agreed, but is the solution to stay in the USA? Can a tragic experience not happen in the USA? I dont think there is a solution to this, even in the USA. You can simply check out the school to the best of your ability and stay as involved as possible. I don't think staying in the USA protects anyone from a potential "tragic experience".

Gateshead being preferable? for some, perhaps. A blanket statement like that is ridiculous. Gateshead is better for some students, and other  schools are preferable for other students. No one school is most appropriate for everyone.

not receiving tools to prepare for a Torah marriage? sounds like a joke. Is that all they should be learning at 18 years of age? The purpose of the year abroad is to delve into Judaism and Torah and improve and study many aspects of one's connection to Judaism and Hashem, not just learn about marriage. And besides, many of the seminaries do prepare the students, at least somewhat, for a "Torah marriage".. of course, different people might consider different things as being prepared or not prepared, so this seems fairly subjective...

Parents supervision? That is a known problem. Many kids come to Israel and end up in schools with little to no supervision, and take advantage of their newfound freedom and go overboard and get into all sorts of trouble. I have no idea what the percentage of such kids is, but I don't think it is a insignificant minority of the students.

What do you think?

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