The Ashkenazi Revolution

215great attack upon the world of plenty, an attack by those who live in theabyss of the 14 th century upon those who live in the blossoming fields ofthe twentieth century.It is difficult to estimate the numeric strength of the Second Land of Israel.It is likely that the best measure of it would be the number of children whoare struggling academically, for these children bear the curse of the“Generation of the Wilderness”, and turn it into a permanent curse that isingrained in them and, to a large degree, also in their progeny. Thesechildren, at various levels of academic retardedness, constitute about a thirdof primary school students, and, due to the naturally high reproductive rateof this class, their portion will increase more and more in coming years.Concerning this matter, much has already been said and written and weshall therefore only cite the most trusted sources in this regard, that is tosay, a portion of the Knesset speech of the Minister of Education at thetime, Mr. Abba Eban. In this speech, to a full Knesset, which dealt withthe budget of the Office of Education for the year 1962-1963, the ministersaid:A month ago I received a report from the superintendent of education ofthe southern region that reaches from Ashdod to Eilat. It dealt withchildren who study in primary schools in Israel from kindergarten toeighth grade. That is to say, nine years. The superintendent of the south(who has struggled with this problem for ten years) writes accurate andforceful things: - “It is among my duties to bring to your attention theseverity of the situation in the field of education of the children of thebackward classes, the paucity of their accomplishments and the scarcity oftheir advancements, which is lacking in relation to what the state requires.The percentage of students who do not accomplish what is minimallyexpected of them is 35 to 40.” And here there is a definition of the concept“do not accomplish what is minimally expected of them”: “The concept ofnot accomplishing what is minimally expected of them means that aspecific child (over a third of the 3045 children who complete eighth gradein primary school) finishes primary school and is not able to read anewspaper or a simple book and understand it, that is he not able to write