[etni] Fw: Ignorant Not Just in English....

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Esther Revivo - estherrv@xxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Ignorant Not Just in English....

Laurie's article and reference to math convinced me to bring the following 
to your attention:
Professor Amos Aultshuler recently published an article in the alumni 
magazine of Michlala Yerushalayim, Bayit Ve'gan. He is the former inspector 
responsible for bagrut exams in Math in Beer Sheva who has taught on the 
faculty of the Michlala for more than 30 years.

His article mourns the fact that each year, pupils arriving to his college 
classroom (majoring in mathematics) are less and less qualified then former 
years. They are not less intellectually gifted, rather they have acquired 
far less basic mathematic skills than pupils of say 25 years ago. (Sound 
familiar, folks???)

I am quoting from his article, translating as best as I can, "...I will give 
you an example of "yeridat ha'dorot" in my field. In a particular course I 
have been teaching for years, the amount of material I manage to cover 
during the year is less than half of what I used to be able to cover, 
because of this lack of sufficient background in basic mathematics..... I 
must instead use precious time teaching skills that in former years pupils 
had already mastered"

SO, here is more proof that the "yeridat ha'dorot" we see in our English 
classrooms is part of the universal morass of the Israeli educational 
system. Witness this week when I brought a lovely article about Anne Frank 
to my 9th and 10th grade class at our Ulpana. Even in my hakbatza Alef 
group, most of the girls had no idea who she was!!!!!! I told them how 
shocked I was! This lack of basic general knowledge is becoming absurd!!

Regarding bringing the projects into the room when a pupil is orally tested, 
I was told this many years ago, and have insisted my pupils do so. I feel 
that even if it is not specifically written (in which case, pupils shouldn't 
be penalized for NOT bringing it in,) it is advisable. For, when I had to 
defend my M.A. thesis, I obviously zeroxed a copy for the professors present 
and related to information appearing in my work. Thus I feel that questions 
on the project should be answered with the project at hand. When pupils open 
their work to a particular place in the project when answering a question, 
what better way to prove that this is, indeed, their work, and not something 
downloaded; copied; borrowed; etc.

I agree with Mr. Dov Bloom: why in heavens are there 12th graders without 
projects? This probably is due to the same teachers who likewise neglected 
to teach literature! BTW: It is advisable to keep complete projects under 
lock and key in English rooms until the oral bagrut so that they won't be 
misplaced. (This we learned the hard way after parents mistakenly threw out 
projects during Pesach cleaning; etc. :)

Shabbat Shalom-
Esther Revivo



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