The chairman of the elementary teachers' organization, Ran Erez, announced that he is ready to shut down the education system at the State Audit Committee, April 1, 2024/Knesset Spokesperson
The nickname "the lost generation" has long since become a cliché to describe the students of the 20s of the current century. Those who managed to deal with a global epidemic, endless sanctions by the teachers' organization - and this year the greatest disaster in the country's history - the massacre by Hamas on October 7. "Among our friends, we say that we will always be this generation. The nickname stuck, and they will not stop seeing us that way," says Maor Mozes, a 12th grade student from Ashdod.
Perhaps the myth of Sisyphus is more appropriate to describe the experience of the last years of the high school students. A never-ending struggle for Gilgal You climb the mountain, only to find out that you have to start all over again, and reconnect with your friends, and cancel your annual trips to Israel A new decision by the Home Front Command and the government.
"I had no continuous learning at all. Each time it was interrupted anew," says Moses. The period he describes has been going on since he was in the 9th grade. "It got to the point where I failed my matriculation because I wasn't able to maintain continuity. I decided to keep investing despite all the difficulties, and then the war also made my studies problematic. I live in the south and we weren't in school for a long time this year."
"I expected the difficulties to be the tests," he recalled when he entered high school. "My bubble burst that I would have real learning, that I would invest as I wanted. Because of the accumulation of events, I couldn't. I can't say how much I enjoyed my trip to Israel or how much I cried in Poland as my sister tells me about herself. Now I don't even know where I am in the material because there is no grades".
For him, the effect of the accumulation of events is evident in all areas of life. "We call ourselves the generation that will be knocked out. Instead of five units, four or three. We give up professions. Half of our certificate with ease. When we finish we won't be able to show a complete certificate like the generations before us," he says in frustration. "Also in social relationships, we are more connected to the cell phone and the computer, to the digital world. This is how we were brought up by reality."
In the shadow of the huge disasters of October 7, the war and the evacuees, the accompanying losses seem marginal. What are a few canceled classes worth compared to entire families murdered together and 133 abductees still being held in Gaza. Not much, if they are facing each other. It's a comparison that doesn't bring much benefit, but it's a comparison that sits firmly in the minds of the youth who escaped from being close to the circles of pain. They almost apologize for demanding that they be noticed as well. At the beginning of the war, they say, the awareness of the struggle required of them was high in the schools, which brought the discourse to the classrooms. As time went by, she became less and less.
"I started high school this year. I had two weeks at school, we went on holidays and never came back," says Dror Cohen, 15, a 10th grade student in Petah Tikva. "The current period is not easy. You find yourself sitting in classes, learning, but it's not really learning, because your friends' brothers are fighting in Gaza. And kidnapped, and suddenly missiles, and suddenly Iran. Somewhere you feel like we've been forgotten, that we fell through the cracks. At first, they referred to the war , but then we entered the high school graduations and ran amok for good grades. Now another front is opening, with Iran, and there is no reference to it. Obviously, we must take care of the evacuees, but we must not be forgotten."
Against the background of the inevitable complexity that accompanies war, the inevitable addition of the suspension of grading, graduation parties and all afternoon activities as part of the teachers' union struggle sparked outrage among the students. As usual, they say that they understand the need for sanctions, but at this time they are more burdensome than ever.
The organization claims that they suspended the fight for many months due to the sensitivity of the situation. When the dispute with the Ministry of Finance over the final agreements in the new salary agreement to improve the conditions of the high school teachers could not be resolved, they had to increase the pressure. The Ministry of Finance, for its part, decided to deduct the advance of 2,400 shekels given to the teachers, and the sanctions were intensified in response. Yesterday, the organization made it a little easier and informed that grades will be given to the students, but will not be forwarded to the Ministry of Education. And yet, the corners were not closed.
"Now with the sanctions, my annual trip has been canceled. The only thing that could have given me an escape from this whole illusory year," protested Cohen, who serves as a representative in the national student council, which is fighting the sanctions. "They just put a bar on us. We feel that no one sees us. Obviously, I want the teachers to have a good salary, to close the month. Not getting us grades sucks for them just as much. But there is a way. The teachers' organization and the Ministry of Finance should just sit down for a few days and close the The details without harming us."
He added that "there are children who are still recovering from the corona and cannot find themselves, with ADHD from here until further notice. We did not leave the screens, we were in a crisis and it continues until now. It is felt in the classroom, it is felt in the afternoon. We are not really experiencing childhood We are constantly making sure that we are fine, that our friends are fine. And while feeling a personal obligation to keep the peace at home, the situation has made us grow up too quickly."