Teachers in Israel have apparently chosen a dangerous profession. Both Haaretz and Ynet are reporting incidents in which students are suspected of attacking students.
Ynet reports that students in the Golan Heights are suspected of setting fire to their teacher's vehicle. The Haaretz story is about a teacher who is believed to have suffered a stroke after being hit by a water balloon thrown by students. The victim, who has 25 years of teaching experience, collapsed afterward and claims the students gloated over her and prevented paramedics from evacuating her to a hospital.
While I can't help but wonder if the teachers could be exaggerating the extent of their injuries in the hope of getting greater financial compensation (I wouldn't put such tactics past the Teachers Union here), I suspect there is something behind the incidents.
Israeli kids tend to lack discipline and can be extremely unruly. I'm not sure what this comes from, although I believe it's part of a general attitude of Israeli parents to let their kids get away with just about anything.
I remember a couple of years ago when my parents were visiting and we went to an Italian restaurant in Tel Aviv. Shortly after the food arrived, a small football thrown by an Israeli boy, probably around 6-8 years old, landed in my father's spaghetti. He handled the situation well. His reaction was one of shock mroe than anger. But it was telling when the child's father did virtually nothing to let his child know that this was unacceptable behavior.
