[etni] The recent editorial in the JPOST regarding Dovrat
- From: "Robert and Jodi Schenck" <rojo1@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 2 Jan 2005 10:43:48 +0200
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Dear All,
The Jerusalem Post ran an editorial last week glowingly praising the Dovrat
comission's work, and gently chiding teachers for not embracing it with open
arms. It implied that we are too conservative and that our union
consistently opposes any kind of improvement or change. This was my
response, which was ignored, as I knew it would be, but it certainly sums up
my opinion, and many of those I have read here.
Sadly,
Jodi Schenck
Dear Sir,
As per usual when any discussion of educational reform is raised, the last
ones to be asked or indeed, acknowledged are the teachers. The top-down
approach of the Ministry and the Government, is to spend billions
commissioning research on behalf of ?educators? without setting foot in the
classroom or dealing with teachers one-on-one on a ground-floor, bottom-line
basis.
The disingenuous naiveté of the JPost?s editorial reflects the general
ignorance of the public at large of the current conditions within the
average classroom and school that make the theoretical pleasantries of the
Dovrat commission nothing more than well-meaning pipe dreams.
As both a mother of a son about to start first grade under this new regime
as well as an English teacher of some 14 years duration in the Israeli High
School system, let me explain why I am bitterly disappointed with the
commission?s findings.
Firstly, to answer the editor, yes, of course there are bad teachers in the
system. There are bad Kupat Holim doctors, bad postal workers; in every
field where unions rule and it is difficult to fire a worker, there will
always be people who take advantage. It is the cheap and easy way out for
Education Ministry Director-General Ronit Tirosh to simply blame the ?bad
teachers?. The solution to the ?merit by tenure? system in the schools,
however, is not to give sole power to the Principal to ?reward? on the basis
of merit, because unfortunately, as I have witnessed more than once,
principals are not immune to cronyism. We will be exchanging one kind of
favoritism for another. If the commission were serious about rewarding those
who really deserve it, a standard of excellence would be set, including
class achievements, school achievements, extra curricular activities
including school projects carried out to benefit local communities. School
clubs and organizations would be encouraged like the National Arista Society
in the United States which acknowledges and encourages students who achieve
excellence with certificates and ceremonies and whose members must donate
tutoring time every week to less successful students in their schools. In
my school we started just such a program this past year and peer tutoring
has proven remarkably effective.
Secondly, yes, of course we would like a better pay scale. The Dovrat
commission isn?t offering that, it is simply doubling the hours we are
expected to work and paying us accordingly. 40 hours a week in any normal
office job would earn much the same if not more. We are told that we will
be able to do all our ?extra work? in school rather than at home, which
sounds lovely, but in which facilities? At home I have a library of books,
a file of 14 years worth of articles and materials, my computer with its
considerable files of accumulated knowledge and of course the Internet.
None of this is available to me at school, much less a quiet environment in
which to work or concentrate. So in all likelihood I?ll still work my usual
12-15 hours a week at home, bringing my work week up to something like 50-55
hours a week. A ?new? teacher who doesn?t have all this wealth of material
at her fingertips will probably need even more time to prepare her lessons
and grade her classes? work. Does that 5000 a month still sound so great?
One of the great advantages to me as a mother in being a teacher is that I
am available to my son when he needs me. If both he and I finish school at
4, how will I pick him up? Am I expected to add the payment of a babysitter
to fetch him daily into my now exorbitant new salary?
I?m also a tad concerned about nutrition. 8-4 is a very long day for a six
year old on a cold sandwich(indeed the same is true for his teacher). Hot
lunches(not to mention the cafeterias, kitchen and staff to make and serve
them) are unlikely to be available through the commission.
Finally, what about the real red line issues that the commission should have
addressed such as overcrowding and violence? Classes are enormously
overcrowded; firing teachers will only increase that problem. Especially in
weaker classes, it is almost impossible to give each student the individual
attention he requires when you have 40 in a class. The commission claims to
be in favor of head start programs and other trendy ways to boost weak
students without any actual idea of what goes on in the classroom. In
classes, LD students are often thrown in with emotionally-based behavior
problems, non-readers and the generally unruly. Lumped thus together,
nothing can actually be achieved except a rough form of baby-sitting. No
one bothers to differentiate between motivated weak learners who need
remedial aid and those who need various forms of intervention and therapy.
The answer invariably is that there is no budget.
Violence, both student against student and student against staff, has become
a frightening norm in many schools. No tools are being given to the
teachers to handle this phenomenon. The policies that have been instituted
would be laughable, if they weren?t so tragic. Our school, in a valiant
attempt to limit such incidences, has its teachers taking turns patrolling
corridors and courtyards during every break. As if. I hope it never falls
to me, all 5?3? of me, to try to separate two grown high school boys
involved in a serious tussle. How in the world could I do it? Where are
the Dovrat commission?s recommendations on this? We could really use some.
In conclusion, 5 years and 5 billion shekels later, one might have hoped for
something less ?ground-breaking? and more ?tachlis?. In short, the
commission spent a lot of time and money deciding that once again it?s up to
the teachers to fix everything, at minimum pay for maximum hours and just as
little respect as before. I?d like to say I?m surprised, but to quote the
great Israeli-American novelist Chayym Zeldis, ?governmental policies in
Israel are one part Ottoman Empire, one part British Mandate, and one part
Lewis Carroll?? I guess we?re down the rabbit hole once more?
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