Poll: 37% of young parents do not want their children studying with kids of other races

Some 37 percent of Israeli parents aged 29 and under say they would not want their children to be in the same classroom with children of other races, according to a new poll conducted by Shiluv Millward Brown market research group.

The poll found the same sentiment to be true in 12 percent of parents aged 30 to 49 and only 5 percent of parents over age 50.

The poll, on the topic of education, racism and violence, was conducted among a nationwide random sample of 500 men and women aged 18 and up in honor of the 10th Annual Tel Aviv-Jaffa Conference for Progressive Education, held jointly by Kibbutzim College and the local municipality.

Some 23 percent of parents polled said their children have suffered from medium to high levels of physical or emotional violence and racism at school.

Eleven percent of parents with children aged 18 and under reported that their children had faced medium to high levels of racism at school.

At the same time, 90 percent of the general public believes that the school system is responsible for providing children with anti-racism education.

Only 56 percent of parents reported feeling comfortable with their children being taught by an Arab teacher. Still, nearly half of the parents polled said they were in favor of their children attending multicultural schools, as opposed to schools for specific communities.

Seventy-one percent of those polled said they felt the education system should create lesson plans dedicated to the holidays and cultures of Israel's different communities.

Professor Nimrod Aloni, head of the Institute for Progressive Education at Kibbutzim College and the UNESCO chairman in Humanistic Education, said of the report, "The poll provides concerning data regarding the extent of the physical and emotional violence experienced by children at school, as well as racism and humiliation experienced on social media sites."

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