PRESIDENT’S REPORT 2015
Addressing the Nobel banquet, Shechtman said scientists have a duty “to promote education, rational thinking and tolerance.”
“We should also encourage our educated youth to become technological entrepreneurs. Those countries that nurture this knowhow will survive future financial and social crises. Let us advance science to create a better world for all,” he said.
Interviewed Sunday, Shechtman, 70, made clear he worried about education in Israel — specifically that of the haredi Orthodox sector, which sometimes places more a premium on religious studies than on core secular subjects.
“You can pray to the heavens, but it doesn’t put bread on the table or provide defense for the country,” he told Israel Radio.
Shechtman called for state funds to be denied to schools that neglect the core curriculum and for parents who deprive their children of a rounded education to be “punished under law.”
“I have been associated with the Technion for half a century. First as a student and then as a faculty member. In the early days it was not easy to be admitted to the university, and even more difficult to be a student there. In my day, if you failed one course, you had to repeat the whole year. But our graduates know that they receive the best training in engineering and high-technology.”