Economists: Education Israel's home-grown danger

Jewish pupils who attend haredi schools can recite chapter and verse of Bible, but most can't spell in English. Meanwhile, would-be new member of club of rich countries has the highest poverty rate of any OECD country. 'The threat we are facing, the existential threat, is not external. It's internal,' says Daniel Ben-David of Tel Aviv University

Threats to Israel typically come in the form of rockets. But economists also see a profound risk to the State that is entirely within its control: Its education system.

Inside a modern economy renowned for its innovative high-tech sector, they see a growing problem. Critics say the Jewish pupils who attend ultra-Orthodox schools can recite chapter and verse of the Bible, but most can't spell the name of their largest Arab neighbor, Egypt, in English.




About half of Israel's pupils either attend Arab schools that are under-funded, or ultra-Orthodox Jewish seminaries where "secular" subjects such as English, science and mathematics take a back seat to biblical studies, or are completely ignored.

It's a far-from-typical profile for a developed member of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which Israel hopes to join formally in May.

"The threat we are facing, the existential threat, is not external. It's internal," said Daniel Ben-David of Tel Aviv University. "It's not even Arab versus Jew. It's a completely social problem."

It's also one of the most intractable. Senior Israeli officials have long acknowledged the need for reform, there have been inquiries and public anger, but no government has yet had the political will to grasp the nettle.

"The socio-economic chasm between the general Jewish population and the two large minority groups is widening," the OECD said in a report last month.

It's a situation rooted in complex attitudes to Israel's two fastest-growing minorities: Israeli Arabs and ultra-Orthodox Jews, known in Hebrew as "haredim", who dress in distinctive black garb. Both groups generally live in separate communities – in haredi areas, roads are blocked to cars during the Sabbath and Jewish holidays – and neither typically serve in the Israeli army, which earns some resentment among the majority.

Also the youngest population group, they are projected to increase to half of Israelis in a generation, from 30% now. Both have high rates of poverty and non-employment, which means they are not only out of work, but aren't seeking it.

The problem is manifest in international tests. All Israeli teenagers rank close to the bottom, at about 90% of the OECD average. Arab students have the lowest scores of all at just above 75% of the OECD average – and ultra-Orthodox Jewish pupils do not participate in the "secular" tests at all.
This is also hardly the level of enlightenment that could be relied on to build the understanding so sorely needed for peace in the Middle East between Palestinian, Arab and Jew.

Economists: Education Israel's home-grown danger - Israel Business, Ynetnews

Please if you people could leave religion out of education including intimidation the better for knowledge.