Israeli vs. American Education

Lee Koznik Emanuel-Ortal Mor

Louis Aligo Scott Wilson Jose Zaldana

IntroductionThe goal of this presentation is to give us all a look behind the curtain of foreign education between two different countries and how the differences between them are experienced versus how they are portrayed in the films, Waiting for Superman and Strangers No More.

Guggenheim, Davis, dir. Waiting for 'Superman'. Writ. Kimball Billy. Paramount, 2010. Film. 10 Nov 2013.

Goodman, Karen, dir. Strangers No More. Dir. Simn Kirk. Simon and Goodman Picture Company, 2010. Film. 12 Nov 2013.

Aldridge, Jerry, and Renitta Goldman. Current Issues and Trends in Education. Second Edition. New York: Allyn & Bacon, Inc. (Pearson), 2006. Print.

Similarities Between the Films• Both of these movies

consist of children and parents wishing for the best possible outcomes by having the children attend new schools that will hopefully their lives.

• There is an emphasis on family and its importance as a role in education in the films.

• Both show individuals and families in in struggling areas, hoping for the students to get out.

• Both give the impression that and education is the key factor in success and why the children need to be in the best educational situation for themselves.

• Both have an idea of reforming the educational system in order to help the children attending the schools whether they be charter schools or public schools.

Strangers No More• This film gives of extremely utopian ideals of a society and how they have been

able to achieve that. – There are mixed races, ethnicities, and religions together without conflict,

respectfully, and how easy it is to get along.– They experience a language barrier that becomes easily broken over time

through various languages and translators.– This film also only shows the success stories of the students that made it

through the public school year, with no mention or visuals of the students that dropped out.

• The movie shows a lot more emphasis on teachers with a few scenes involving parents of the students.

• The movie itself shows many children in a single public school entering whenever they can without the struggle of some lottery.

• The film also shows the inner workings of the classroom and how the students are taught.

• Finally, the film gives off a very happy ending for everyone involved.

Waiting for Superman• This film shows the darker side of the children’s lives, those who did

not make it, could not pay bills for the school on time, and many crushed dreams.

• Families in this film are shown more and most of the emphasis is on rather than the teachers.

• A lot of politicians are shown as well as the political working of the school, between schools, and around schools rather than in the classroom.

• There is more emphasis on the animations surrounding the explanations as filler, which gives the film a more “Hollywood feel.”

• The film contains many students in various schools rather than a single public school.

• The ending is generally more sad with multiple children not being picked in the lottery, yet they try to throw in a last minute acceptance at the end to make the audience feel better.

Educational System Similarities • Both Israel’s and the United States’ educational system consist

many similar aspects. • There are laws depicting compulsory (mandatory) education

through 12th Grade.• Racism is an issue within the system that is experienced by

large portions of he population.• Most students in both countries travel directly from

elementary school, to Middle, and then to high school.• Core subjects include history, math, science, and literature

with various classes of arts breaking up the day. • There are various types of high schools including public and

religious based schools. • Standardized testing exists for acceptance into universities. • There is also a drive to teach students to be good citizens in

the country and community.

Education Differences• Israel has schools that give students the choice of majors, like in a

college setting, a program that does not exist in America. • In Israel there is mandatory military involvement post high school.

Americans have the choice of whether or not to join the military, some for a stable job, others due to a lack of ability in school.

• America’s education system attempts to expand horizons as much as possible where as the Israel’s education system in a way, limits those educational horizons from an earlier age.

• Israel’s schools seem to give more focus on real world application than the American schools do.

• A major difference is the idea of citizenship. A good American citizen is aware of what is going on around them and in their government and is able to question that government to fight the wrongs in the status quo. A good Israeli citizen takes orders and follows them in order to preserve the status quo and hold society together. Both of these are noble causes, where citizens work to achieve the best community they can.

Lou’s Poster

Conclusion• Academically- The Israeli schooling system seems to be more of

a walking tour (graduating, military, work, travel, then college) where the American system seems to be a sprint from high school through college to get a job as quickly as possible.

• Creatively-In America the arts or more uniformly taught from music, drama, film, painting, to ceramics through the schooling process where in Israel the arts are less focused on unless you are choosing yourself to focus on those aspects of education.

• Internationally- Americans seem generally driven to work with those outside their own culture because there is no single American culture or ethnicity, we are a melting pot. The Israeli culture generally seems less inclined to work their own groups where it seems like many cultures stay to themselves, especially with the vast amount of different religious based schools