[etni] fw: Education minister in denial - Haaretz

From: "Tom Balazs" <etnimail@xxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Education minister in denial - Haaretz

"Education Minister in Denial"
Haaretz - By Dan Ben-David - 13/12/2006

In a society whose agenda is determined by polls, instincts 
and gut-feelings, there is a continuous search for "experts" 
willing to provide professional ratification for the conventional wisdom. 
This kind of a world presents many economists with a problem. 
One of the leading, and most original, economists in the world, 
Steven Levitt, describes this problem well in a unique book, 
"Freakonomics," that he recently wrote together with the reporter 
Stephen Dubner: "It is well and good to opine or theorize about 
a subject, as humankind is wont to do, but when moral posturing 
is replaced by an honest assessment of the data, the result is 
often a new, surprising insight."

The problem with conventional wisdom is not just that it is frequently
based on partial, often incorrect, information, but that conventional
wisdom repeatedly becomes the cornerstone for setting policies. 
The field of education in Israel provides one of the more prominent 
examples of how opinions and beliefs dominate facts.

Education Minister Yuli Tamir claims that the abysmal state of 
Israel's educational system is due to three main problems: 
too many pupils per class; cuts in the number of instruction hours; 
and low teachers' salaries. The common denominator that created 
all three problems, according to Tamir, are the many budget cuts, 
which are reflected in an expenditure per pupil that is lower than in 
most Western countries. This leads the minister to demand a massive 
budget increase of NIS 7 billion- but not for implementing significant 
changes in her office's priorities and operating procedures. 
After all, the minister declares on every possible pulpit that she 
does not believe in reforms ...

full text
http://snipurl.com/haaretz_education


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