Integration of Arabs and Jews in Israeli Schools

• In Event: 435 - Section on Sociology of Education Roundtables (one-hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 19. Race and Ethnicity: International Perspectives

Abstract

This is a study of friendship choices among Arab and Jewish students in Israeli schools. Israel’s population consists of about 75 percent Jews and 20 percent Arabs. In most areas of life there is a sharp separation between the two groups. In the school system, segregation is formal with Arabs and Jews attending Arabic and Hebrew schools respectively. Recently, however, educational integration is rising slowly. The two main carriers of this process are Arab families of lower and middle class that prefer Hebrew (Jewish) schools over Arab alternatives, and Jewish and Arab upper middle class families that participate in a handful of bilingual-multicultural schools, with an explicit agenda of promoting coexistence. This study examines separation and integration between Jews and Arabs in the few instances where they meet in real life – in school classes attended by both groups. We collected and analyzed student network data in most integrated schools. We estimate the extent to which Arabs’ and Jews’ preferences are ethnically homopilous; the extent to which they prefer friends of the same ethnic group over inter ethnic friendships. Furthermore, we compare homophily preferences in bi-lingual and Hebrew schools. Contrary to expectations, findings reveal a modest degree of homophily in Hebrew schools and a much larger degree of homophily in the bilingual schools that invest in promoting coexistence.

Authors

• Uri Shwed, Ben Gurion University-Negev

• Yossi Shavit, Tel Aviv University

• Maisalon Dellashi, Tel Aviv University

• Eran Kraus, Ben Gurion University-Negev