I recently wrote about how proud Israelis
are of our math and science students winning a slew of medals at Olympiad
competitions this summer in capitals around the world. Achievements like these in the future are
threatened however without more public funding, greater financial and personal
interest from the business sector, and institutional encouragement to grow the
culture of success attracting the best and the brightest into STEM education
(science-technology-engineering-math).
Industrialized nations
are scrambling to improve STEM education “facing a STEM crisis,” Vivian
Packard, President of General Motors Foundation, said in September. “Lacking
qualified individuals who are able to work in key fields, including engineering,
technology and science, will hinder (the U.S.) global competitive advantage
well into the future.” Israel faces a shortage of 20,000 hi-tech
qualified people to fill jobs in the next five years according to one report. The shortage is traced to the dropping number
of high school science and technology courses leaving the number of university
graduates in these fields flat, and a growing number of vacancies in industries
critical to the growth of the economy and military.
Two outstanding programs are worth
mentioning. Israeli high school students recently captured 14 prizes in the 20th
annual First Step to Nobel Prize in Physics international competition sponsored
by The Warsaw Institute of Physics. The 2012 first prizewinner is Israeli
teenager, Yuval Katzenelson from Kiryat Gat. His paper is on "Kinetic
energy of inert gas in a regenerative system of activated carbon." The
Israeli entrants included six males and three females mentored by Professor
Victor Malamud, Director of Physics at Ben Gurion University’s Ramon Youth
Physics Center. Twelve prizes were won by students from the Ramon
Center, and two by girls from Netanya Shapira
School.
First Step is an open
competition for young people through twenty years of age. Entries are judged each on its own merits
without extra consideration for a participant’s age (no older than twenty),
level, or ability. Oren Halevy from
Be’er Sheva attending an Amit school, won in 2011 for his work on DNA research.
Rashi Foundation claims in 2012, “Israel
was ranked first in the achievements of its students among all the (80) countries
that took part in the competition.”
The annual Open Sukka for a Future Scientists and Innovators
begun at the initiative of the Rashi Foundation and President Shimon Peres is a
four-years program for 20 weeks a year of courses, workshops and science
seminars during school vacations at Tel Aviv University, Israel Institute of
Technology in Haifa, and Technion, plus a summer placement in one of Israel’s
tech companies for four weeks. These are
creative and talented young people “insufficiently challenged by the education
system….” The
students “are put on the fast track toward the IDF Intelligence and
Technological Units -- where their skills are greatly needed -- or they become
‘academic cadets,’ pursuing an academic degree prior to their practical army
service…. (T) he move from academia to career is substantially facilitated. A
special university coordinator provides students with any support they may need
to complete their higher education. Funding for each student is US$ 4,000
per year.” Itay Bloch
demonstrated making electricity from soap bubbles. Shoham Behar and Joseph
Mouallem made sand hydrophobic, completely dry, powdery and averse to water.
Israel incubates innovation and inquisitiveness engrossingly
described in
START-UP NATION, by Dan Senor and Saul
Singer. The ingredients for growing a culture of success in STEM are money and
public commitment: MORE
MONEY for science and math education, serious and sustaining public
recognition of the achievements of students, and a realize STEM education is
vital to our national interest. More
money means better teachers, incentives for cross-institutional collaboration, and
sophistication of learning environments.
Everyone has a stake in advancing STEM education; the public-NGO-academic-parent-business
chain must work hand-in-glove enhancing the culture.
Education got 5.8%
more money in 2011 over 2010 in the Israel budget, on top of 5.6% more over
2009. The upward track is encouraging. Prescient
parents are sending their children often at their own expense to extracurricular
STEM programs and camps. NGOs like ORT
offer science and technology education. Schools of higher education are
training and mentoring budding science and math students. It is the business sector in Israel that is
not doing enough, not carrying their fair share of the water either in money
for education or lobbying government officials in one exoteric voice.
Israel lacks a culture of corporate giving
existing in other industrialized countries. There is no mention in the Senor/Singer
book of any giveback by the hi-tech sector to Israeli society. A tradition of corporate giving needs to be
nurtured, and the barriers that stymie philanthropy must be overcome.
Organizations like Maala, Good Vision, and Tmura, are
reaching into corporate boardrooms teaching new entrepreneurs innovative ways
to use their corporate and personal wealth and gravitas to make a difference in
education. The time is now. Two
suggestions: first, a national endowment can be established with contributions
from hi-tech and other corporate sectors for education. A
$100-million fund with a modest five percent annual return will make $5
million a year available to better educate and encourage young people in STEM
education; the target is to get this endowment to $1-billion in ten years. Second, The Jewish Funders Network and the
Rashi Foundation must mobilize the Israeli business sector at an upcoming
December conference, where science and technology education are the focus.
Hopefully the conference organizers will reach out to Israeli corporate
executives and government officials inviting them to become part of the
solution.
Harold Goldmeier is a
former Research and Teaching Fellow at Harvard University where he received his
doctorate. He served in the administrations of three US governors, is Managing
Director of a business marketing and development company, and is managing
partner of Goldmeier LLC consulting on business development, education and
community development matters. He writes on Life in Israel, Arutz Sheva,
American Thinker, The Times of Israel, and other publications.
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