Opinion
Other Views
Israel's Failing Schools
Haifa
was born in Haifa in 1947, the
year Israel was recognized as an
independent state by the United
Nations, and I grew up in the newly
born young country in the mid-
1950s. There was little wealth in
Israel at that time, and my family was
not among the wealthy few.
Nevertheless, I was fortunate in hav-
ing access to a superb public educa-
tion system, from my earliest school
days through advanced professional
studies at Hebrew University and at
the Technion-Israel Institute of
Technology.
Today, Israel is much wealthier, but
I doubt that a child like me would
have the few but high-quality oppor-
tunities I had.
A quiet crisis is unfolding here. It's
grabbing few headlines, and it's rarely
the stuff of public debate. But its
impact on the nation's future is as far-
reaching as the subjects that monopo-
lize the news.
I am referring to the education —
or more correctly the lack of education
— Israel is offering its young people.
Pounded by budget cuts, the vaunted
educational system we built during the
early days is deteriorating. It is failing
our youth today — and will fail the
entire nation tomorrow. This proces
started in the late 1960s but is clearly
accelerating today. Just a few of the
latest numbers chronicle the shocking
decline:
I
Technion-Israel Institute of Technology
Professor Aaron Ciechanover, MD.,
D.Sc., shared the 2004 Nobel Prize in
Chemistry with Technion Professor
Avram Hershko and with Professor
Irwin A. Rose of the University of
California in Irvine. They are Israel's
first Nobel laureates in science. The Web
site for the American Society of Technion
is www.ats.org.
• Israel ranks 28th out of
unimaginably stiffer.
Some 3 billion people from
29 Western countries in the
most recent report in "Trends
India, China and South
in International Mathematics
Korea have joined the global
and Science Study." In the
technology stage, threatening
1970s, it ranked first.
to leave even the United
• In the Israel Defense
States and Western Europe
Forces, only 32 percent of
behind. Israel can never hope
those tested earned satisfac-
to compete quantitatively
tory scores in reading com-
and directly with such num-
AARON
prehension examinations in
CIECHANOVER bers; it can only compete
2003 — down from 60 per-
with exceptional quality. Yet,
Special
cent in the 1980s, the
while everyone is boldly
Commentary
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
forging ahead, Israel is
reported.
already far behind where it
• Finally, Israel has the largest gap
was decades ago.
It takes 20 years or more to educate
between rich and poor students in the
Western world, according to Deputy
a top engineer, chemist or physicist
and almost four decades to turn a sci-
Minister of Education, Culture and
Sport Michael Melchior. As always,
entist into a senior university academic
staff member. This time scale is far
the poor far outnumber the rich,
which means fewer of Israel's students beyond the horizon of Israel's current
are getting the education they need.
leaders who live between parliamentar-
ian elections.
Unless rapidly corrected, this chok-
ing of brainpower will soon erase the
Long before young people begin
admirable progress Israel has made in
their professional studies at universi-
joining the First World. It will destroy
ties, they must be given a solid
grounding in mathematics, basic sci-
the opportunities and the future that
Israel's people deserve. It will also deci- ences and language skills as well as a
broad knowledge in history, literature
mate the great source of pride Israel
and music, all of which under gird
has bestowed on Jewish communities
around the world.
their future studies. But as the num-
bers indicate, Israel's young students
Fading Fast
rank at the bottom of the industrial-
As everyone recognizes by now, the era ized world.
of Jaffa oranges and winter-grown
At the university level, world-class
roses is long gone; what turbocharged
scientists and state-of-the-art equip-
the nation's economy was its ability to
ment, combined with years of dedicat-
constantly innovate new science and
ed teaching, mentoring and study are
necessary to turn out the superb scien-
technology-based products and
processes and market them successfully tists, engineers and medical doctors
the world demands. For now, Israel's
worldwide.
Here's a really dismaying fact: even
universities are barely coping, but
if Israel's education and talent were
shortsighted government policies are
maintained at the current level, it
imposing stiff cutbacks in funding,
would have great difficulty retaining
putting world-class education beyond
its position in the global science-and-
the reach of the next generation and
technology-based economy. That's
endangering the nation's future.
The problem is less one of a budg-
because the competition is becoming
et and more one of national priori-
ties and a changing culture. The
founders of the country, in particu-
lar David Ben-Gurion, were far
sighted and could handle multiple
major long-term tasks simultaneous-
ly. Thus, they built a single national
army, an advanced health system and
a superb state-funded educational
system while absorbing millions of
immigrants. Sadly, that is not the
case today.
Science and technology promise to
transform every aspect of business,
of government, of society — of life
itself. We need to have successful
and respected poets and artists, his-
torians and archeologists, musicians
and philosophers, social workers and
farmers to support us all, physically
as well as spiritually, and to build a
pluralistic nation. Yet, the world's
economy will belong — even more
than today — to the nations with a
highly educated, creative, entrepre-
neurial cadre of scientists and
engineers.
Israel's educational system is failing
at preparing its young people for this
world. This places the nation in as
much danger from within as it's ever
been from without.
Meeting the challenges requires a
concerted, focused and immediate
response. At this dangerous juncture,
the government must make educa-
tion a high national priority.
Earmarked support from Jewish
communities worldwide is now more
crucial than ever. Only if Israel will
be able to supply the world's best-
trained, most creative and knowl-
edgeable workers will the nation's
economic independence and social
progress will be assured.
The tide is rising. The only solution
is to reach for higher ground. ❑
ful. You won't even hear
about those prevented, like
the one in my neighborhood,
if not for the alertness of our
soldiers at the much-
maligned checkpoints.
Things are quiet because our
fence is working and our sol-
diers are successful. But most
of the world (the Jewish com-
munity included) doesn't
understand that. They think
there has been a slow down
in terror because the
Palestinian Authority is doing some-
thing. And they think that this deserves
to be rewarded; otherwise, we will go
back to the days when buses were blow-
ing up every day. We are already "back"
to those days except we have been fortu-
nate enough to catch these people.
The fact is, all our success has done •
is to shore up the reputation of a dis-
reputable man and his despicable
regime. You won't find any mention of
attacks that didn't take place, like the
one that nearly blew up a synagogue
in my little Jerusalem suburb.
Science For The Future
Don't Be Fooled
Jerusalem
n Friday, June 3, the morning
news reported that two Islamic
Jihad terrorists working out of
Beit Hanina had planned a double sui-
cide attack against the Jerusalem suburb
of Ramot. They had planned to walk
into a synagogue on Shabbat when it
was full of worshippers, or take a bus or
walk into the local shopping center and
0
JN
6/ 9
2005
36
Naomi Ragen is a New York City author
who made aliyah in 1972. Her e-mail
address is Naomi@NaomiRagen.com .
blow themselves up.
I felt my hands begin to
shake. Ramot is where I live,
and Beit Hanina is a 15-
minute walk across the hills.
What makes this especially
horrible is that it is happening
all over the country daily
since Mahmoud Abbas took
over as Palestinian Authority NAOMI RAGEN
president. There have been
Special
hundreds of attacks against
Commentary
Israeli civilians. And those
are the ones that are success-
❑