It's Not That We Don't Know,It's That We Don't Care: Explaining Why Selective Exposure Polarizes Attitudes

Today audiences can select content that is consonant with their political notions, and they take advantage of this opportunity. Such partisan selective exposure to media outlets has been identified as one of the reasons for attitude polarization. Little research attention, however, has been devoted to the processes underlying this phenomenon. This article advances the understanding of selective exposure by testing whether its effect on attitude polarization is attributable to people's familiarity with arguments that reinforce or challenge their own opinions. A sample of politically engaged extremists (N = 440) was subjected to a structured interview. As hypothesized, users of partisan media were more familiar with arguments reinforcing their views and, as a result, more prone to polarization. Knowledge of challenging arguments, however, was not affected by consumption of partisan media, nor did it promote depolarization. Results are discussed in light of two conflicting theories: the persuasion and the motivational-reasoning model.     

Balancing the protection of civil liberties during wartime: How the Israeli Supreme Court shaped Palestinian freedom of expression during the Second Intifada

Freedom of expression has long been one of Israel's most basic tenets. Since the beginning of the “Al Aksa Intifada” in October 2000, many bodies in Israel have attempted to limit this freedom when expressed by Israeli Arab Palestinians on the grounds that such expression is harmful to the public and forms an incitement for terror. The Israeli Supreme Court, despite heavy opposition by the public, was nevertheless able in most instances to uphold and protect this liberty. Despite public outcry, the Court performed a delicate balancing act, balancing Israel's need to protect itself from its enemies against the basic freedom of expression to which all of its citizens are entitled. The mechanics of this judicial balancing act by a country that is no stranger to war and terrorism can serve as a useful guide for other countries struggling to deal with similar assaults to their democratic way of life.     

The progressive and non‐formal principles of Kibbutz education in Israel

This article explores the relationship between philanthropy and education in the context of eighteenth‐century Protestant Dissent. More particularly, it examines the intersection between philanthropy, fund‐raising and educational administration as they evolved within the institutional lifecycle of the collegiate Dissenting academies. It argues that individual academies experienced at least three of four life stages, each of which had its own unique challenges. All academies went through the first two of these stages, namely ‘foundation’ and ‘maintenance’. Whether or not an academy experienced the last two stages – ‘transition’ and ‘dissolution’ – depended on factors such as the financial strength of an academy and the reliability of its principal supporters. To illustrate these stages and their philanthropic subtexts, the article focuses on three institutional ‘traditions’, those of the Northampton Academy and its successors, the Warrington Academy, and Trevecca College and its successor Cheshunt College.     

International Baccalaureate as a litmus test revealing conflicting values and power relations in the Israeli education system

This study comprises a comprehensive attempt to reveal the power relations and conflicting interests within the local–global nexus of the Israeli public education system. The perceptions of different stakeholders were explored, in regard to the implementation of the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program as an example of a globally oriented curriculum. Vignette scenarios and mixed methods were utilized in order to survey various stakeholders including parents, school principals, Education Ministry officials, academics, and educational entrepreneurs. Findings indicate that the Israeli education system is somewhat trapped between different and opposing pressures that force transformations in conflicting directions. The Israeli case may serve as a reference point for future research, advancing the study of power relations and tensions between different values and diverse stakeholders in modern education systems, especially within societies engaged in active conflict.     

International education as a novel entity in a public education system: the establishment of a new public international school in Israel

Abstract

This study traces the founding process of Eastern Mediterranean International School (EMIS) by analysing the motivations and interests of different stakeholders involved in the establishment process. In this novel initiative students from Palestine, Israel, and other countries study within the Israeli public school system towards an International Baccalaureate (IB) diploma. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with founders, educators, Ministry of Education officials, a parents’ survey, and content analysis of related documents, the authors show how the school was established and approved despite the supposedly contradicting hegemonic discourse of the official Israeli policy. They conclude by suggesting some implications for scholars and policy-makers.     

The dialectics of assimilation and multiculturalism: the case of children of refugees and migrant workers in the Bialik-Rogozin School,Tel Aviv

This paper focuses on children of refugees and migrant workers from 48 countries who study together in one multicultural school in the city of Tel Aviv, Israel. The context of our study is the current ethos of globalisation and within it the phenomenon of vast migrations and creation of intercultural social realities. The aims of the study were to illustrate the principles, practices and dilemmas that form the very basis of the school culture, to let the special or ‘foreign’ voices of the children and the teaching staff be heard, and to identify the educational qualities that are responsible for the school’s success. In our research we employed both the method of qualitative case study and the philosophical interpretive discourse. On the basis of our observations, interviews and text analyses of the school’s educational manifesto, we suggested the following pedagogical virtues as the key factors responsible for the school’s extraordinary achievements: (1) a firm commitment to a humanist and multicultural stance; (2) a progressive and pragmatic dialectic approach regarding students’ empowerment, via social integration and academic success as well as via multicultural pedagogy; and (3) a dialectic pedagogical approach that stresses therapeutic-individualised teaching as well as challenging students to attain high academic standards.     

What kind of citizenship for whom? The ‘refugee crisis’ and the European Union’s conceptions of citizenship

The European Union (EU) plays a dominant role in coordinating the responses to the massive inflow of refugee-migrants into Europe; consequently, the conceptions of citizenship and future integration which are embedded in its policies are significant. We explore and analyse the key EU education policy documents that refer to immigrants to identify the forms of citizenship attributed to various types of incomers by the EU. Our analysis demonstrates that the EU’s conception of refugee-migrants is more closely affiliated with the notion of ‘Global citizens’ rather than with that of ‘European citizens’. Furthermore, we suggest that the EU distinguishes and navigates between various migratory flows, namely internal-European, desired external-European and undesired external-European (refugee-migrants), each associated with a distinctive conception of citizenship as well as with related policy discourses. In the light of the migratory flows into Europe, the particularistic conceptions of citizenship shaping the EU’s educational policy carry considerable implications for the future integration of refugee-migrants in Europe.