Israel – Charedi Teachers Fail General Knowledge Test

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    Israel – A survey conducted among ultra-Orthodox teachers has uncovered a worrying lack of basic knowledge – including the words to the national anthem, Napoleon’s nationality, and even the word for Shabbat in English.

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    Thus, for example, the Yedioth Ahronoth daily interviewed A., a 26-year old yeshiva student who tutors at a heder, or a religious elementary school, in Jerusalem.

    “I go there every day for an hour, and receive $300 cash a month. It’s not much, but it’s cash so that’s nice. It’s great money for an hour of work a day,” he said. As to the subjects A. teaches, they include Math, Hebrew, and “a little about the destruction of the second temple”.

    “Of course the content is suitable for the haredi sector,” he said. “We don’t teach Zionism.”

    When asked whether the students are taught subjects such as Science, History, Literature, or English – which are considered basic subjects by the state – A. answers, “Never.”

    He went on to describe the pupils’ day. “After morning prayers, at 8:30, we enter the heder. In the morning we study Torah,” said A. “Only the last hour of school is dedicated to basic subjects.”

    The study by Yedioth Ahronoth was a sequel to its report two weeks ago, in which the paper revealed that many of the schools receiving funds from the state for teaching basic subjects were actually teaching almost nothing on the Education Ministry’s curriculum.

    Calculations by the ministry show that around $7 million are going to waste every year because of this, and the lack of supervision in the schools. Two inspectors charged with maintaining the Education Ministry’s standards were found to have made false reports on the number of hours of basic subjects being taught: By reporting on more hours of basic subjects the supervisors obtained extra funding for the schools.

    An official at the Justice Ministry was unsurprised, and told the paper the schools had many adjustments to make before basic subjects could be taught. “They have no teachers and no books,” she said.

    Yedioth Ahronoth put together a test, which included 10 questions taken from lesson plans for grades 1-3 on the various basic subjects – Math, Hebrew, History, Civics, Science, and English. The exam, simplistic by all accounts, included questions such as: ‘On which continent is Israel located?’ ‘Who was Napoleon?’ and ‘What is the square root of 81?’

    The paper presented the test as a survey of general knowledge to 25 teachers from the haredi sector as well 25 teachers who work at state schools.

    The results were shocking. Among haredi teachers, the average score was 59, with 40% of those tested getting five or more questions wrong. Half of those tested did not know how to complete the first line of the national anthem after having been given the three first words out of four. One answered: “I don’t know and I don’t want to know.” Another wondered if it was a line from the bible. There were a few who knew the answer but could not recite the second line. When asked the meaning of the word “Saturday”, 65% did not know. Among the answers were: The name of a month, the name of a meal, and “the day of the star”.

    Many spelled the words “spelling mistake” wrong. Napoleon was declared a Russian emperor and an IDF chief of staff. The boiling point was named 42 and 60 degrees Celsius. Israel was said to be located in Europe. One of those tested got nine questions correct. “Did I get 100?” he asked, but was told he did not, because he could not complete the first line of the national anthem. “In that case I got 101,” he scoffed.

    Teachers belonging to state schools received an average of 96, and many were surprised at the simplicity of the quiz. Some enlightened the auditor on the various subjects involved, such as Napoleon’s beliefs and conquests. One teacher talked about the scale that preceded Celsius and Fahrenheit, which he said was computed by Sir Isaac Newton. Another recounted the history of the word ‘Saturday’, and explained that it was derived from the name ‘Saturn’.

    Granted, these teachers would probably not have excelled as well at questions on Torah and Talmud, but the paper stressed that the issue at hand was that of basic subjects, which the educators tested were supposed to be teaching at the time they were quizzed.

    The state has stipulated recently that haredi teachers must be certified by one of the various teaching colleges located throughout the country. Certification requires three years, and uncertified educators who were already teaching were required to complete two years of studies.

    But reality paints an entirely different picture. Many rabbis have ordered haredi teachers to begin working first, and then consider getting certified. In addition, the inspectors ordered to make sure only certified teachers are working in the schools are the same inspectors who were revealed by Yedioth Ahronoth to be drawing up false reports on the basic subjects taught in schools.

    And their conduct was found to be no different when it came to supervising the teachers’ education. A quick check revealed that 15% of teachers were still in the process of achieving certification, while the other 85% had records with the Education Ministry which had never been verified. Because of the lack of supervisors, no one had gone over the files to ascertain that the teachers are certified, as per the new order.

    Yedioth Ahronoth interviewed 10 haredi teachers from Bnei Brak, Jerusalem, Ashdod, and Elad, none of whom has a teaching certificate. Some of them were not even aware of the requirement, and were unfamiliar with the concept. When asked whether he would be willing to obtain such training one of the interviewees answered that his experience of 10 years in the field was more than enough. “I’m certain the rabbis won’t allow this oppression to continue,” he said.

    ‘I’ll never learn English at age 32’

    In the haredi sector, any teacher of basic subjects (no matter which) is called a “Schreiber”, or a writer. Usually, one such Schreiber is charged with teaching each grade all of the basic subjects they are meant to study.

    When basic subjects are taught in haredi schools, it is usually at the end of the day, when both student and teacher are tired, and in many cases they are relinquished entirely. This is problematic because these are the only studies the haredi children have in common with the Western world, and involvement in the job market becomes nearly impossible for those who don’t learn them.

    Many economists believe this is the reason 65% of haredi men are unemployed. “Schreiber is a derogatory term,” says R., a 32-year old haredi man who has recently begun to study in secret at the Open University.

    “If we flunked the Schreiber subjects or cut class everything was fine, as though nothing had happened. The only thing that was important was Torah studies, at which we had to excel and get good grades. There was a test on the Talmud almost every week, but there were often no tests on Schreiber subjects, or just one a year,” he said.

    “I will never forget the shame I suffered when I tried to make up what I lacked. The courses I take at the Open University are also attended by secular and National-Religious people, and often when I ask questions people stare and make fun of me behind my back. I don’t know English to this day, and I doubt that at my age I will be able to learn it.”

    ‘No one knows what they teach’

    Girls are a different matter. Their education has vastly improved over the past few years and most study all of the basic subjects in school. This revolution was led mainly by the (female) teachers, most of whom are certified and many of whom have gone on to study degrees. But most male teachers have only finished eight years of formal education, and because of the lack of supervision it is often difficult to know what, exactly, these men are teaching their students.

    “No one actually knows what or how they teach, or what they know aside from Torah. Haredi education is largely obscured from the view of the secular public, and supervision is irrelevant. They do whatever they want,” said Dr. Nahum Balas, who researches the education system.

    Dr. Yaakov Lopo, another researcher, stressed the lack of standardized testing in the haredi sector. “When these tests do not exist no one knows what the level of knowledge and education is and there are no objective measurements,” he said. “You can’t check the teachers’ level either. I think the teachers there are mainly chosen according to relations, contacts, and their level of knowledge on the Torah.”

    And unqualified teachers who are otherwise unemployed stand to gain quite a lot from such part-time work. A haredi family of six in which neither of the parents work receives between $1,040-1,300 a month. Even an additional $300 is a relative goldmine.

    “Most of the teachers receive cash handed to them each month, without contracts or wage agreements,” Dr. Lopo said. “Usually the amount is set in dollars, and the rate in shekels is not set according to the bank but rather by the rabbis. They determine the rate of the dollar, they determine what is studied, and they determine what our society will look like.”

    When presented with the findings, the Education Ministry was evasive. “The ministry has no knowledge regarding the identity of these teachers,” said a formal statement on the uncertified teachers located by the paper. It should be mentioned that the demand for certification was stipulated by the ministry three years ago, and includes all teachers, haredi and secular.

    Regarding the claim that the ministry had not verified the certification of 85% of haredi teachers despite having records on them in its possession, the ministry stated that “the additional supervision demanded by the ministry will lead to maintenance in this field”.


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    58 Comments
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    Raphael Kaufman
    Raphael Kaufman
    13 years ago

    I’m shocked…shocked!

    BenB
    BenB
    13 years ago

    It always boggles my mind how these chareidim allow themselves to be used by the secular newspapers for their own selfish reasons. Why be interviewed just to be cast in such a negative light? Who are these idiotic teachers that allowed themselves to be fodder for chareidi bashing?
    The yediot and ha-aretz newspapers have an agenda, and you chareidi teachers played right into their hands…….

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    13 years ago

    we are chareidi, and proud of it!!!!!!! there is what to improve in every aspect of life, our kids education included. but, being as we are a jewish nation, and being jewish means learning and knowing what it means and entails to be jewish, i am proud that our children excell in those subjects. if given the choice of a frum kids education or the typical chiloni, i would pick the frum kids any day. as if knowing the national anthem and napoleons nationality will be the deciding factor in my kids getting a job or not.

    Jerry G
    Jerry G
    13 years ago

    If you don’t like the State, don’t take their money. But, by taking their money and teaching the kids no Limudai Chol, you have violated your implied contract with the state. One may think that they’re doing G-d’s work by teaching Torah. However, if it’s at the expense of taking money that rightfully shouldn’t be taken, is this halachicly proper?

    On a more general question: G-d did not make us to be beggars. With little education, what are these children who are the future Klal Yisrael to do? Some will have a good head and go into business. The vast majority will end up poor. And, they will blame their poverty on the state or on something else. If we’re lucky, they’ll say that it is Hashem’s will that they be poor.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    13 years ago

    just trying to blame the charadim let them cancel army service you will see who is better at making money even without knowing if nepolean was a zionist look at them in the u.s. much more openminded in bussiness then the so called educated in general knowledge

    Common Sense
    Common Sense
    13 years ago

    BH

    Lets test the secular schools on Hebrew studies or the results of our system versus the failures of theirs.

    Anon Ibid Opcit
    Anon Ibid Opcit
    13 years ago

    “I go there every day for an hour, and receive $300 cash a month. It’s not much, but it’s cash so that’s nice. It’s great money for an hour of work a day,” If he’s being paid to do something which he is not doing and in which he is not even competent he is taking money under false pretenses.

    Shimon
    Shimon
    13 years ago

    This sounds pretty bad. While some of these things sound kind of arbitrary (Saturday in English), others, like knowing temperatures, seem like basic life skills.

    If somebody, especially a child, has a fever that gets out of control, that can be life-threatening. How would you monitor this without a thermometer and the knowledge of how to use one?

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    13 years ago

    this is nothing new. this problem exists in england and america too. what else is new?

    kishke lovers
    kishke lovers
    13 years ago

    i am proud of this man, he is a real Ben Torah, he is the way a Jew should be, but i only think he should learn english..we dont have to learn from the outside world..do you see other religions learning about Yiddishkeit and our history?? i mamish dont think so..

    Liberalism Is A Disease!!!
    Liberalism Is A Disease!!!
    13 years ago

    “A survey conducted among ultra-Orthodox teachers has uncovered a worrying lack of basic knowledge – including the words to the national anthem, Napoleon’s nationality, and even the word for Shabbat in English.”

    These are such STUPID points, I wanna barf! WHO CARES! Its NOT important.

    I probably only know the national anthem from all the sporting events I have gone to.

    Does it make a difference where Napolean came from? All I know it was some creme puff of a country.

    As far as “Shabbat” in english, SHABBOS but that is something too many izzys dont know about. Besides, why should they know it in English? Maybe they should know is in Swahili? It means the same to an Israeli!

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    13 years ago

    “A haredi family of six in which neither of the parents work receives between $1,040-1,300 a month.”

    WRONG!!! Try $600/mo
    $400 child allowance + $200 welfare

    come on
    come on
    13 years ago

    I’d like to see what would happen if yediot would ask those same secular teachers some basic questions about Judaism. Like the first line of the bible or who Moshe’s brother was. name 4 of the shevatim.
    I live in Queens NY in a predominantly Israeli neighborhood and you’d be surprised on how little these guys know. Their secular schools never taught them about Gd.
    So i ask you what is more important knowing the square root of 81 or the root of all existence? better to know Napoleon’s nationality or our own.
    Come on lets stop picking on the people who want to devote there lives to Gd just b/c we don’t. The undertone of the article is an embarrassment to us all. Halavai all of us should have less of this junk in our heads and more Torah.

    Ash
    Ash
    13 years ago

    I am a product of a charedi education and even I know that 25 teachers is not sufficient sample size to draw any sort of conclusion.

    I would like to know how many of the 25 Chiloni teachers could answer basic Jewish questions such as why we shake luluav on sukkos. I dread to know the results but from such as small number, I wouldn’t dare draw conclusions.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    13 years ago

    I don’t understand why they chose those questions. It seems they obviously had an agenda. Why should the national anthem be important to anyone other than zionists. They sit in yeshiva and learn גמרא all day why the heck should they know any of that stuff. Let’s give the zionists a test and see what they know about real judiasm. What do they know about the תורה?

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    13 years ago

    I agree with the posters who questioned the relevancy of knowing the anthem and Napoleon’s nationality, but not knowing basic math and science is unaccptable.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    13 years ago

    This motzei shabbos a big siyum hashas took place in Satmar yeshiva camp in Swan Lake, a 17 year old bochur finished shas, he’s the fourth bochur in Satmar williamsburg yeshiva to finish entire shas this year.
    I don’t if those bochurim know how to say shabbos in English, but you can ask them anything in shas and they do know it! This is our pride.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    13 years ago

    “Everything from Torah to Shulan Aruch commands us not to lie, not to defraud and not to steal”

    why would you think this applies to those “teaching” the chareidi community?

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    13 years ago

    I’m tired of the secular lies.Girls now have a good education and simply because of hate against chareidim can’t get good jobs as has be shownin study after study.So why should the men bother,when it won’t help them find parnosoh?

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    13 years ago

    16 Av

    They have forsaken Me, the source of life-giving waters, to dig wells that cannot give water (Jeremiah 2:13).

    In a world filled with nationalistic pride, where nations, ethnic groups, and individuals are all searching for their historic roots, it is nothing less than mind-boggling that a people who has an unparalleled wealth of recorded and documented history and literature would so ignore its rich heritage. What do most Jewish children know about their people? Only a fraction receive more than a fragmentary awareness of Jewish history. All can identify Twain and Poe, but few know Maimonides or Yehudah HaLevi. They are likely to know much about Nathan Hale and even Simon Bolivar but have never heard of Rabbi Akiva and Bar Kochba. They may remember the Alamo, but not Massada.

    Why do we so despise ourselves? Where is our pride? How can we expect our youth to develop a sense of self-esteem if by our own dereliction we fail to convey to them a justified sense of pride in who they are?

    We do not need to drink at others’ wells. Our own is filled with sweet, life-sustaining water. from aish.com daily “Growing each day”

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    13 years ago

    “I go there every day for an hour, and receive $300 cash a month. It’s not much, but it’s cash so that’s nice.”

    And if it were not cash but a check (i.e., traceable), would it be as nice?

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    13 years ago

    Liberalism Is A Disease!!! Says:

    “Does it make a difference where Napolean came from? All I know it was some creme puff of a country”

    Actually, it DOES make a difference where NapoleOn came from. He was Corsican, not French. This has implications which are relevant today regarding the national character of the French people!

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    13 years ago

    the difference between secular schools not teaching judaism and religious schools not teaching secular subjects is you need to know secular subjects in order to make a living. You dont need to know any Judaism if you live a secular life-style.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    13 years ago

    They’re being paid by the state to teach secular subjects. By not knowing anything, these people are committing fraud against the Israeli taxpayer. If people want to learn all day fine, but that doesn’t mean you get to take money out of the pockets of the rest of the country.

    ADP
    ADP
    13 years ago

    I go to college and most Jews there don’t even know Aleph Beis let alone anything about Judaism. I think thats more shocking than not knowing where Napeleon is from ect which isn’t really relevant to every day life unless you are a historian.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    13 years ago

    Don’t forget that American Charedi educators are not better. I had to deal with 1 yeshiva administrator in Boro Park; the “rabbi” couldn’t write a basic paragraph in English, so he desperately asked me to write out the letter of contract. I was shocked to say the least. I know that English is not something that they value, but a school administrator has to have this skill, at east on a high school level.

    Richard Dawkin did a show about quality of education in Charedi and Muslim schools in U.K. He basically told the schools’ principals that they were committing human rights violations by not giving the children opportunity to expand and survive in this world by dumbing them down and indoctrinating them with a narrow path to life. I think the guy is right to some degree. These children grow up without sufficient knowledge, can’t gain sophisticated skills, are stuck in the quagmire of poverty and depend on others to survive. That’s why extremism breeds out of ignorance and frustration.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    13 years ago

    my husband did the 300 dollar teaching while we lived in israel when we came back this year, he sat himself down and got his GED all with his 7 th grade education, its not a matter of brains rather of principal, the secular government needs to make education appealing to our schools, explain how it can help in gemara, and as well as figuring out finacing in the future, maybe make text books that are torah based science, think Rabbi katzs book on science, etc. which could open our childrens minds and allow them to explore these ideas that merge 2 worlds

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    13 years ago

    Girls are a different matter. Of course! They’re the ones that have to go out to work and support the family!
    This travesty, however, is done with the knowledge and cooperation of the secular society and government in Israel, which is why it has gone on for so long.

    shlomo zalman
    shlomo zalman
    13 years ago

    A bochur or teacher who knows shas and poskim but doesn’t have basic knowledge in worldly matters gets schar limud hatorah, but he should be kept away from everyone else, he is more a danger than an asset.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    13 years ago

    I would like to see how secular teachers in the medine score on Jewish knowledge. And I am proud that I do know the words to the Jewish national anthem, Ani Maamin, as well as to the real anthem for that state, Hashem Hu Malkeinu. The hymn to kefira and kochi veoitzem yodi is not allowed in my dalet amois.

    Aaron
    Aaron
    13 years ago

    WOW !!!! I am so proud that are still such teachers !! I have young children and am always worried when I see Charidim learning from the Goiyim !! Now I am proud

    And BTW, do you know that to read/sing/write the Israeli national anthem is not allowed according to our Torah……. Go ask your Rabbi !!

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    13 years ago

    To #10 Are you going to support these children if they remain ignorant, when they grow up, because the school did not send them a certified teacher who had a little more saychel?? These children are being denied a proper education!! Can you not see that or are you too blind??

    shimon taylor
    shimon taylor
    13 years ago

    It might be helpful to know more general knowledge, with the exact details, but it is certainly not the first priority in yidishkeit. Halevai all students learn about tora and yiras shomayim and anovo and shiflus and simcha and concept of bitul hayesh etc.
    There is SOOOOOOO much to learn about being a yid, it’s really a disgrace if someone knows some general knowledge before he know the importan things first.
    It would show he is doing the wrong things with his time.
    I respect those teachers who DO know, but the one who got almost 100% and said that because he did NOT know some of the national anthem he got 101%, I totally agree! He should LOSE points if he did know it!

    anonymous
    anonymous
    13 years ago

    I hope those fine chareidi who are living off liberalism that is State funds in Israel {treifene medina] and leftist programs in the U.S. section 8 , VIC and food stamps daven that these give aways continue. I wonder what you gaonim thnink about the Rambam who was fluent in Arabic, Latin and Greek and probably read Virgil, Plato, Pythagoras and Archimedes. By the way he also was a physician to the Sultan

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    13 years ago

    What honor is there in being a beggar? These kids will grow up to be the people who travel to the US and beg baalei batim at shacharis for help with a wedding/surgery/etc.

    No one is saying these kids need to learn English literature, but they should be able to write coherently and do math.Unfortunately these schools don’t even meet that criteria.

    Luke
    Luke
    13 years ago

    Just another form of child abuse albeit one sanctioned by the parents. As I said before, I have taught in a number of haredi schools and the rebbe “approved” curriculum is appalling. Why is learning secular history, english writing skills and math a threat? Why can we not have haredi doctors, accountants and certified teachers? We did in the past, why not now? I think we know the answer and it is sad.

    Jimmy37
    Jimmy37
    13 years ago

    Even Hashem had to teach Bezalel and crew all the crafts necessary to build a Mishkan. Hashem didn’t just created it for them. They had to work on it themselves. You’d think that chareidim would get a clue from that. Ignorance is against the Torah.