After retiring, I fulfilled an old dream to study law. During my internship I worked on bankruptcy cases, and was struck by how often seemingly reasonable people and organizations make unreasonable financial decisions, that not only shape the present but can also burden the future.
Much of this behavior stems from an unfounded “don’t worry, everything will be fine” mentality. A thousand squandered here, another recklessly invested there – the amounts accumulate and the consequences can be devastating. The lesson is simple but crucial: Assets that are not managed responsibly are eventually depleted.
Against this background, credit is due to Israel’s education minister, Yoav Kisch, for his decision to make financial literacy a mandatory subject in all middle schools, starting next year. However, given the sound judgment reflected in this initiative, it is troubling that the same long-term thinking is not evident in other areas under Kisch’s authority, and that he promotes irresponsible use of public resources, endangering Israel’s qualitative edge.
Misjudgments made by the Education Ministry
Thus, the Education Ministry reported that students in elementary schools affiliated with ultra-Orthodox political parties receive more publicly funded instruction hours than any other group. Moreover, budgets for classroom construction – Israel’s classes are among the most crowded in OECD countries – give preferential treatment to haredi schools.
This despite deficiencies in their curricula in general, and in core subjects, notably English and mathematics, when it is well known that the absence of a solid general education hampers effective integration into the labor market.
Ultra-Orthodox children are entitled to education – and one might argue that many come from economically disadvantaged backgrounds and therefore merit additional state support.
However, students from similarly disadvantaged backgrounds in other sectors receive less, even though they study in supervised frameworks that include core subjects. In this case, the ministry, meaning the government, is investing more taxpayer money where the payoff is expected to be less than in other sectors.
Decisions in higher education
Turning to higher education: Israel has roughly 300,000 students, slightly more in colleges than in universities. Since the 1990s, the expansion of colleges has widened access to higher education and improved professional training, benefiting both its graduates and the general public.
At the same time, colleges tend to focus on applied fields, whereas research universities are engines of innovation. Directly and indirectly, through patents, technologies, and human capital, their contribution to the country is measured in billions.
A policymaker guided by long-term considerations would seek to strengthen both systems, each according to its strengths. Yet, since Kisch assumed the chair of the Council for Higher Education (CHE), there is a clear tilt toward the colleges.
The council’s composition has changed accordingly: It now includes more college representatives than ever before, and for the first time, Tel Aviv University, the country’s largest, has no representation in the body responsible for shaping policy and allocating resources.
In another first, none of the council’s three senior executives – the deputy chairperson, the director-general, and the head of the Planning and Budgeting Committee – has come from a university position.
This is likely to constrain their interaction with leading academics and institutions worldwide. Such connections are especially vital at a time when Israeli academia faces mounting pressures and sanctions, both formal and informal, following the events of October 7. Networks and partnerships are not a luxury; they are an asset that, in turn, generates those same billions.
At the top of international academic cooperation stands the European Union’s research programs, notably Horizon. Despite political pressure, Israeli researchers’ access to them has remained intact. At the same time, the EU has taken unprecedented steps toward a member state. Following Hungary’s transfer of some universities to politically controlled “public foundations,” which are widely seen as undermining academic freedom, it has barred these institutions from its research programs.
It is therefore surprising that in November, the first official visit by the new CHE leadership, headed by the minister, was to Hungary. Moreover, in January, the council decided to allow one of those barred Hungarian institutions to open a branch of its medical school in Eilat, choosing it over Ben-Gurion University, which ranks higher internationally. In plain terms: In face of potential isolation, whose effects would be devastating, the minister and CHE have actively chosen to engage with outcasts.
No one in the world can fail to be impressed with the extraordinary performance of the Israeli defense establishment in the current conflict with Iran, or to understand that it is rooted in excellence, which the country cultivates.
In order to preserve Israel’s qualitative edge, its education system must excel at every level. A minister who rightly insists on financial literacy to ensure individual resilience should rise above short-term political considerations and apply the same logic to national resilience and sustainability, prioritizing professional considerations and long-term returns over narrow political interests.