Quantity vs. Quality

Neal Sandler's article "The Crisis in Israel's Classrooms" in the November 19 issue of Business Week addresses the ongoing decline of Israel's education system, a crisis that has been brewing for decades. However, like many others, Mr. Sandler is quick to erroneously blame budget cuts for the "breakdown in [the] financially strapped school system." While there have been cuts, Israel's current level of education spending at 8.3% of GDP is far greater as a percentage than that of countries like Japan, South Korea, Finland and Sweden that continuously rank at the top of international education surveys, including the one referenced in this article.

As any good Businessweek reader knows, it is not what you spend, but how you spend it. And throwing more money at a broken system isn’t a solution. For decades, Israel's education system has been managed poorly—if at all—and as a result, many of the country's citizens are woefully undereducated with few tools to help them compete in a knowledge-driven, global economy. The societal impact of this crisis has been felt for years, but perhaps now that a financial motivating factor has brought it to the world's attention, Israel will give its education system the overhaul it needs and its citizens deserve.

In the meantime, not-for-profit organizations, like the one I run, must continue working from the outside to improve the system. Until Israel is willing and able to undertake major educational reform, the work of external, well-managed entities is a critical supplement to the meager offerings of the country’s own system.