68
I want to take you with me for a moment to my first days in the 7th grade, about all the challenges that accompany them - the transition to middle school, puberty and along with it the self-doubt and the need for approval from the environment.
Try to remember a teacher who was especially significant for you at that time, whether for better or for worse.
I remember teacher N. (full name kept in the traumatic memories system), the math teacher.
Her face was very white, she used to apply makeup that was too light for her skin.
She had a collection of fleece skirts with multiple pleats in three colors: dark blue, brown and black, always ironed to perfection.
Over the skirt she always wore a white or light blue button up shirt.
She wore high, thick and rough heels, spoke in a low tone and in general often gave the impression that she was not happy with us.
The first math test in middle school made me feel like a failure, so I remember exactly the grade I got: 68. At the age of 12, I didn't know how to deal with failure at all, no one taught me.
I got home, hid the test deep in the wardrobe, locked the door to the room and propped a chair on the handle so my mother couldn't open the door.
She knocked and knocked and asked what happened, but I refused to tell her.
I made a plan of action: I will study from this moment without a break until the next test and only after I manage to get a good grade, I will tell my parents about the previous grade.
It's not that my parents were strict about grades, absolutely not, it's me who didn't know how to overcome the shame.
For the next test I prepared excessively and left the test with a feeling of fear, because I did not know how I did and I did not want to compare with other children.
After a week and a half N. entered the class and announced that at the end of the class she would return the tests.
She stood in front of us, pressed her heels together, her toes pointing in opposite directions, opened her hands and placed them on the folds of her skirt, then announced: "There is only one girl in the class who got a 100."
She turned her gaze in my direction without moving her palms and added: "It's you, Paula."
My heart beat at record speed and I felt happy, but then N. continued: "I don't really understand how you got 100 after the bad grade you got last time. There are two possibilities: either last time you were too lazy to study, or this time you managed to copy from someone smart."
In an instant the joy turned to stagnation, then to insult, then to guilt.
I didn't have the mental strength and verbal skills that I have today to put her in her place.
I came home angry and hurt, I shared with my parents the perfect grade I got, but I couldn't really be happy about my achievement.
I spent the next three years in which N taught me trying to avoid the need to talk to her or look at her, and I did the minimum necessary to finish each semester with good grades, but God forbid not invest too much and excel in her shift again.
Tour Guides
Each of us has at least one story about the teacher thanks to whom he learned to recognize abilities he didn't believe he had.
I was lucky enough to run into teacher Ora at the end of first grade, and she was the only one who made me believe that I would know Hebrew and even like reading and writing in this strange language.
The positive experiences and the horrible experiences from the school mainly prove one thing: teachers are not just service people who pass on knowledge to our children, they are very dominant figures in their lives, who strongly influence self-confidence, the sense of competence and the way of dealing with failure.
These are the most important things for healthy development, along with physical function.
We are supposed to treat their actions and the responsibilities they have, at least in the same way we treat the family doctor when our child has a fever.
Our children's mental lives are in their hands, much more than we manage or are willing to admit.
Economics of education
Everyone has an opinion on the serious crisis between the teachers and the Ministry of Finance.
I believe that this conflict is not only about money, but also and perhaps mainly about values and status.
The teachers also want us to go out on the balcony and applaud them, and in my opinion - quite rightly so.
If we tried to deal with their deep claim instead of sticking a band-aid again that will only last until the next conflict, maybe a real change would take place here.
Beautiful words will not change the reality: as a country, we do not place the education of the future generation at the top of our priorities, and as evidence - the education system is not run like a profitable business.
The state does not incentivize the best people to stay in the system, and with fancy words like "mission" and "holy work" you don't go to the grocery store.
The state abandoned its teachers a long time ago.
The Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Education leave the school principals alone to deal with the teachers' plight.
broken system
The numbers speak for themselves.
The number of teachers abandoning teaching in Israel increased by 50 percent this year.
This is not only a local trend, the USA has also been experiencing a similar crisis for several years. The starting salary of a teacher, as of the end of the current school year, is about NIS 6,800 for a full-time position.
When economic interests and ego are mixed together, the result is a spoiled stew that blocks the ability to solve the crisis: those with wealth and power, who own the state coffers, try to hold on to it by any means possible, regardless of the wealth of the coffers, but as a world view, mainly by oppressing the powerless.
There is no mechanism that would allow an outstanding teacher the incentives she deserves.
If you are a teacher who regularly devotes more than is required, takes care of students' personal matters at the expense of your time, invests in conversations to detect even the most subtle signs of distress in the quiet child who hardly comes to school, you will receive warm words from the child's parents and a lot of satisfaction - but a system that does not Knows how to point out the excellent ones within which is a broken system.
When I meet teachers who choose to stay in such a system despite everything, I think they are probably some kind of saints, because being satisfied with satisfaction and a sense of mission without pay that you can finish the month with, is not a rational act.
Or are we talking about people who are completely free of financial worries and choose teaching as an almost voluntary act?
It's hard for me to think of other reasons that encourage people to stay in a problematic system.
Public sector teachers and school principals find themselves courting teachers who have just finished teaching to join their ranks.
The teachers' representatives, for their part, try to maximize their financial interest and the power that can serve their interests.
The money that already exists in the system is dedicated to those who have accumulated seniority, and not necessarily according to ability or quality.
And who is ultimately hurt by this screwed up system?
Right, the kids.
Laws of souls
N., my math teacher, could work in any other job, where it has no effect on the self-worth of girls and boys.
But there was no way then and there is no way today to remove teachers like N. from the system, unless they commit a particularly extreme act, and this is because the Ministry of Education does not have any quality indicators that are not related to grades and tests.
Teachers who are impatient and lack empathy and compassion, who hurt the souls of the children and scar them for life, can continue to work for many years and even receive a raise based on seniority, and there is no way to prevent them from meeting more and more delicate souls that they may hurt.
And in the same breath, teachers who save the lives of children, who accompany them in restoring their self-worth, who do the impossible after the parents have given up, do not receive any kind of incentive or upgrade in status within the system.
Teaching grader
Think about your natural reaction when you meet someone on the street and ask her what she does, and she answers: "Engineer at a high-tech company."
An amazed "wow" immediately comes out of our mouths.
When someone says that she is a school teacher, we get a kind of "Shhh... well done".
In this case we don't admire, but a little pity and even a little contempt, if we're honest.
The teachers' war is also a war for their status and not only for the salary.
They cry out for the kind of appreciation that academic researchers, doctors receive - because the teachers also deal with soul law.
After all, "death and life in the hand of the tongue" (Proverbs 18, verse 21) - teachers can build and destroy the life of a girl or boy through their communication with them and their attitude.
You will not convince me that it is less important than any other way to save lives.
The conditions of competition and the effect of excellence at work should be compared to those existing in other professions and teachers should be rewarded according to their scores in satisfaction surveys, just as they measure students, just as they measure every person who provides a service.
Bankruptcy
It may sound strange, but in order to fix the education system, it must be treated in business terms.
The paradox at the base of the teacher's salary calculation method lies in the fact that the qualities required to create a productive employee that generates profit are not tested at all and certainly not rewarded.
The teachers' skills, which have the most profound effect on the customers, i.e. the students, are not measured by the system at all.
What profitable business would survive like that?
The answer, of course, is that no business company would dare to hire professionals without measuring the quality of the products of the key employees in the business, because such a company is doomed to failure and bankruptcy.
The teachers want us to appreciate them for their hard work.
This appreciation, in the bottom line, translates into money, but not only.
Still, a salary that reflects the investment and the effort and the achievements is a good start.
Now, let's go back for a moment to teacher N from middle school.
She met hundreds of kids who tackled algebra and equations in two blinks, and still brutally solved the puzzle of my test score: either I underestimated or I copied.
There is no room for development, for effort, no room for the experience of her student.
In a proper education system, a teacher who does not understand that investment and effort should be encouraged, will be expelled, but when the Ministry of Education does not see the effort and investment of those who work in its service, how will the employees be able to see the students differently?
• Paula Rosenberg: To life old beginnings and new depths
Jacob and I, the two newcomers to the class.
Just before all the good and bad experiences and encounters with the Israeli education system,
Do this to me:
I would like to recommend the "Pottercast" podcast, hosted by Moran Clapper.
The podcast follows three people who have never read the "Harry Potter" books.
During the chapter, they read the chapters together with Moran, and analyze the reactions and feelings together.
I came to the podcast to understand a little more about the magical world of Harry Potter, and to try to crack the reason why these books have such a large fan base.
I stayed because it's really fascinating, a recorded Book Club kind of thing.
Really not just for children and teenagers.
Made me want to read the books from the series that I haven't read yet.
I intend to listen to more episodes together with my daughters Sheila and Arbel, it's a great way to be involved in their world and develop in-depth conversations.
Info@paulanatural.co.il
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