Window on Israel: The truth about the Israeli education system

The scare story of the day on the front page of Ha'aretz: "Teacher salaries in Israel among the lowest in the world." The story compares Israel's performance on a number of indicators to the high income group of nations covered in a report by the OECD (Organization for Economic co-operation and Development). Toward the end of the story was the news that Israel does better than many countries on indicators of higher education. An item on the radio contrasted Israel's educational expenditures, teachers' salaries and class size to those of Norway.
 
These reports do say something about education in Israel, but no less about the media.
 
Nowhere does one see an effort to explain the findings, other than citing the country's shame for not doing more.
 
Israel's teacher salaries are not among the lowest in the world. The report at issue deals only with upper income countries covered by the OECD. No doubt the majority of the world's countries provide even less education.
 
Looking at the OECD's report, one finds that it is only for teachers' salaries where Israel appears close to the bottom of the well-to-do. On other indicators Israel scores lower than the OECD average, but not among the lowest of the countries surveyed. On indicators regarding higher education, Israel is above the OECD average, and in some cases among the highest in the world.

Important in all of this are available resources.
 
Israel finds itself among the wealthiest countries of the world, but toward the bottom of that group. According to the World Bank, a common measure of national resources (Gross Domestic Product per Capita) shows the average of high income countries at $35,400, and Israel at $20,400. Norway (the country used by Israel Radio as a comparison), enjoys a GDP/c of $72,300. 
 
Also relevant to what is available for education is how much countries spend on national security. The average expenditure of higher income countries is 3 percent of GDP. Israel spends 9 percent and Norway 1 percent of their GDPs on defense.
 
So much for the quality of Israel radio news and the country's most prestigious newspaper. Scare us they can. To explain they can't be bothered.
 
There are problems with Israeli education. A recent item from the Ministry of Education is not encouraging. Newly emphasized requirements forbid teachers to wear Crocs shoes in class, or short shirts that display the midriff, and forbid teachers to use their cell phones while teaching. The implication of these rules is that there are teachers who do not know how to appear before their class, and who cannot resist chatting on the phone when they are supposed to be working.

Teachers may also be inept at deciding what is proper behavior for their pupils. The Ministry of Education found it appropriate to indicate that pupils should not use their cell phones while in class.
 
The greatest problem with Israeli education is not mentioned in these materials from the OECD, the World Bank, or the Ministry of Education. It exists in the realm of Israeli education that lies outside the control of the Ministry of Education, in the thoroughly religious education received by the children of some 10 percent of the Jewish population that is ultra-Orthodox.
 
Those families have a lot of children. More than 25 percent of primary school students are ultra-Orthodox.

They learn a great deal, often from the age of three onward, but the curriculum of sacred texts does not prepare them for anything other than learning more sacred texts. Substantial public resources support tuition-free education in religious academies beyond high school, and provide living expenses for students and their families. Because the typical family is large and poor, often headed by a man who studies all his life, there is little by way of income tax collected from this population, and they receive discounts on local taxes and water bills.
 
Traditionally (i.e., before the birth of Israel) Jewish parents paid for the religious education of their children. Communities supported young men who were brilliant but poor. Often the community made life even better for its geniuses by providing a wife from among the daughters of a rabbi or wealthy family.
 
Israel's politics are stuck with financial bills for unlimited years of education that pay no dividends, except in the world to come.
 
The greatest hope for Israeli education comes from a finding in a prominent study done years ago in the United States. It found that the most important ingredients in educational success come not from schools but from one's family and friends. Expenditures per pupil, teacher education and class size were shown to be less important than parents' education, their attitudes toward education and the educational motivations of one's friends.

One can wish for better conditions in Israeli schools. Peace would help, by allowing less to be spent on national security. The weaning of religious Jews from a lifetime in religious academies would also be nice, but is no more likely than peace. Meanwhile, Jewish parents have something to do with a quality of education that is better than what comes from the schools. They contribute to a credible performance in higher education, and what comes later.