Back to the ABCs

Every new school year, like the one that begins today, is accompanied by a festive feeling and public debate on education, and that's only natural. After all, Hebrew civilization has always boasted of the pride of place it gives education, at the center of its way of life. It was not by chance that the first Hebrew city was most proud of its gymnasia, its Hebrew high schools.

Today, as then, the opening of the school year not only sparks the excitement of parents and children but also brings forth lofty declarations and ambitious plans from the heads of the country's educational system. But because of Israeli governments' low life expectancy and the rapid turnover of education ministers from opposing political poles, these plans are by nature capricious; they usually just wither away.

This year, Likud's Gideon Sa'ar is at the helm of the Education Ministry. He is an able and energetic minister who has taken up his post with great enthusiasm and a bevy of plans and projects. These include stepping up competition between schools, increasing the time devoted to core subjects, improving the quality of teachers, treating the problem of violence and, most importantly, deepening education toward the nation's values and what is called "Zionism" (something that today is largely interpreted as encouraging students to volunteer for combat units in the army).

Concentrating efforts on education is praiseworthy, especially when it comes to making the system more efficient and promoting excellence. But education toward "values" usually corresponds with the political views of the person who happens to be minister at the time and his party, who tend to see education as an instrument for teaching a particular and often controversial interpretation of the concepts "national" and "Zionism."

Before talking about "Zionist values" and "national emphases," the educational system should focus on the ABCs - the fundamentals of education. Each year, Israel's schools produce inarticulate and ignorant young people who even after 12 years in the system are not capable of expressing themselves with a minimum of coherency, orally or in writing. They do not read anything and lack even elementary general knowledge.

There is an urgent need to go back to teaching the old basics: correct reading and writing, grammar and syntax, logical thought, curiosity and general knowledge. It seems that for all the emphases, indoctrination and stress on motivation, the schools' main purpose has fallen by the wayside.