Collective Residential Schools as Socializing Organizations: The Case of the "Educational Institution" of Hashomer Hatzair / המוסד החינוכי של הקיבוץ הארצי כארגון חיברות

The Kibbutz Artzi is a federation of 78 Hashomer Hatzair kibbutzim throughout Israel. The youth of these kibbutzim (numbering 3,000 between the ages of 12—18 in 1977) are educated in 19 educational institutions, along with 700 children from the city, mainly from underprivileged sections. Each educational institution (here referred to as "Mossad") is organized on a boarding school basis. The Mossad is a joint venture of 2—9 kibbutzim and is situated alongside one of the participant kibbutzim. The structure of the "Mossad" and its method of operation have not changed since its inception, although the kibbutz movement has undergone numerous changes. The continued existence of the Kibbutz Artzi boarding schools and its organizational stability are based on its ability to act as the main socialization agent of the adolescent age group, and as an efficient mechanism of social control, which is mainly informal. There is minimal direct adult control and adult presence after class hours. The wide normative range facilitates social control. There is an inherent paradox within the educational system of the Mossad in which all children born in the kibbutz are placed in high school without any prerequisites. This discrepancy is resolved by decreasing the academic demands, by a flexible system of evaluation and by the lack of firm criteria for remaining in and graduation from school. The attitude towards academic achievement corresponds to the ascribed character of the Mossad, its methods of socialization and social control. The Mossad has certain common characteristics with the English Public Schools : It is an integral part of a sub-system of society; it mainly accepts pupils on an ascribed criterion, emphasis is not on academic achievements but on social activities, there is a close interweaving of formal and informal systems, and collective and individual orientations.