Despite Low Education, Haredim Excelling At Multiplying

The report also recommended further study of the news media, which, although largely composed of Liberal Arts majors, demonstrates an ability to divide that heretofore has been considered the exclusive province of mathematical experts.

Bnei Brak, April 20 – Dismal matriculation rates and lack of meaningful basic mathematics education among Israel’s ultra-Orthodox has apparently not adversely affected their ability to multiply, Central Bureau of Statistics data indicate, prompting experts to wonder whether efforts to encourage Haredi adherence to a national curriculum are misguided, a government report says.

The Ministry of Education analyzed metadata from numerous studies and yearly reports, and determined that although the independent Haredi education system, which focuses almost exclusively on religious studies, does not include many rudimentary elements of the standard math and science curriculum, Haredim engage in multiplying for more successfully and frequently than their secular counterparts. The ministry’s report, spanning three hundred pages, takes lengthy pains to explain the phenomenon, which contradicts the very foundations of the education system’s assumptions. While it concludes that further study is needed, the ministry document openly questions the handling of an ongoing movement to “mainstream” Haredim into the workforce and general society by compelling them to institute the teaching of secular subjects, noting that Haredim multiply with a facility that secular Israelis do not, as rule, demonstrate.

Most public rhetoric surrounding integration of Haredim into wider Israeli society involves the military draft, from which full-time yeshiva students are exempt. A law that would have enshrined such an exemption was struck down by the High Court last year, leaving the ultra-Orthodox in legal limbo as the government has hesitated to draft Haredim by force. Instead, various initiatives have been instituted to foster greater overall integration into general society, especially the workforce, through technical education, job training, and other programs to close the economic gaps that disproportionately affect the ultra-Orthodox. The content of those programs, and the need for them in general, face scrutiny in the wake of the report on Haredi multiplication proficiency, says educational consultant Ken Yifrotz.

“It has been the educational establishment’s working assumption that better mastery of arithmetic fundamentals directly translates into better job opportunities,” said Yifrotz in a telephone interview. “But the Haredim multiply with at least three times the efficiency of the average secular Israeli. They have clearly mastered the skill of multiplying, and still face considerable obstacles to economic independence. Evidently there are other factors in play here, and it may yet take some time to isolate and identify them.”

The report also recommended further study of the news media, which, although largely composed of Liberal Arts majors, demonstrates an ability to divide that heretofore has been considered the exclusive province of mathematical experts.