Despite all the preening and self congratulation about Israel's various contributions to scientific research and high tech development, the sad fact remains that much of it is inspired by Israelis who were educated abroad or who immigrated from Russia or western countries.
The reality is that Israel consistently ranks at the lower end of international rankings for education.
The annual education report of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), a grouping of Westernized countries that measures growth and modernization around the world,featured results from the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) exams that placed Israeli students in 39th and 40th place in math and science, respectively, out of 57 participating nations. The survey essentially gave Israeli education an F: It showed that Israeli teachers earn around half of the global wage average, reported that class sizes in Israel are among the largest in the world, and cited underpaid teachers, over-sized classes and abysmal performances by students in math and science.
In sharp contrast, Singapore, a country with an even smaller population than Israel (approx. 4.3 million as opposed to 7 million in Israel)has consistently managed to achieve #1 rankings in math and science education.
Just last week, Singapore reported that her economy had expanded at an annualized rate of 20% between March and June! Hmm...wonder if there's any connection...