School's Out Forever?

Secondary school teachers—junior high and high school—have been on strike in Israel for 18 days. For 18 days, students have not attended classes. Buildings may remain open, but there is no compelling reason for students to enter them.

Strikes are common in Israel across many industries. However, most strikes are resolved within a day or two. Parties are driven to the bargaining table, and to compromise, by the outcry from those parts of the country impacted by a lack of airport baggage handlers, garbage collectors, utility repair people, social security staff, etc.

As someone observing from the United States, I am struck by the lack of public condemnation of the strike and the inability of both parties to come to an agreement. News of the strike is often buried on Israeli news Web sites, and I have read little of parent protests or demands that both sides meet to get the children back in school and provide them with the education they need and deserve. It begs the question of whether getting one’s luggage within an hour of landing is more important than educating a country’s future leaders?

Today I was speaking about the strike with a colleague at a US based foundation that also funds supplemental education in Israel. She mentioned how troubled she was by the lack of organized response from the many NGOs that spend hundreds of millions of dollars each year to supplement the inadequate Israeli education system. Each day children are out of school, our job becomes that much more critical and difficult. We need the support of the schools, the teachers, the government and the parents. How can we help a system that can not muster the energy or excitement to help itself?

She also told me something even more troubling. Many of the children in disadvantaged communities have used this time off to find jobs that will help supplement their household income. Getting these kids back into school now that their families depend on the extra income may be difficult once the strike is over.

I don’t know enough about Israeli politics and unions to say who is right or wrong in this case, and while those in charge continue to debate the issue, I would encourage them to focus on the real matter at hand—that no matter what the final agreement reached may be, the children are the ones who have been coming in last.

For further commentary on the situation, I offer the links below:

Ha'aretz: Story of a 12th Grade Student

Jerusalem Post: Government Not Taking the Strike Seriously

Ha'aretz: One Teacher's Story