It’s
that time of the year again. When working parents in Israel complain
about the school vacation schedules. The main complaint can be summed up
as “we don’t get off, why should they get off.”
Why
now? Simple. The Israeli education system deems Lag Ba’omer, one of the
most minor of the minor holidays, important enough to warrant a day off
from school. This year, two days off are given. Needless to say,
businesses are open, and parents of young school-age children have to
make arrangements for their kids, or take a day off from work. It’s
inconvenient to say the least.
It’s
not just Lag Ba’omer. The Israeli school schedule is full of days which
place a particular burden on families with two working parents (or
single-parent families with one working parent) and children too young
to take care of themselves: Channuka. The week-and-a-half before Pesach.
The day after many holidays. Each of these days, to some extent,
highlights the fact that the school schedule was not designed with the
parents in mind, and the requisite complaining follows.
All
the bellyaching over the school schedule, however, distracts from a
larger incongruity. True, there are many days on which adults have to go
to work while their children don’t have the framework of the school day
to occupy them. However, the opposite situation exists as well. but it
doesn’t seem to garner much attention. There are many days each year
where children have the framework of the school day to occupy them,
while adults (mostly) do not have to go to work.
These days are called “Fridays”.
For some reason, the educational sector operates on a schedule which is out of sync with the business sector.
So
here’s a wild suggestion - why not eliminate Fridays as school days,
and redistribute the days throughout the year? This is both practical
and doable.
It’s
practical since it coordinates the educational and business sectors
with each other. Businesses generally operate on a five-day week; so can
school. It’s doable since there is one body which is in charge of the
schedule school year.
(There are some issues with this proposal, which I plan to deal with in one or more later posts.)
The
days gained (30+) by eliminating Fridays as school days could be used
to reduce or eliminate the vacations given to students throughout the
year. Not all need to be cancelled (a winter break is normal in many
school systems), but the ones which just plain don’t make sense could be
done away with. For starters, Lag Ba’omer could be a school day. So
could the day after holidays, the weirdly-long pre-Pesach vacation, and
other days which leave parents of school-age children scrambling to make
arrangements for their kids.
As
head of the finance ministry, Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid has been
promising to put the working-class center stage. Yesh Atid member Shai
Piron, who heads the education ministry, should endeavor to do the same.
