Slippery Slope

Ariel University is opening a separate course of study intended solely for men.

(Hebrew – Kipa)

The principal of Ironi H high school in Tel-Aviv, Yehoram Levi, told his students that “a youth that refuses to be drafted to the IDF  for reasons of conscience or religion does not deserve to be a citizen of this country and get its services.”

(Hebrew – mynet)

The Education Ministry has neglected to translate the material for its new civics curriculum into Arabic, Israel’s second official language, even though all schools have been required to teach it since the start of the current school year and students will be tested on it in the matriculation exam given this summer.

A study by Van Leer Institute scholar Dr. Yusri Khaizran concludes that the Arabic language studies for Druze schoolchildren are being used to deepen a sense of Druze identity as separate from the Arab community by filtering out Arab nationalist writers and works that relate to a broader Arab literary context. (Haaretz)

(Hebrew – Haaretz)

Many science teachers claim that in supplementary training sessions they are instructed not to teach evolution in their classes out of consideration for the religious sector.

(Hebrew – nrg)

According to a plan by Minister of Education Gideon Sa’ar one of the items affecting school budgets and teacher bonuses will be the percentage of students who perform military or civilian national service. (Haaretz)

(Hebrew – Haaretz)

According to the State Comptroller’s annual report released yesterday, core subjects are not taught properly in National Religious schools, with English being neglected almost entirely.  In addition, standardized test scores of students in National Religious schools are significantly lower than those of students in regular state schools.  Furthermore, many complaints have been received about the integration of families from religious outreach groups (“garin torani”) in National Religious kindergartens and schools, which results in radicalization in areas such as the separation of boys and girls and allowing rabbis into kindergartens, as well as about the fact that many teachers are not being prescreened to asses their background and education.

(Hebrew - Walla)

A new high school civics textbook portrays immigrants from the former Soviet Union as immigrating for mainly financial purposes and as Christians or having no religion.  These claims are not backed by any statistical facts. (Arutz Sheva)

(Hebrew - nrg)

A Bar-Ilan University academic course titled “Marital Communication” is open only to women and has a prerequisite of at least one year of marriage. (Haaretz)

According to a recent study by a group of academics, artists and students, 10% of the academic faculty in Israel are labeled by the organizations “Im Tirzu”, “IsraCampus” and “Israel Academia Monitor” as anti-Zionist and their publications and statements are quoted disapprovingly.