There is currently a bill before the Knesset that seeks to offer financial assistance to Haredi youth leaving the ultra-Orthodox world. The proposed law would offer them the same sort of assistance that is currently offered to new immigrants. These benefits can cover everything from tax breaks on homes and cars to tuition remission for University and even a monthly living stipend.
While the bill has not yet passed, it is an interesting commentary on just how far removed Israel has allowed the Haredi community to get from its mainstream community. A star pupil in the Haredi community, should he choose to leave the fold and attempt to study in the secular world, is guaranteed hardships that most mediocre student from the secular world will not face. Primarily amongst these is that the Haredi education, which applies a high importance to studying Torah and Talmud, does not prepare its students for a secular Israeli University.
Haaretz reports that one such student, who has abandoned the Haredi world and is now striving to attend Tel Aviv University’s Law School, first has to qualify for a high school diploma. Their story is not about a lazy boy who could not be bothered to attend classes in the religious world and found an easier way in the secular world. Before leaving his religious community, he was studying at a “prestigious” Yeshiva in Bnei Brak.
There is much talk about how removed the ultra-Orthodox in Israel have become from mainstream Israeli society. Many do not work, very few serve in the military. They are subsidized by the state, both for their studies and their way of life (remember those segregated busses 222 everyone was talking about a few months ago? Those are heavily subsidized by the government). But how far has Israel allowed this community to deviate that to graduate with a religious secondary school education does not make one eligible to even apply to an Israeli University?
At one point in my life, I lived in a small desert town in Southern Israel. While there, I volunteered at a Democratic School. The notion is a strange one, but it is akin to a Montessori School. The students have an equal say to the teachers, and the teachers an equal say to the principal. There were no daily, or semesterly, requirements. If students wanted to spend all day in the sandbox, the art room, or the fully equipped music room, that was their decision to make. They chose when they were ready to learn to read, to do basic math, to learn a foreign language and so on. Needless to say, it was an interesting place to spend some time.
Despite very impressive test results that seem to imply that this outside-the-box education was working more than okay, the school had many problems with the state. The state was uncomfortable with their model. Coming up with issues that the state might have had with such a model would not be difficult. But it is suffice to say that this educational experiment was always under a watchful eye.
This was a school of maybe a hundred children. So the question is, how is Israel not keeping a watchful eye on the schooling the children of a population that makes up such a large number of Israelis? Estimates put the Haredi population in Israel as low one-in-ten and as high as one-in-six. And it must be remembered that this number is their population as a whole. Due to their high birth rates, when broken down by age group, the Haredi make up an even larger sizable proportion to secular children currently studying in an Israeli primary or secondary school. It is reported that as few as 40% of these Haredi schools are even teaching English or math. Israel is currently a leader in the world of hi-tech and innovation. But what kind of society will Israel be in 20 years, if such a large proportion of its population cannot even demand correct change at the market, much less learn how to work a computer?
Israel has a say in the education of the small Democratic School in the south of Israel. They have a say in the education of the Russian and Ethiopian communities of Israel. They have a say in the education of the Israeli Arab community in Israel. For the sake of the ultra-Orthodox, Israel must also have a say in the education of their community. Anything less is a disservice to the hundreds of thousands of children currently trusting their parents, their community and their state, to prepare them for life in the 21st century.
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