Their low matriculation rates are due to a system-wide intention of discouraging matriculation. The other systems supposedly aim for the highest possible rate and haven't shown significant progress in years. Parents: the system's indifferent; take matters into your hands.

Matriculation certificates and graduation diplomas aren't the same. The latter won't get you into higher education.

It's cataclysmic of biblical proportions. A serious reform is needed. The biggest change would come only from smaller classes. It's a world's of difference. As for the haredim, they have shown no regard for the rules of the ministry of education and therefor their independent education system must be scraped and united with the main one. 50% is unacceptable. 8% is far, far below abysmal.

Matriculation exams are an outdated method for testing eligibility! Revamp the system and see that more students will succeed! and #3 is 100% correct there is a difference between a high school diploma and a matriculation certificate.

in Yeshiva program these subjects after school. There are also "mechina" programs after Yeshiva which are very successful. My son attended this kind of program for archeticture. His main professor who is from the Technion was very impressed by the students and especially their ability to learn so well along with their fine characters. So, there are many very brilliant Yeshiva students out there who can learn complicated secular areas more quickly because the fact is that they are learning constantly and on a very high level along with great discipline. I think the gov't should just make more mechina programs, esp. in medicine which is needed, available because this will create many talented workers.

and is right up there with womyn studies and "liberal arts"

Close to 50 million people live in South Korea, and everyone learns Gemara in school. “We tried to understand why the Jews are geniuses, and we came to the conclusion that it is because they study Talmud,” said the Korean ambassador to Israel.

That goes for good students as well as slower learners, and in all grades, from elementary school to high school! It's no wonder, though, that the public education system fails to elevate the level of the pupils. Class teachers teach at one single level each lesson, in spite of new rules, and a big part of the pupils are left without education on their actual level. Individualization is taught at the Teachers' Colleges, but is seldom practised in the classrooms. The time that is lost every day on Facebook and other social or gaming sites is frightening. For hours on end, nothing useful gets done, neither when it comes to homework nor household chores. (Speaking as both a teacher and a parent.)

Gemara was not written by Haredim. The Korean you quote said "Jews are geniuses" but none such about Haredim. Actually, most of the Haredim don't know Gemara because they don't know how to count nor which side is up. And you know why it is so? It's because education passed from one idiot to another is a zero sum game.

From some of the comments about American Jews, Obama, etc that I see in Israeli media and talk-boards, I am not surprised. When you can't even graduate High School, you you end up being a pawn in the game played by politicians to influence your vote. The more education you have the better you are able to filter the rhetoric from the truth. Besides, it requires work to find out if a 'story' on is true or not and that is the problem. If you are too lazy to study, you are too lazy to seek the truth and it becomes more convenient to just go with the flow and agree with friends and family (who are not always right). A highly educated society makes important judgements based on fact and analyses, not fear and prejudice.

It would be good for everyone to be taught gemara, for sure, but as part of a full curriculum. Not to the exclusion of things like math, science, and foreign languages.

And that one thing they have hammered into them is that there was no Palestinian displacement and dispossession in 1948. That's the only graduation that counts in Israel.