Top mathematician's encounter with Haifa junior high leaves scars
Just two months into his year-long commitment, Prof. Ron Aharoni threw up his hands and left.
By Or Kashti Tags: Technion Israel education Israel newsA leading mathematician at the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology got more than he bargained for after volunteering to teach a junior high school math class in the Haifa area last year. Just two months into his year-long commitment, Prof. Ron Aharoni threw up his hands and left, complaining that the students' disciplinary problems made instruction virtually impossible.
"No one prepared me for what happened," Aharoni explained. "My class quickly turned into a zoo - students would sing in class, get up freely, throw things at one another. Once a student even showed me a pornographic picture and asked me what I thought of it. Nothing I did helped, but on the other hand I wanted to use an 'iron fist' - even if I didn't know how to. After two months I grew desperate and left."
Aharoni is one of the founders of the Israeli Foundation for Math Achievement for All, a non-profit group whose mission is to "restore excellence to math education" in Israel.
Many of its methods are based on the "Singapore Method" of instruction, which the foundation's Web site describes as presenting mathematical principles as "systematically built upon each other, in a consistent and mathematically correct order with a gradual transition from the concrete to the abstract." The method has helped Singapore's students rank among the world's highest on math tests, and has in recent years been adopted by other countries around the world.
As part of the group's mission, Aharoni volunteered to teach math to a small junior high class of 14 students in the Haifa area for one year. The experience, he said, has left him scarred.
"I lost the feeling of omnipotence in education," he said. "It was a dispiriting experience, it took the wind out of my sails. It is very frustrating trying to forge a connection, encouraging students to succeed and failing in that. So I returned to the ivory tower, which is far more comfortable and remunerative."
Last week Haaretz published a blog written by an unnamed math teacher from an affluent community in the Tel Aviv area, in which he vented about the frustrations of his profession. Under the blogger name "Benny," he wrote, "I feel like spraying the classroom with a submachine gun just to get some peace and quiet." Later, after implementing strict disciplinary measures, he wrote, "Silence. I began teaching. It was a splendid class. Terror works."
The publication of Benny's blog postings aroused a flurry of responses, both positive and negative. Aharoni said he could identify with the blogger's frustration: "I was sure I would be able to teach, but apparently I was being naive. I was totally unaware of the fundamental problem - the absence of discipline among students."
Aharoni asked to teach a 7th grade class of average students, as part of his research for a math instruction book he was planning to author. "The first few classes were wonderful, but shortly thereafter everything went downhill," he said. "Because I didn't want to deliver the lesson with a heavy hand - 'Open your books and do some drills' - we came into conflict pretty quickly. Kids pick up on the slightest hint of weakness."
An Education Ministry study conducted several years ago found that half of all graduates of teachers colleges leave the teaching profession after only three years. A Central Bureau of Statistics study similarly found the highest rate of those leaving among junior high teachers.
"The truth is I left with my tail between my legs," Aharoni said.
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He would probably have the same experience with many London 14 year olds. If he isn't a fully trained teacher he should have received more support from the head or deputy head. That's part of their job. When schools had entrance tests and children had to reach a certain standard to get in, there was obviously better discipline. Today the pressure is off the pupils and on the teachers, with tragic results in teacher turnover.
Teachers have no power. They can't even sent unruly pupils out of the classroom. Why can't every class room have a button connected to the deputy headmaster's office? A student who disrupts is removed immediately. A letter to his or her parents is sent immediately. Loss of grades upon three such occurences. Granted it is not the most educational way but at least the teacher can teach.
Teaching is a work of art- it involves skill, & an ability to be unrealistically positive. Being aware of the following also helps. if a kid is talking--it is because you are boring. if a kid is rude--it is because you do not understand him if a kid does not do his homework --it is because you were not clear enough and your classes are not motivating. if a kid's grades drop it is because you are not a good teacher. if the education system fails - it is because you did not go to enough training sessions. if bagrut grades drop - you did not give him a high enough magen grade and were unfair and hated him if a kid loses his work- you already received it and lost it.The parents back up the story. if you move a kid to a more suitable level of class - you hate the kid and bully him .... and the list goes on. Sad evidence of the conditions of many abused teachers who are under appreciated in an awfully managed system and blamed for everything by dim witted over indulgent parents.Sad
I know two wonderful Israeli kids, 7 and 4 years old, and they are certainly being disciplined by their University educated parents. I was amazed when I visited them last year, and the then 6-year old boy could already read, write and do math after only half a year in school. That certainly does not happen in Denmark, where the law says that the children should be able to read and write after 3rd grade. He did his homework every day in the presence of one of his parents and he is a bright and wonderful boy that I came to love and he me.
I won't rehash what has already been written about the sad state of affairs of our school system. I speak as a veteran teacher. I am very disturbed to read that about half of all graduates of teachers colleges leaves the profession within three years. Oh dear! Who's going to replace all of us dedicated and graying teachers about to retire?
Here's a new and different idea: maybe parents should be disciplining their kids instead of giving them free rein on everything. My husband has had more issues with his daughter because her mother never dealt with her discipline problems. "She's fine," Mom said. Oh yeah? How many 10 year olds are asked to leave their public school due to discipline problems? In Israel a student has to kill someone to be thrown out. Now this same daughter quit the army 2 months into her service, married at 18, can't keep a job more than 3 months and actually thinks she can come to the US and immediately get an executive position, all with a sub-stabdard high school education. McDonalds, here she comes!
Can Israeli schools please invest in training their teachers to teach and students to learn? Clearly, hiring a teacher without credentials (Benny) and letting a college profressor teach the 7th grade are two strategies that didn't work. An alternative strategy would be to give teachers more tools for discipline in the classroom, and Israeli students could also learn some basics in how to behave in an academic environment, especially for the "average" student. It may also help them in their future, like how to behave when in uniform after they complete their diplomas.
I'm sure if you spoke to their parents, they would tell you the kids had no problem, and it was the teacher's fault.