With
Operation Protective Edge on hold, we can return to the more mundane issues
Israel ignored before the war. An inadequate salary paid teachers is a real
threat to Israel’s national security.
An
OECD survey finds only one-third of Israel’s teachers feel appreciated. More
than 80% would nevertheless enter the profession again. Most get regular
feedback on their work from their supervisors.
So, the problem isn’t with the system.
The system is plagued by spot-overcrowding in classrooms where some
schools have closer to 40 students per class despite a national average of
27.6. This is known as the “Sardine Protests” by parents and educators. The
establishment is keeping salaries low by employing more than 25% of the
teachers as part-timers and 21% as temps. Israel ranks in the top five of OECD
countries in these categories.
Flagging
student achievement scores threaten the Start-Up Nation’s economic future and
national security. Biomed-tech, hi-tech, agri-tech, aerospace, and
international trade, the core of Israel’s economic growth and Israel’s national
security defense, must not become dependent on foreigners. But without
homegrown stars educated in our own schools, Israel may have to import workers
for jobs critical to Israel’s prosperity and survival.
Israel
might soon find itself trapped in the same tenacious web as the U.S. It grants
a special class of visa importing STEM specialists to fill shortages in the
private sector. Commenting on a report released, May 2014, Israel Comptroller
Joseph Shapira grossly understates, “Mathematics education in recent years is
worrisome.” Economic and military
sustainability depend on a workforce well educated in STEM (science,
technology, engineering, math) and English.
Professors
fret for years about too few students applying for higher education especially
in STEM degree programs, and poorer showings in international high school
academic Olympiad STEM competitions. As far back as 2012, my articles on the
deteriorating quality of STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics)
education appeared in The Jerusalem Post and
on web sites Arutz Sheva, and Life in
Israel.
Their
angst is exacerbated by gap differentials between rich and poor, majority and
minority populations, and the dearth of qualified teachers in all parts of the
country. Schools compete with the
private sector for the best and brightest on a not level playing field.
Start
with more money and commitment to quality. You get what you pay for, and
teachers are paid far too little. Family breadwinners dedicated to teaching
likely to have second jobs. A barely livable wage crushes spirits inhibiting
innovation and enthusiasm.
A
2012 OECD report, “Education at a Glance,” ranks Israel near the bottom of 40
countries for its inadequate per pupil spending on early childhood and
secondary education. Israel ranks high on education spending as a percentage of
its GDP, but only 25th of 38 countries in terms of ratio of students
to teaching staff in secondary schools.
In these grades, lower student-teacher ratios for STEM and language
developments are most critical. Compounding the problem is the low number of
hours of teaching time per year. High schools rank about 30th of 35 countries.
A
college educated teacher with years of experience is paid half in Israel of
what teachers earn in Europe, and a third of what they earn in the U.S.
Teachers in Chile and Mexico are paid more money. Salaries are on the rise, but
regulations kick in to stymie progress. An English teacher with a BA from a top
U.S. university is good enough to teach in the same public school, the same
hours, under the same conditions, but only receives half the pay (about NIS4000
per month) if lacking pedagogical certification.
The
Center for American Progress (CAP) report, “Teacher Pay Reforms,” concludes,
“Research convincingly shows that teacher quality is the most important schooling factor influencing student
achievement…. Teacher quality swamps the impact of any other educational
investment, such as reductions in class size.” And, the prestigious Economic
Policy Institute 2013 study concludes, “Investing in education is a core
contribution states can make to the well-being of their residents and the
national economy overall.”
Businesses
hire, promote, and compensate based on education and quality of work. Money
entices the best employees spicing it up with recognition, professional
development opportunities, benefits and perks, just what is not done in
education. It is folderol to expect ablest teachers for less, but wail when
children’s test scores plummet and malaise permeates. Much can be done to
restructure the system, but restructuring without pay reform is rearranging the
deck chairs on the Titanic.
Bean
counting bulls cutting back education budgets epitomize the ephemeralization of
classroom success; i.e., a policy of doing “more and more with less and less
until eventually you can do everything with nothing.” Only my mother and Dr.
Seuss knew how to do more with less. Dr, Seuss used 50 words in the
prize-winning book Green Eggs and Ham.
He also warned, “The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places
you’ll go.”
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