[etni] the article on Y net
- From: "david burrell" <bareldj@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "etni" <etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 9 Dec 2003 12:11:30 +0200
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Personally, I find it hard to repute the figures given in the article,
although it only presents half the truth, conveniently skipping over the
extra hours taught in the Passover holidays, the special study timetables
for 12th.grade students that many schools organise after the Passover
holidays and the extra assignments that 12th. grade teachers check.
Fortunately for us, no mention is made of the fact that the same disruptions
and reductions in study hours occur in the 10th. and 11th. grade as well,
albeit on a reduced scale, as a result of the exam spacing policy promoted
by the ministry in an attempt to improve bagrut grades by reducing the
tension associated with the high exam- density of the old system, whereby
students took all their bagrut exams in the 12th. grade.What is even more
embarrassing for us as a profession is that the net result of the spacing
policy is:1) Severe disruption to school routine and school discipline.
2) An unjustifiable reduction in
study hours in all grades.
3) The provision of extra
ammunition to those who enjoy portraying teachers as serial shirkers.
4) The general decline of the
Israeli education system from its high point in the 1960s to
its shamefully low
international rating today.
The spacing policy is yet another example of the superficial cosmetic
changes that educational administrators have felt obliged to make from time
to time in the last 30 years, which have drained all the rigour and academic
dicipline out of our education system, with the result that our students are
grossly under challenged and decadently spoilt.
Let us do our country,our students and our public image a favour by
admitting that spacing is a total failure and by offering to go back to the
system whereby all bagrut exams are held in the 12th. grade and all schools
are obliged to provide special post Passover timetables of intensive studies
built around the exam schedule.In our heart of hearts, we know that the
present system is both ineffective and untenable. David Bar El.
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