Educating Israel

This is a comparative ethnography of five Israeli schools that use state-of-the-art educational approaches to help change Israel's conflicted society. It gives an important glimpse of individuals and institutions that bravely operate as social and educational entrepreneurs, striving to change Israeli society.

'In an age when Americans are struggling with complex problems of public education and an increasingly diverse school population, Bar Shalom's study of education in Israel is a must read for anyone interested in education, immigration, and citizenship. We can learn much from his book and Israel's experience.' - Paul Finkelman, President William McKinley Distinguished Professor of Law and Public Policy, Albany Law School

'Yehuda Bar Shalom has written exactly the kind of exciting book that Israeli education needs at this critical time. Each chapter presents a different challenge! Indeed, other countries will learn a lot from it too.' - Joseph Lukinsky, Baumritter Professor of Jewish Education Emeritus, The Jewish Theological Seminary of America

'Dr. Bar Shalom's book shows an unknownand innovative side of education in Israel. By doing so he exposesthe strength of Israel's multi-faceted democracy.' - Aryeh Lova Eliav, founder, Nitzana Educational Community

'Educating Israel inspires because it presents heroic educators facing real problems without ideal solutions. What a hopeful book and a wonderful introduction to the challenges facing contemporary Israeli society!' - Levi Kelman, Rabbi of Congregation Kol HaNeshama, Jerusalem

'An educational revolution will happen in Israel only if we will listen to the voices of excellent teachers and educators described in the book, who are not afraid of realty, but try instead to change and designit.' - Eli Amir, Chairman of the Public Council of the Abraham Fund Initiatives

'Insightful and thought provoking, Educating Israel offers a fascinating portrait of Israeli educators committed to social transformation. Drawn from a society rife with conflict, the case studies in this work move the reader from the particular to the universal. Bar Shalom calls us to consider important issues that are at the core of our quest to live in a just and peaceful world.' - Reverend Earl Kooperkamp, Rector, St. Mary's Episcopal Church, New York City"Yehuda Bar Shalom's book contributes to the growing sentiment among critical social analysts of education against a simple assumption that schooling naturally reproduces the inequalities of its social surround. The shift in mood, from reproduction to recognition of the potential social power of education, is not always matched by specific, empirical examples of how this occurs, or might occur. Bar Shalom shares the sentiment, calling it 'entrepreneurship,' and provides a rich description of Israeli schools that represent educators' commitment to change the social status quo. In the Israeli context, there is widespread academic and public acknowledgment of the range and depth of social differences, inequalities and conflicts, in education, as well as in society. Yet, here too, there is a lack of the sort of comparative case description that this book provides of educational efforts to overcome the social conflicts. For those unfamiliar with Israeli society, Bar Shalom offers his own brand of critical hopefulness and a window into the depth and variety of social divisions in Israel, and an engaging sampler of the educational work that is being done to grapple with them." - Philip Wexler, Professor of Sociology of Education, Hebrew University of Jerusalem

YEHUDA BAR SHALOM is Head of Education Studies, The David Yellin College of Education, Jerusalem, Israel.