I abhor the Ministry of Education so.
I came to my literature teacher at the end of class to tell her that 'ובינך' ('wuvenekha', '[between] [...]' and you) and 'לחלותך' ('lakhakotkha', 'to visit thee'), both pronounced with the last syllable stressed, don't rhyme, because the suffix 'ך-' ('-kha') indicates possession by second-person singular masculine, or the second-person singular masculine being a direct object, and there's no actual similarity between the words (basically like rhyming words ending with '-ly' in English, or with '-are/ire/ere' in Italian, only even more inferior in quality). (I was talking about a poem we'd studied, Be a Sea between Us?) I explained to her it's a homeoteleuton, and she responded with, 'What what what what what?' I had to explain to her what it meant, and she said, 'We're not analysing the poem on university-level. This is a rhyme.' I insisted it isn't, and she said, 'The Ministry of Education says it is, so it is.'
Alright, so she didn't know what a homeoteleuton is. I didn't know till recently, and I already know she's quite paradigmatic in thought (as was reflected by her interpretation of the poem's Hebrew title, הֲיָם בֵּינִי וּבֵינֶךָ HaYam Beini wuVenekha, as The Sea between Us, misinterpreting the prefix 'ha-' as a definite article instead of the poetic 'yes/no' question particle. It was impossible to get through her thick head that it's not a metaphore, but a simile at best!). It's not right, but I was aware of that. But apparently, it's no just her now. The Ministry of Education wants us ignorant. They want us to succumb to their level. The same will happen if someone write with the subjunctive / with R Rotundæ / with the 'thou' ligature in an English Bagrut, or use advanced mathematics in elementary (because, as was proven several years ago, most teachers won't understand it). And I've had enough.
Yuli Tamir, it's about time you take care of your chair-titis. And you, the new minister, I suggest you grow a spine: pass a law that obligates ALL teachers be taken from the INTELLECTUAL ELITE. I'm sick and tired of insufficient teachers. You've no idea what I've seen and heard: one Russian English teacher arguing with little children, completely certain that 'scissors' (pronouncing it 'SEA-zors') is 'mokhek' (eraser); another one pronouncing 'chair' as 'cheer'; a history teacher who speaks nearly every lesson on the mobile for at least 10 minutes; an elementary teacher saying far too often, (about some undone task), 'You had a whole week, eight days!'...
And while you're at it, I suggest you make all schools in the country learn for six short days, starting late and with an obligatory siesta in the middle (it has splendid effects). And change the literature curriculum. And take care of the youth's terrible grammar (increase back the number of obligatory units in Hebrew grammar). And make sure developing a vocabulary be obligatory (learning some words for the S.A.T tests and then forget them all is insufficient). And add some LGBT's to the education system. And get rid of the dogma in the history lessons (An-Nakba? Where?!). Christ, you've so much to do...
But you know what bugs me most? The fact that the students do nothing about it. When I argue with the teachers, e.g., when I correct my literature teacher, or when I confronted the dogmatic thought of my history teacher (we're done with history, how fortunate for the teachers), the students just grunt and try to shut me up (usually I just yell at them back to shut the fuck up). It's terribly depressing.
And what's even more depressing is that most likely no-one will actually bother to read all of this and reply.
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