Gern schloss sich die DIG Berlin und Potsdam der Einladung der "Freunde der Open University of Israel" an, bei einer Veranstaltung mit dem Präsidenten der Open University of Israel, Prof. Gershon Ben-Shakar, zu kooperieren und auch ihre Mitglieder dazu einzuladen. Durch die Vermittlung ihres 1. Vorsitzenden, Prof. Gert Weisskirchen, Mitglied des Deutschen Bundestages, fand die Veranstaltung im Paul-Löbe-Haus gegenüber dem Bundeskanzleramt statt.

Israel ist die einzige Demokratie in Nahen Osten. Dennoch haben jüngste Untersuchungen in Israel in einem hohen Maße undemokratisches und sogar anti-demokratisches Verhalten unter israelischen Oberschülern aufgedeckt. Ähnliche Ergebnisse in der Erwachsenenpopulation deuten darauf hin, dass es sich hier nicht um „jugendliche Auffälligkeiten“ handelt, die sich mit der Zeit auswachsen, sondern dass es eine Gefahr für Israels Demokratie darstellen könnte.

In seinem Vortrag berichtetete Prof. Gershon Ben-Shakhar über die Differenzen in Israels Gesellschaft durch unterschiedlichste ethnische und religiöse Gesellschaftsgruppen sowie die Bedrohung von außen durch Krieg und Terror. Diese Faktoren stellen Israels Demokratie immer wieder vor neue Herausforderungen und verlangen von der Regierung und den Institutionen gezielte Maßnahmen.

Die "Open University of Israel" und andere israelische Bildungsträger stellen sich dieser Herausforderung, indem sie sich gezielt um die demokratische Bildung der Bürger Israels bemühen.

Die Open University spiegelt die Gesellschaft Israels wider, da hier Sekuläre und Ultra-Orthodoxe, israelische Soldaten und Israelis arabischer Herkunft, Schüler und ältere Menschen gemeinsam studieren. Seit ihrer Gründung unterstützt die "Open University of Israel" eine demokratische Philosophie und Orientierung und setzt sich für demokratische Werte und die Wahrung von Menschenrechten ein.

Prof. Gert Weisskirchen bei der Moderation im Paul-Löbe-Haus

Democratic Education in Israel’s Divided Society – The Role of the Open University of Israel
Vortrag von Prof. Gershon Ben Shakar

In the Spring of 2008, the State of Israel will celebrate its 60th anniversary. The very fact that Israel was able to rise, survive, develop and flourish will, no doubt, go down in history as o­ne of the miracles of this generation. But while the State of Israel has attained some remarkable achievements in a very short time, it is not without its problems, difficulties and challenges in its o­ngoing struggle for progress and advancement. Today, I shall not focus o­n Israel's security issues, the Israeli-Palestinian-conflict or the Iranian threat, themes to which you are routinely exposed through the media, but rather o­n the internal problems that are crucial to the future of Israel as a democracy. I will try to outline these problems and to underscore the importance of education, particularly higher education, as the key to meeting many of them and offering us a better future. I will also explain the unique role of the Open University of Israel and its particular ability to contribute to this endeavor.

In the last two decades, Israeli society has changed dramatically. While the transition from an economy controlled in most part by the government to a free-market economy has contributed significantly to Israel's economic growth, it has deepened the socio-economic gaps among the various social segments. Thus, Israel, in a relatively short time, has changed from a highly egalitarian society, into o­ne that suffers most from economic inequality in the western world. Needless to say, this has created an increasingly widening division between the wealthy, who live mostly in the center of the country and the poor, who live mostly in its peripheries. But those who have read about Israel know that it suffers from more than just o­ne divide: The divide between the ultra-orthodox and the secular; between Ashkenazi and Sepharadi Jews; between new and old immigrants; between Jewish and Arab citizens.

Needless to say, all these constitute a constant threat to the cohesiveness of Israeli society and are a source of perpetual unrest. Moreover, they present a threat to democracy. Indeed, some groups forming Israel’s varied population lack familiarity with a democratic system, often because of their religious backgrounds or because they came from un-democratic traditions.

I strongly support the view that education is the key factor to healing some of these divisions and to creating a lasting dialogue between those components which cannot be bridged due to intrinsic differences. In doing so, it may strengthen the foundations of democracy. And let us not forget the role of education in the lives of individuals both as a vehicle of economic and social mobility as well as an instrument of attaining a meaningful life.

Unfortunately, it is in the area of education that Israel has been suffering from an acute crisis. Among other things, this has been manifested in prolonged strikes both in the high-school system as well as in the universities. Among the chief contributors to this crisis have been the systematic cuts in government budgets allocated to education. Indeed, a committee that was appointed to examine the higher education system in Israel recommended the re-allocation of 2.5 billion shekels to the higher-education system. Similar recommendations have been made, regarding both the elementary and high-school systems. But these recommendations have yet to be implemented.

For decades, seven universities in Israel have been offering higher education in various parts of the country. These universities are fine institutions, engaged in research and teaching, which produce, in some fields, remarkable scientific achievements that contribute, no doubt, to Israel's advancement and growth.

However, for some decades, higher education was confined to those students who could reach the university centers at prescribed times to attend lectures and could afford to dedicate most of their time and efforts exclusively to study. This usually precluded the working population, certainly those working full time, as well as those in the periphery who lived far from university centers.

In the late 1960s, Harold Wilson, future Prime Minister of England, and Yigal Allon, future Education Minister and Deputy Prime Minister of Israel, attended graduate school together in England and lamented the fact that education was not open enough and that a better system should be devised toward this end. They perceived this as a cardinal social issue, as the closed gates of learning perpetuated the divide between the "haves" and the "have-nots" and increased the already problematic social gap. Subsequently, Prime Minister Harold Wilson established the Open University of Great Britain, while Education Minister Yigal Allon sought to establish an Open University in Israel along similar guidelines. In the early 1970s, two independent international committees were commissioned, o­ne by the government and o­ne by the Rothschild foundation, to determine whether such a university could be beneficial in Israel. Both committees strongly recommended establishing an Open University, the government gave its blessing enthusiastically, and the Rothschild Foundation provided the necessary funding for the initial years. The Open University of Israel was established in 1974 and began teaching in 1976.

The Open University of Israel is guided by two major principles: Open admissions and distance learning.

1. Open Admissions

The open admissions policy is based o­n the belief that everyone should have the opportunity to pursue higher education and should, at least, be allowed to try. Unlike all other academic institutions in Israel, admission to the Open University requires no prerequisites whatsoever. This does not imply compromising o­n its high academic standards. Indeed, not everyone can meet these standards and graduate successfully. Success in the first courses taken at the Open University substitutes for prerequisites at other institutions. As there are no compromises o­n academic standards, accepting weaker students in no way diminishes the quality of the program, which rests o­n high quality study materials, assignments and exams.

2. Distance Learning

The Open University is not limited to a given campus with a given number of classrooms, seats, physical facilities and teachers. Rather than expecting the students to attend frontal lectures o­n a central campus, the Open University reaches out to the students in their homes and working places and through their personal computers. This is achieved primarily by developing textbooks and other learning aids that are mailed to the students' homes. The University's method of study is based o­n top quality textbooks, written especially for self-study by experts in their fields. The texts are subject to strict quality control, comprehensive editing and graphic design, to make them pedagogically sound as well as appealing. The Open University, which is the largest academic press in Israel, publishes almost a million volumes annually: about half of them are used by Open University students and the other half are purchased by students and staff in other universities.

In addition to the written material, the Open University uses distance learning technologies. The Open University is very much a university of the 21st century. Every course has a website; interactive lectures are broadcast via the Internet and broadband communication; students communicate among themselves and with the teaching teams through course website forums; and they submit assignments and receive enrichment materials and self-test exercises through the sites. A digital library is accessible to students and staff, and administrative information is also available by computer. By the time they complete their studies, Open University graduates are highly proficient in using modern technologies and are prepared to take their places in society and at the work place with the skills they require.

This does not mean that the human touch is absent from the Open University teaching system. At optional tutorial meetings conducted at some fifty study centers throughout Israel, students have the opportunity to meet with tutors to discuss the study materials or various difficulties that have arisen during the course.

The vision of the Open University founders has materialized beyond their dreams in that the Open University has grown to be the largest university in Israel, in terms of number of students. From a couple of thousand students in its early days, today we count over 43,000 students throughout Israel. Who are these students?

Students of the Open University are a very unusual mix, varying in age, ethnicity, and socio-economic background. I will describe the most salient types of students benefiting from studies at the Open University:

1. The Working Population

Over 90% of Open University students work full time to make a living. Many are providing not o­nly for themselves, but for their families. Since all Israelis do their compulsory military service before they reach conventional university age, students often do not even begin their higher education before the age of 23, when they usually need to earn a living and often to support a family. Conventional universities with inflexible lecture times cannot accommodate the working population conveniently. Moreover, the working population does not begin and end with students in their twenties. Anywhere between post-military students and retirement age, there are working people who wish to expand their horizons and their knowledge, to acquire additional professional training and to advance in their workplace.

Since the Open University is the largest university in Israel, its outreach to the work force, over time, has a large impact o­n the country’s economy.

2. Students residing in peripheral areas

The Open University’s teaching methods, including increased use of distance learning technologies, has enabled us to reach out to the peripheries and provide education to populations outside the urban centers and far from the leading teaching institutions where excellent teachers are scarce and the quality of education, o­n all levels, is usually lower. Indeed, the teaching system of the Open University has proven capable of surmounting the obstacles to quality learning in the remotest locations. The fact that Open University courses are based o­n books, assignments, exams, and technologies integrated into the course websites, as well as tutorial sessions in 50 study centers throughout the country, results in a uniformly high academic standard throughout: students in the periphery receive the same high level of learning as do their counterparts in urban areas.

3. Students wishing to better their economic status

Breaking the poverty cycle is o­ne of the more challenging issues that most countries have been required to address in the modern free world, mostly, unfortunately, with very limited results. The saddest thing about poverty is that it perpetuates, locking into its cycle generation after generation with little hope of improvement or change. Thus, children who are born into families without higher education have a lesser chance of attaining it themselves. Their ambitions, goals and hopes are set lower and even if they dream of higher learning and are perfectly capable of it, the costs might be prohibitive. Most universities handle this problem by making scholarships available. But in very many cases, this is not sufficient. The Open University system, with its flexibility in terms of place, time and pace of learning, as well as its open admissions policy, makes higher education accessible to students coming from poor socio-economic backgrounds. It provides them with the necessary tools to pull them out of the poverty cycle. I could give you numerous examples but, for obvious reasons, I will settle for just o­ne: Natalie came as a new immigrant from the Ukraine, leaving everything behind – she had no family, no financial support and left her University studies there in the middle. She came o­n a youth program to a kibbutz, but decided to leave the kibbutz because she wanted to study and they wouldn't allow it. As she had no source of income and job opportunities were scarce, she worked as a cleaning lady, and often subsisted o­n o­ne loaf of bread and a small carton of milk for an entire week. But with determination, she bolstered her income with scholarships based o­n volunteer work with immigrant children and children with learning disabilities. She studied management at the Open University, and gradually found better jobs – as a cost accountant, an economist and today she has a management position in a company with 3,000 employees. Soon she will complete her MBA as well, at the Open University.

Seeing such students, who could just as easily have remained in the cycle of poverty and without education, is o­ne of the most satisfying aspects of my job. It is the part that inspires donors and friends all over the world and o­ne that touches the heart of anybody sensitive to the pain and distress of the other.

 
4. Gifted high school students

The Open University also opens its doors to brilliant young people, who are capable of challenges greater than the o­nes offered by their regular high school programs. These are the students who constitute the future cadre of leadership in most aspects of life. The Open University system helps to develop the potential and talents of these special young people, without taking them out of their normal social framework, enabling them to continue their high school studies and their regular activities alongside their peers. Some high school students manage to finish their Bachelor's degree parallel with their high school studies, some continue studying during their military service or afterwards and some transfer credits and continue at other institutions.

5. Soldiers in compulsory military service

Military service is mandatory in Israel: three years for boys and two for girls. However, even combat soldiers often have free time and many soldiers find it necessary and beneficial to take courses and develop intellectually. Some soldiers manage to complete their degree during military service and some continue afterwards or transfer credits to other institutions. The Open University is the o­nly institution in Israel in which soldiers are permitted to study during their compulsory military service.

6. Senior citizens

At every Open University graduation ceremony, there are a number of senior citizens, some over 70 and some over 80 years old, completing a Bachelor's or a Master's degree. For them, this achievement is a second chance to do what they would have done decades ago, had it been possible. Some are Holocaust survivors for whom studies were not an option in their youth. Others were busy fighting the War of Independence or felt that agriculture and development of the young country were the necessities of the hour. Some were too poor to even consider studies in their youth.

Other groups, such as Arabs and the ultra-Orthodox, require programs that are adapted to their language, traditions and religious customs. We offer programs for the ultra-Orthodox in which they receive instruction separately from other non-religious students. They require more support in secular studies, as English and math are either not taught in their school system or rudimentary. The Arab sector sometimes has difficulties with Hebrew, so the University includes components of the study materials in Arabic and provides Arabic-speaking instructors. The University is presently translating a number of courses into Arabic so that Arab students will be able to choose from first year courses in Arabic to make their transition to academic studies smoother. Though the Open University has several study centers in Arab-populated areas, Arab students often choose to learn in study centers with Jewish students.

Profile of the Graduate

Notwithstanding the open admissions policy, it is perhaps harder to study at the Open University because its teaching methods require strong self-discipline and commitment. Thus, graduates of the Open University are inevitably individuals of outstanding skills and talent: they know how to manage their time, how to study o­n their own, and how to use modern technologies. And in fact, this is the profile expected of the ideal employee in today's working market.

What has all this to do with democracy?

Israel's unusual heterogeneity, as well as the many divisions characterizing its society, constitute a constant threat to its democratic fabric, which in my opinion, has become extremely vulnerable in the past few years. The Open University system – both its open admissions and its teaching system – contributes to reducing the disparities between the various segments of the Israeli population. In addition, the Open University places a special emphasis o­n the dissemination of democratic values by offering a Master's degree in Democracy Studies, the first of its kind in Israel. We also have a teacher training program in civics, so that these values are passed o­n to the younger generation. A variety of undergraduate courses also address central topics in democracy. The Open University believes that through higher education, students will develop an awareness of the need to respect differences in attitudes and perspectives, and to learn to accept and understand "the other" in society. An extension of these principles is respect for human rights.

Conclusion