[etni] Haaretz article
- From: "Vera and Yacov Lachmanovich" <lachmanovich@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 08 Jan 2005 14:48:29 +0200
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I'm not a big friend of Nehemja Strasler from "Haaretz but I think that
thistime he hit the nail on the head. Read his Friday editorial! Bye Vera
TheBottom Line / One more lesson By Nehemia Strasler[1] [IMG][IMG]
Minister of Education Limor Livnat will present the recommendations of the
Dovrat Commission at the weekly cabinet meeting this Sunday. The commission
painstakingly diagnosed the defects in the education system, making it clear
that despite much rhetoric from the nation's leaders over the years on "the
importance of education," the result has been a colossal failure.
To enhance teaching and address widening gaps in academic achievement,
ShlomoDovrat has proposed a mutlifaceted revolution that will improve the
status of teachers and their profession. A teacher will be required to have
auniversity bachelor's degree in addition to a teaching certificate.
Principals will enjoy increased authority and the ability to reward better
teachers while dismissing unsuitable ones. Instead of teachers working six
days a week until noon, they will move to a five-day week, eight hours a
day,including 23-28 hours of instruction. Some 15,000 teaching positions
would be eliminated, and the wages of those remaining would rise by some 20
percent.
This is where we enter the mine field. Is it right to cancel Friday classes?
Is it right to add an hour of classes every day, with its lower marginal
productivity? What will the children do on Fridays? Hang around on the
street, or watch more television?
The ultra-Orthodox are up in arms, and not without cause. They want to carry
on with the six-day week, and now the state-religious schools want it too.
This is a serious stumbling block to the reform, because the moment that
onlyHaredi schools teach six days a week, more children will go there at the
expense of the state religious schools. The secular will be strengthening
theHaredi hand. Could anything be more absurd?
Furthermore, is it right to force teachers to be at school eight hours every
day? This is how you destroy the profession's relative advantage. When it
happens, some teachers - the good ones, in fact - who enjoy the convenient
working hours, with some working at other jobs after school hours, will
decide to leave the profession.
When someone chooses a career, he looks at more than just pay. He also
considers convenience and flexibility. So adding 20 percent to wages will
notbe sufficient compensation for the eight-hour working day; they would
rather work for a bank or municipality. Also, the longer day will require
enormous investment in classrooms and catering services. More will be spent
on walls and desks instead of improving teachers and the level of education.
Everyone agrees that the education system is frighteningly wasteful, with
superfluous colleges - in the Haredi sector and the settlements - with
needless regional classifications and duplication, extraneous clerks,
superfluous inspectors and worn-out teachers.
The revolution in efficiency should be carried out immediately, saving NIS
1-2 billion a year, which could then be used to improve teacher pay. The
revolution in management should also be implemented; transferring authority
to school principals and making each school an independent entity. But all
ofthis does not warrant moving to a five-day school week and an eight-hour
teaching day. As Aesop taught, when you try grabbing too much, you can lose
everything.
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