Normality,Deviance, Identity,Cultural Tracking and School Achievement: The case of Ethiopian Jews in Israel

This article reveals the intrinsic connection between the constructs normality, identity, meaning, cultural tracking, and school achievement. In particular, it illuminates the indirect connection between cultural tracking and a reduction in the meaningful engagement of school tasks. As documented elsewhere, learning proceeds in a meaningful environment with meaningful goals embedded within the broader framework and context of human life, with identity anchored in a stable cultural and communicative framework. What my study shows is how Ethiopian students are in a state of identity crisis as they grapple with two cultural systems and structures of meaning which confuse their sense of direction. In the process, meaningfully propelled learning dispositions and an affectively driven urge to achieve scholastic excellence deteriorate. Thus, the lagging academic performance of these children is partly caused by the school system which has little knowledge of the way these children and their parents feel and think in terms of identity, belongingness and negotiation of meaning. It is not that Ethiopian students are unmotivated, they work hard to achieve excellence. It is more that the process of learning a new code of behaviour, values and school culture is taking place rapidly without the original culture's active participation as a basic link and a vehicle for further learning. The article also points out the extent of the economic and otherwise power‐related differences between black and white Jews in Israel.