American Expert Reports on Vocational Education in Israel

Maximillian Komow, director of the Bureau of Vocational Activities of the New York City Board of Education, who was granted a special leave of absence by the Board to accept Hadassah’s invitation to survey existing vocational education programs in Israel, today reported his findings and recommendations to a meeting of the Hadassah national board.

Mr. Komow noted that a large percentage of youngsters attending high school in Israel attend vocational training high schools maintained by philanthropic organizations such as Hadassah since the Israel Government cannot yet afford to provide free educational facilities to children beyond 14 years of age. He pointed out that many vocational training schools in Israel adhere to the Swiss concept of vocational training, which maintains that a student preparing for a career as a craftsman should primarily concern himself with learning the intricacies of his trade. Lesser importance is attached to academic studies in these schools.

In contrast, Mr. Komow explained, the American philosophy is that whether a student is preparing to be a farmer, plumber or bricklayer, he should have a basic academic background “from which stems the qualities of good citizenship.” While lauding Israel’s privately-sponsored vocational education system for meeting the country’s growing agricultural and industrial manpower needs, Mr. Komow expressed the hope that in the future, greater stress would be placed on the humanistic aspects of the schools’ curricula.

“Of all of the schools I visited in Israel,” Mr. Komow continued, “Hadassah’s Alice L. Seligsberg Vocational High School came closest to the American conception of vocational education. As a matter of fact, in one respect it is an improvement. Most of the vocational high schools in the United States offer a uniform program for all trades of three hours per day in shops and three in academic and related subjects. In the Hadassah-Seligsberg School, this balance between shop and classroom varies with the subject content of each trade.”