Perhaps I should begin with full disclosure: I hold a part-time teaching and research position at a university institution, and see firsthand how the academic system is lying on the fence for the reservists. This is very true at the administrative level, whose people go out of their way to engineer the complex logistics of dismantling and assembling educational systems, to build support systems for students and recruited students, to maintain ongoing contact with anyone who needs assistance, advice, guidance, information – and financial support. I see firsthand my colleagues among the academic staff – some of whom are recruited themselves – personally involved in solving problems for students, adapting lesson plans or re-preparing study materials – alongside the research activity, which has also been adapted to the new reality.
Jerusalem Brigade reservists fighting in Gaza | Written and photographed: Avi Cohen
That's why it's hard to decipher the insistence of university leaders to start the school year on December 31 at all costs, despite the frustration expressed by students on the front lines. The IDF asked the heads of the universities to postpone studies by two weeks, to mid-January, and the chairman of the committee of university heads proposed an alternative outline, in which the school year would begin on the specified date, followed by a vacation of filling gaps for students who would be released by then.
One can understand the academic establishment: its leaders have an enormous responsibility towards the economy and society as a whole; Delays in accrediting professionals and experts have complex consequences. But these consequences are marginal compared to the danger to social cohesion in wartime.
Where is the solidarity
The simple question is: What is the message being conveyed to combatants whose lives were put on hold in October and put on hold until further notice? What are they supposed to feel when they wallow in the mud of Gaza, taking risks, getting injured, while their undrafted comrades can continue building their future? Universities promise to solve pedagogical difficulties: to help complete materials and close gaps. But it is clear that the learning experience and the quality of teaching will diminish. Obviously, a great burden will be placed on the shoulders of a student who enters a semester that began without him a month or two late. And most of all, it is clear that something much deeper has been stolen from them: the learning experience itself, life as a student.
Students on campus, photo: freepic.diller / freepik
These are not trifles. This has a deep connection to the role of a university as a social institution with a clear commitment to the moral and moral character of society. And with all the understanding of the unimaginable logistical turmoil and the devastating consequences of the training and certification processes, it is impossible to give frontline students the feeling that they are being left behind. That life goes on without them – and we'll manage when they come.
This is exactly the same message of obtuseness and "at all costs" that emerges from the outrageous insistence on holding local elections on the specified date. A cold shoulder from the government and the public system to candidates who are drafted into the reserves, to officials connected to the elections, and to tens of thousands of voters who doubt whether they will be able to seriously exercise their right to vote at the mobile polling station in Sejaiya. This is not just a cold shoulder: it is the terrible feeling that an essential component of controlling an individual's future – determining his chosen ones and acquiring an education – may be taken away from him.
Local elections (illustrative), photo: Noam Rivkin Fenton
It is a matter of basic solidarity with the combatants, but also of the willingness of the public system to demonstrate flexibility and sensitivity to social needs in times of war. To start the school year is to invite pressure from the enlisted students, to put them in tension – and thus stand with a stopwatch in front of the army. After all, it is clear that as long as the war continues, or, God forbid, gets complicated, for the enlisted students this year will be lost.
Reservists in northern Israel (illustrative), photo: Eyal Margolin, Ginny
And here's another statistic that needs to be taken into consideration: The expectation that a fighter will take off his uniform, refresh himself at home and flow lightly on Sunday morning to the auditorium and campus routine is unfounded. They will need time to adjust, space to recover, and since war is a powerful and formative experience, perhaps also to rethink the course of their interests and professional and personal future. This means that for many students, the school year is lost even if the war ends in a landslide victory this coming Saturday night.
Complete safety net
If universities want to start the academic year so as not to delay those who can study in the two-phase framework, they need to offer a much more holistic outline. Not only a solution to the logistical difficulties of opening the semester and adjusting schedules, but full security for students on the front lines: ensuring full tuition funding and financial support for students who may lose the entire year, and greater flexibility for those who wish to change their choice of department or postpone their studies.
Hebrew University, Photo: Dudi Vaknin
The same flexibility that the Board of University Heads showed in the first weeks of the war should now be discovered about steroids – and think far outside the box. But he cannot do it alone: the government must intervene and ensure that academic institutions have a full budgetary safety net, and allow university leaders to assure students that no one is left behind – not this year, not next year, not in two years. A few weeks ago, the Minister of Education announced the establishment of a new university in the north. With all due respect, what the Ministry of Education needs to establish immediately is a logistical and budgetary system that will enable existing and veteran universities to fulfill their role and mission, and to serve Israeli society in its difficult hour.
Wrong? We'll fix it! If you find a mistake in the article, please share with us