[Israeli teens not equipped by schools to face society’s challenges – IDSF survey]
Education Minister Yifat Sasha Biton. She always likes be photographed with the Israeli flag but her education reforms tell a different story.
Next week, Israeli schools will reopen after the summer break (if the teachers do not go on strike).
Those students will find a vastly changed curriculum being instituted by Education Minister Yifat Shasha Biton. Biton is a member of the New Hope Party whose secular humanitarian agenda aligns with that of PM Lapid, “Defense” Minister Gantz, and Finance Minister Avigdor Liberman.
The curriculum will eliminate all study of Kings David and Solomon, the First Temple, the Babylonian exile, the return of Jews to Jerusalem, the building of our Second Temple, the Hasmoneans and Maccabees, King Herod, the three Jewish wars against the Romans, and the destruction of the Second Temple among other critical moments in Jewish history in our country.
A generation of students will be taught that we have no connection to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem or the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hevron, and that we only came to Israel in 1948.
No longer will there be matriculation exams in history, literature, Bible, and citizenship. Instead, students will receive final yearly grades based on such things as written assignments and creative podcasts.
It is an appalling curriculum specifically designed to downplay Jewish history in Israel and to downplay Judaism.
It is a curriculum which would find favor with Reform Jews everywhere which now de-prioritize Israel and Judaism in favor of more “liberal humanitarian” concerns.
It is precisely the kind of “no Jewish history in Israel” curriculum that is taught in Palestinian schools.
In a week, the curriculum will be changed? This makes no sense. What will replace the eliminated classes? As a former teacher in the US, I understand that curriculum cannot be changed overnight. There are usually workshops or tutorials given the teachers on the new curriculum, with plenty of time for them to make adjustments. And what if the teachers object? Such top down orders have little chance of success, unless Israel’s teachers have no buy-in with the teaching of history of our very peoplehood. As a taxpayer, I certainly object to this alleged change. I would like to see someone from the schools comment on this.