How to spin a report properly: This Ynet article takes Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development report on the state of Israeli education at face value, and gives you depressing statistic after depressing statistic. Israel spent less, teaches fewer hours, has larger classes, pays its teacher less, and as a result has—a higher high school graduation rate than the average OECD member state. Um… and the problem here is…?
The Gaza Humanitarian Crisis: Show jumping not included! The Guardian spotlights Gaza’s riding club, even while insisting that it doesn’t mean Gazans aren’t suffering a humanitarian crisis because the club members are all affluent. Yeah, you could get whiplash watching the justifications slap back and forth. And oh yeah—they smuggled the horses in through the tunnels.
Yeah, but what about “tzedaka”? Google searches for “tzedakah” are at an all-time low. Well, looks like my bleg will be moving to the front of the pack, then.
No compromise, no peace: Mahmoud Abbas, finally realizing that the settlement freeze excuse is wearing thin on the rest of the world, is now saying that the Palestinians will compromise on—nothing. Nor will the PA recognize Israel as a Jewish state. Is anyone out there surprised? Really? You haven’t been reading me very long, have you?
High school graduation rates are not necessarily evidence of a superior system. You can (as some US states seem to be doing) increase graduation rates by simply lowering the standards for graduation.
I think that you titled this wrong. it should be “pre-holiday briefs”. Tomorrow is the holiday. yesterday was the day off of work {:-)
Nah, I meant to put those up on Tuesday. They were the post-Labor day briefs.
I’ve heard the complaint that the education quality in Israel is uneven, worse than in the US model where the K-12 school budget largely comes from the local budget. If you live in a rich school district, your education is great, but if not, it’s substandard. Israel has a higher percentage of students passing advanced classes, but overall, it is on the bottom rung of “industrialized” nations as far as education is concerned. This explains how Israel can have a stellar high tech industry while the rest of the economy lags. Also, Israel’s universities are slipping in worldwide rank.