| Reality is bursting out all over. |
A new study by Shoresh Institution indicates that Haredi parents as well as Arab Israelis may be choosing to register their children in non-Haredi religious and secular schools to ensure they study core curriculum subjects, to safeguard their children’s economic independence and ability to work in a competitive economy.
First graders in 2009 are children born in 2003, right after the massive cuts in welfare that induced many Israelis to enter the labor market for the first time in their lives, he explained. "It is quite possible that the shock of their ill-preparedness led more than a few parents to ensure that their children have a better start when they grow up."
Haredi birth rates began falling in 2003,
| Golly — just as the massive welfare cuts happened. |
A similar pattern appears to have been developing among Moslem Arabs who have increasingly entered the middle class and desire a better education for their children than is currently given in Moslem schools, he added. "As a result, many have begun to register their children in Arab Christian schools ‐ which are substantially better ‐ and in Jewish schools in the mixed cities."
Even so, the report said, the populations in Israel that are growing the fastest ‐ the Haredi and the Moslems ‐ are also those that are still receiving the worst education, and roughly half of Israel’s children are receiving a Third World education.