They Deserve A Better Future
Yesterday we went to Tel Aviv, to take part in the annual Rabin Memorial ceremony. I attend this gathering on a constant basis, and in the twelve years that passed since the murder missed it only once (in 2005, when I was abroad).
As we currently live in Haifa, we used the opportunity of going to Tel Aviv, and got there a few hours before the event in order to spend some time with friends, family, and just strall in the streets and grab the different atmosphere.
It was in Sheinkin street, I believe, that we saw a sign, in the widnow of a closed shop. “Teenage Workers Wanted”, it said. The unusual phrasing immediately caught Elina’s attention, and a second later - also mine.
We are used to signs looking for “workers after a military service” (a delicate way, usually, to say “we don’t want to hire any arabs”; I’m not sure if this phrasing is legal, the intention is usually not) - but looking for teenagers? What’s going on?
I could think of two possibilities: one, that someone tries to take advantage of the ongoing strike, which leaves the kids out of school for nearly a month now, with no apparent solution in hand. This is quite a naive thought; I’m afraid that it is more likely that they are looking for workers to a longer period of time - which brings us a step closer to these kind of pictures:
The pictures above, which we took in Guatemala last June, are representatives of a common third world illness: child labour. In most parts of Israel, we are not close to these kinds of things, however we do have it in our society’s back door - be it the Arab villages (especially in the south), the poverty neighbourhoods, or the new immigrant comunities - in all you can see kids help their families to earn a living. It is far too common in Israel to see kids at work - even at big and respected firms (for example, this Friday I bought some groceries at a supermarket in Alonim. It now occurs to my mind that inside the store there was a kid, pushing this huge machine in order to clean the floor), and I think that it may be much more widespread then we think.
One of the most amazing things about Israel is the unique mixture of a very advanced technological society which maintains strong characteristics typical to third world countries (e.g., the strong religeous influence and the tendency of many people to trust someone else - usually a “higher” religeous or official authority - to solve their problems, instead of trying to improve their situation by themselves). In too many fields Israel is closer to the so-called developing countries then to the western world it officially regards as a model.
I want to finish this post by showing you a street sign that Elina and I spotted hung on the main square of the Mexican city Valladolid, last July. It is an important phrase by Emerson, that eveyrbody should read carefully and keep in mind.
November 4th, 2007 at 12:03
Elad, Are you kidding?
I was working since I was 15, which is the minimum legal age for employment (with a few limits, you can’t work more some set limit of hours per day and week). For a while there (when I was 17) I was working 5 days a week after school. It was very tiring, and fun. This is how I could afford things (my parents didn’t believe in an allowance).
I believe most of these are not the employees that work because they can’t afford school or they have to support their families. These are kids doing something meaningful with their time and make some money in the process. There is no child labour in Tel Aviv like there is in Guatamala.
I didn’t go to Arab villages to find out, I know there is some work in the family business there, I’ve seen some of that. I have no idea how bad it is, but next time I’m in Israel let’s go find out.
Just FYI, the literacy rates in Guinea. Guatemala, Israel and the United States are 30%, 69%, 97% and 99% respectively (source: CIA WFB). The avg. number of years of schooling for adults are 0.8, 3.5, 9.6 and 12 (source: UNESCO).
– Arik
November 4th, 2007 at 15:49
Before you talk like all the other idiots that always complain all the time about their own country, you should go to western Europe and see what it is like over there. I lived there for 12 years.
November 5th, 2007 at 8:54
Arik,
I am damn serious.
Of course I don’t refer to kids who go to work after school without real economical necesity; I talk about those who go to work instead of going to school. I am afraid this is much more widespread then you imagine.
According to the data you showed the average number of schooling years in Israel is 9.6. This means, that an average Israeli person does not finish high school (not to mention higher education).
Do recall that at least 20% of those that do finish schooling (I refer, of course, to the ultra-orthodox communities and other ‘private schooling’ networks) don’t study any English or math whatsoever. Yes, they do know to read; do you think it’s enough? I think it just emphasizes my view of Israel as not so developed - at least once you leave the narrow bands od the middle class.
Regarding western Europe - I never compared Israel to there, and I don’t regard them as any ‘model state’ we should adopt. Europeans have immense amount of problems - from their xenophobia and negative demographic balance onwards. I don’t think Israel should adopt any european state as a desired model for our community (eventhough there are things we can take from them) - but that is a different issue altogether.
November 5th, 2007 at 9:25
Elad,
The 9.6 number is skewed somehow. I don’t know how they did the math, but we’re #12 in the world (after Denmark and before Japan). I think that having people 18-21 go to the military is skewing it even further down. Check it out for yourself if you don’t believe me on http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/edu_ave_yea_of_sch_of_adu-education-average-years-schooling-adults - I think the way they calculated it is take a sample of people aged 15 and above, add the number of years of education that they have, and divide by the sample size.
The Ultra Orthodox are indeed a non-productive par
t of society, relatively speaking. I agree with you there. Luckily, they are pretty segregated, of their own will (or else their children will learn of the life on the outside). The only problem I perceive there is that your tax money pays for some of them. If there’s child labour there, and I’m not sure how broad the phenomena is, I haven’t seen it, and I’ve been around there. As for their education, unfortunately you can’t really force the parents into educating them otherwise. You could claim that their parents or their society is screwing them over, forcing them into a life of ignorance, but you can’t really change that.
I’ve recently been to Colombia, and there I’ve witnessed the saddest case I’ve ever seen. A guy walks into a restaurant with a school-age child, begging for money. They take the child with them because it increases the likelihood of getting money. Talk about ruining a child’s future for your own gain. Colombia has 8 years of compulsory education, BTW, with 93% literacy.
– Arik