Kibbutz Values in School-based Curricula for Kibbutz Studies

This paper addresses the question of how the values of the kibbutz are presented and tested in six school-based curricula. The research reported here indicated that kibbutz values in school-based curricula are studied mainly by the examination of these values as ideals vis-à-vis the probability of their realisation and their practical application. Planners and teachers alike attempt to cope with this gap by promoting tolerance towards a partial and compromising realisation of values which fall short of absolute ideals, and by examining practical solutions to dilemmas of principle explicit in kibbutz life. Moreover, the findings indicate that the most frequently practised way to present and teach kibbutz values is a neutral, objective approach that does not oblige the teacher to take a stand. This apparently stems from the ambivalent attitude of the teachers as individual kibbutz members towards the kibbutz way of life.