Jewish love for learning & Israeli education model: What can we learn?

While Jews account for 0.2% of the global population, they have been the recipients of almost 20% of Nobel awards since the first Laureates in the early 1900s. Is this a coincidence? Certainly not. The Jewish education system is believed to be responsible for creating the world’s most rich and powerful people – Jewish businesspeople, bankers, and media tycoons. What is so unique about Israel’s education system?

Making of a bright future
Source: Pixabay

Spirit of Chutzpah: Israel, which is largely a Jewish state, has a different education system inspired by Chutzpah (pronounced as khud-spah); a Yiddish word for audacity. Chutzpah is a part of the Jewish way of life and has instilled among the Jewry the values of honesty and fearlessness. Masson Harris in his book “The Chutzpah Guy” mentioned how Chutzpah has also creeped in the Jewish way of learning. In this book, he talks about going “Bigger, Bolder and Better”. It means they don’t pass on information just to learn it. They question, un-learn and re-learn. This is very much inherited in the Israel’s learning structure which encourages a robust and stimulating learning culture.

 Two important Chutz­pah Prin­ci­ples which Israelis imbibe in their lives early on are Davka, to do the oppo­site. In oth­er words, the major­i­ty of Israelis rarely do what they’re told. This does not essentially mean that are defy orders out of their ego. But they are experimental in nature and like to innovate. In a positive sense, Davka inspires the youth to adopt new approaches and techniques to problem solving.

The second one is Yihiye Beseder, Hebrew for ​“every­thing will be ok”. Israelis are taught that no matter which road they take, every­thing will even­tu­al­ly work out one way or the oth­er”, it instils a sense of confidence in them. A bump along the road will not bring you down. It is therefore not an over-protective and closed system which feeds information into youngsters and tells what path to follow. It is quite the contrary. The system encourages them to ask questions, make mistakes, experiment and then add to the country’s intellectual capital!

What research tells us? A 2020-American research suggests that students should be encouraged to ask questions, because “curious children do better”. The study’s lead researcher, Dr Prachi Shah, an assistant research scientist at the University of Michigan emphasized that promoting curiosity is a foundation for early learning that we should be emphasizing more when we look at academic achievement. Marks are important but they are not the only goal of coming to school. Of course, all teachers have a different pedagogy and some teachers encourage curiosity. However, there are institutional limitations.

The Art of Asking Questions
Source: iStockphoto

What holds teachers back from answering questions? It is also important to remember that teachers are not computers. If there is something they don’t know, that can always say “I will discuss it in the next class”. Or admit that “this is something I need to read to answer your question”. But to scold students for asking a question is a very unhealthy learning culture. Different students have a different learning curve and it is important to have a dialogue in class where teachers and students discuss issues rather than one-way monotonous template where teachers dictate and students note down.

Another important constraint, however is lack of time. Teachers are over worked and under paid. Most of the times, the focus for a teacher is to finish the syllabus and there is little time to take questions. Even if a teacher wants to encourage open brainstorming sessions, he/she is at the risk of not finishing the syllabus.

Racing against time
Source: iStockPhoto

Moreover, the old-school parents fear that if schools start promoting open learning culture where children are encouraged to ask questions, their children’s curiosity won’t stop in the school. The curiosity and the questions will spill over at home; something most Indian parents don’t prefer. They prefer their children being raised as obedient “yes men” who consume the information as served to them. The drawback of such stagnant learning culture at home and schools is that it is creating a generation of workers for the job market and not thinkers. Thinking requires “Chutzpah”! This is what Israel is doing differently.

While most education systems in the South Asia including India promote rote learning instead of meaningful learning and discourage questioning by students, Israeli education system promotes questioning and critical thinking. Students do not fear being reprimanded by teachers for asking questions. Classrooms feed into students’ curiosities and encourage them to learn rather than memorize facts.

As Indian government is promoting entrepreneurial employment, this kind of learning is required to make students independent, confident, and self-sufficient. Brainstorming ideas in class which challenge the conventional wisdom is the only way to inculcate new ideas in young minds.

On the eve of Teacher’s Day 2024, I hope I am able to bring the spirit of “Chutzpah” into my classrooms and groom my students into thinkers who chase knowledge more than marks. 

 *Note: with inputs and guidance from Divya Malhotra, doctoral researcher on Israel’s Soft Power.