Page 11 - milchemet hasafot 120217 ADV

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Uniform Education

Many new immigrants came to Israel after 1948. After their arrival, many

lived in immigrants' camps. Some stayed in the camps a long time. The
managers of the camps were responsible for providing a livelihood for the
residents, for education in the camp, and to maintain the health of the

residents.

At this time there were many educational streams in Israel. Parents chose the
stream they preferred for their children: religious, secular, socialistic or other.
But in the immigrants' camps parents had no choice. There, an educational

approach called "Uniform Education" prevailed. All of the camp's children
had to attend the unified school. The desire in these schools was to provide
basic education in a spirit of Zionism and with a tendency toward secularism.

David Ben-Gurion said in a discussion in the Knesset: "We must take the
immigrant and quickly teach him Hebrew if he doesn't already know it, imbue

in him knowledge of the Land of Israel, welcome him into the nationalistic
framework, and teach him how to work the land. Thus we will build a nation
united in its language, its consciousness, in the power of its spirit, attached to

its land and its independence."

The leaders felt that the new immigrants lacked sufficient knowledge to
manage their lives in Israel and that the new immigrants were different than
both native Israelis and the immigrants who had come before the

establishment of the State. Many of the new immigrants came from countries
where general education was unimportant. The leaders feared that the nation
would be changed (for the worse) by the influx of new immigrants. The

leaders feared that if the new immigrants didn't receive a "Native Israeli"
education from "Native Israeli" teachers they would never become
integrated into Israeli society and might even harm it.

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