A recently released international study ranks Israeli schools as being more violent than in any other country surveyed. It reveals that about one-fourth of Israeli eighth-graders have been the object of physical violence perpetrated by schoolmates while on school grounds. For comparison's sake, the United States, which, like Israel, is an immigrant country, ranks fourth in the world in the degree of physical danger to which pupils are exposed. Only 10 percent of American schoolchildren reported any injuries at the hands of other pupils on school grounds.

These findings were publicized three months ago by the TIMSS (Third International Mathematics and Science Study), which charts scholastic achievement.

In a 1999 survey of school systems around the world, the organization also looked into other aspects of the "educational" experience: discipline (cheating, truancy), school vandalism, theft, and violence among teachers and pupils. The study encompassed 150,000 eighth-grade students from 5,700 schools in 38 countries.

The most interesting finding arising from the study is the attitudes of Israeli students regarding the physical danger they face at school. Only 18 percent of Israeli eighth-graders feel that suffering an injury from physical violence rates as "a serious problem." Conversely, in countries that are ranked low in the violence chart, such as Indonesia (in which not a single student reported having been struck by a classmate) or Morocco and Tunisia, one-fourth of the students consider physical violence a serious problem.

Israel ranks number one worldwide when it comes to verbal violence. Fifty-one percent of students in Israel (and Australia) reported being cursed or otherwise humiliated by their schoolmates. The following countries followed Israel in the verbal-violence ranking: Holland (where 49 percent of students suffered from verbal violence), the United States and Canada. At the other end of the spectrum - countries with the lowest percentage of verbally abusive schoolchildren - were Latvia, Lithuania and Indonesia - in which only 3 percent of students reported verbal violence.

When the verbal abuse was perpetrated by teachers and faculty, Israel ranked "only" fourth. Holland and Australia are the countries where students suffer the most cursing and humiliation from their teachers. They are followed by New Zealand, Israel (which tied with Korea), and the United States.

The measure of violence in Israeli schools is also reflected by the status assigned to school property. Israel ranks second in the world in school vandalism. Thirty percent of Israeli students reported having vandalized school property. The chart is headed by Holland, where 45 percent of pupils claimed to have taken part in acts of school vandalism. Despite the negative images portrayed in American movies, students there are not especially destructive when it comes to school property. They are ranked below students in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Hong Kong and Cyprus.

Nor do Israeli students seem to care much about their colleagues' possessions. Israel ranks fourth worldwide in the rate of thefts committed on school grounds. Ten percent of the surveyed eighth-graders in Israel reported that fellow classmates had stolen their possessions. Australia tops this chart, followed by Holland and South Africa. The rate of theft among Israeli students is the same as that of students in the United States and Chile.

The TIMSS also examined learning habits and discipline among students. Although Israeli schools do not insist on uniforms, every school does have a dress code: Not all principals permit their students to come to school with pierced eyebrows or noses, or, alternatively, with hair dyed bright red. According to the study, Israeli students are relatively well disciplined when it comes to upholding the dress code, ranking in ninth place worldwide.

Sixty-one percent of Israeli eighth-graders reported that they often interrupt their teachers during class. But compared to their Australian counterparts (who claim first place in this category) and students in Holland and the United States, the Israelis are relatively disciplined in the classroom.

"The high rate of violence in the schools is a serious finding that the educational system will have to address," said Prof. Zemira Mevarech, the chief scientist of the Ministry of Education, yesterday. "In each of the criteria - be it physical or verbal violence, or vandalism - Israel ranks in one of the highest places in the world. The study shows that there is a cumulative effect of student behavior in Israel: they insult and curse and hit one another, and are frequently truant from school. One of the important challenges facing the educational system will be how to create an appropriate school atmosphere in which educational institutions become places where it is pleasant to learn.

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Nisan 5761 - April 2001