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What would I change in the education system?

With God’s help

On the seventh – 2008

When discussing the education system, it should be done in three circles: What are the educational goals? What are the learning goals? And what is the administrative system that will implement them in the optimal way? I will do this telegraphically, due to the brevity of the platform.

As for administrations, the centralism of the system is to our detriment. Bureaucratic considerations usually block the path of various initiatives and the establishment of institutions. There is a lowering of the bar for political considerations (= the success of the Minister of Education is measured by the percentage of graduates passing the matriculation exam) or fashionable ones (equality). There is almost no systematic identification and promotion of those with ability, except by a few private parties.

Therefore, I would privatize the system from a program perspective (financially, the needy can be supported). Each person will determine the nature of their children's education, instead of the current situation in which the education system is a battlefield for political-ideological struggle, in which each side tries (unsuccessfully) to bend the other in its direction (eg, Yehuda, Livah, etc.).

In relation to the other two levels, education and values are amorphous areas, there is no consensus about them, and I assume that many will deal with them specifically. That is why I choose to focus on learning. Although for those who believe in the centrality of the commandment to study Torah, it is clear that learning also has educational value.

A significant part of the perceptions of the education system today are an anachronistic remnant of the situation from a few decades ago, when most students reached at most a high school diploma. Today, the situation is different, and schools are supposed to focus on developing learning skills and general education (precisely in areas that the student will not encounter later), and less on specific technical knowledge and skills. Therefore, I would almost completely eliminate the various majors, and teach all students a wide range of subjects at more basic levels. Written and oral expression, rhetoric and logic, critical reading and viewing, reading, studying, and independent organization of material. On the knowledge level, the focus should be mainly on introductions. Any student can study physics, if they are not bothered with complicated and unnecessary technical problems. At university, they will do so in a quarter of the time and at a higher level, and there it will only be for those who are truly interested in it. On top of that, supplements can be given to those who are interested.

As a general rule, teaching should be conducted individually, similar to the Open University, from books and/or online, with the teacher as the facilitator, and the pace is determined by the student. This way, the quality of teaching does not critically depend on the quality of the teachers (which is practically difficult to change), and the content taught is prepared by the best teaching staff (in this way, every student in Israel will have the best teacher in every field, and the differences will only be in the nature of the assistance).

Success metrics should not be determined by national averages (which place us near the bottom deciles of Ivory Coast). What is required for real mathematical skills is a tiny percentage of the population, which must be identified and developed. The rest can know fractions and percentages, and generally understand what mathematics is (today, precisely because of the technical emphasis, even the good ones don't really understand this).

These steps may also reflect on the quality of our academic research, which suffers from superficiality and a very poor intellectual level, and distorted indicators of success and advancement. But that's another story.

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