“The State is doing a great injustice to haredi job seekers by not recognizing religious education while [certain] academic degrees are irrelevant to employment,” he said. “A person who wants to be a doctor, should go to medical school and an electrician needs to study electrical engineering. But degrees in the humanities are not more relevant than religious education.”
Rabbi Yisrael Eichler
Rabbi Yisrael Eichler, the head of the United Torah Judaism haredi political party, reacted to the Trajtenberg report, an official government report that among other things calls for haredi schools to implement Israel's core curriculum:
“The State is doing a great injustice to haredi job seekers by not recognizing religious education while [certain] academic degrees are irrelevant to employment,” he said. “A person who wants to be a doctor, should go to medical school and an electrician needs to study electrical engineering. But degrees in the humanities are not more relevant than religious education.”
“United Torah Judaism maintains and will maintain the independence of the haredi education system, which guarantees the existence of Israel throughout the generations. Without it, assimilation will be huge, as is happening in America and around the world, where education is determined by the state curriculum.”
As it now stands, haredi schools do NOT teach math, science, history, civics, Modern Hebrew or English – which means haredi students are woefully unprepared to enter the workforce.
On the other hand, someone with a college degree in Art History has studied all of those subjects, speaks at least one foreign language, and is familiar with modern society, and she is much more prepared to enter the workforce than a haredi student is.
Yisrael Eichler knows this – but he doesn't care. He has no idea what a college education is or what a high school education is – or, for that matter, what a grade school education is.
He doesn't know algebra or history or civics – and he certainly doesn't know science.
He doesn't know what a modern emplyer needs in an employee or what a job seeker needs to do to be prepared to enter the workforce.
Ysrael Eichler doesn't know – and Yisrael Eichler doesn't care.
Eichler wants Israel to keep doling out ever-increasing welfare benefits and subsidies to haredim to support haredim as they sit in yeshivas until their 50s – and sometimes for decades after that, as well.
The only way for this to change is for Israel's secular and Zionist Orthodox majority to force haredi schools to comply with the national core ciurriculum, while at the same time telling every 18 year old haredi that he will not be receiving government benefits if he chooses to study full time in yeshiva past his 20th birthday, and that he must either serve in the army or do recognized national service for at least two years, as well.
Otherwise, we'll be dealing with these problems for decades more, until Israel collapses under the weight of haredi sloth.
[Hat Tip: JK.]