It remains to be seen whether an agreement between the teachers unions and the Finance Ministry, with the Education Ministry attempting at mediation, will be reached before September 1.
What the stubborn teachers don’t seem to realize is that when merit plays no role in their advancement, and their pay scale is based solely on longevity, they cannot expect their profession to garner the kind of respect that they rightly claim it warrants.
When confronted that they are off for two months each summer, as well as for every holiday, they protest by saying that they are saddled with oodles of preparatory work outside of school premises.
Image - Anav Silverman Peretz
Ruthie Blum is the author of the book "To Hell in a Handbasket: Carter, Obama, and the 'Arab Spring.'"