This article reads like John Taylor Gatto in a nutshell.

Arutz Sheva, Israel Broadcasting Network, Bet El, Israel, 13 December 2006, State-Financed Education: Pass or Fail?

And therein lays the universal problem of state-sponsored education in providing an atmosphere where children can learn. The combination of “state” and “education” is something that I contend is an oxymoron, as many Israeli parents are beginning to find out now.

…

… I don’t doubt that the people who set up the Israeli learning system had the best of intentions, most of them anyway. As the beast grew in size and demands, however, good intentions became social engineering, secular propaganda and forced attendance. Taxes increased, yet the students became less interested in what learning still takes place and input from parents was less tolerated. Problems worsened as the state’s funding lessened, supposedly because the system needs more careful management. In actuality, some politicians didn’t want to be seen as pounding sand down a rat hole. When all else fails, slash and burn the other guy’s budget.

Bureaucracies seems to be bureaucracies the world around.

Is it any wonder that more adults are keeping their kids home these days and providing their own form of education?

… If home-schooling is not for you, then forming a private school with other parents would be a great alternative, as it still lets you control funding and curriculum.

And cultural differences between populations is another world-wide consistency.

Not only has Minister Tamir managed to antagonize whole sections of the population by redrawing the textbook boundaries of Israel in favor of the Arab Palestinians, …

posted by Valerie

Tags: curriculum, home-schooling, private school, state-sponsored education

This entry was posted on January 1, 2007 at 1:10 pm and is filed under International News, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.