Praxis Study Guide

The Academic Boycott vs. the Truth of Islamic Education in Israel

The “First International Conference—In The Footsteps of Sufism: History, Trends and Praxis” was hosted by the Al-Qasemi Academy, an institution that, in the words of an enthusiastic student, “hopes to be the first Muslim university in Israel.” Baqa al-Gharbiyya, where it is located, is a town divided by the “green line” between Israel and the West Bank, and the school is on the Israeli side of the frontier. With about 2,000 students, mainly women, it receives 35 percent of its budget from the Israeli Ministry of Education and the rest from private donors. Al-Qasemi (with the accent on the first syllable in “Qasemi”) is planning a second campus, to award bachelor’s degrees in technology, but has yet to develop a budget for it.

Here a digression on Israel’s minorities may be in order for anyone surprised that the Israeli authorities would subsidize an Islamic school. Nearly 17 percent of Israel’s population is Muslim. Overwhelmingly Arabs, these Israeli citizens number about 1.6 million in a total population of 7.5 million. They carry Israeli passports and have secular educational opportunities equal to those of their Jewish neighbors. Most are bilingual in Arabic and Hebrew. They have enjoyed full voting rights since the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, first met in 1949. It is sometimes pointed out that Israeli Arabs have more political rights than Arabs anywhere else in the Middle East, with the exception of Iraq since the mid-2000s.

The non-Jewish population of Israel also includes Arab Christians (2 percent of the total census) and Druzes (1.7 percent). Israeli Arabs are not required to serve in the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), though some volunteer for duty as soldiers, and more perform “national service,” usually involving tasks like community administration, for which they receive the same salary and benefits as soldiers. Another 170,000 or so Israelis are itinerant Bedouins, who have their own dialect and perceive themselves as victims of discrimination by other Arabs; some of them, too, volunteer for the IDF. Israeli Arabs are employed throughout the civil administrative apparatus.

Let's Get Specific About The Praxis II Test

The Praxis II Test is specific – it tests your knowledge of the subject matter you will be teaching. There’s no sense in using a Praxis study guide geared toward secondary math teachers if you are going to be teaching middle school social studies.

You need to know the questions that relate to your field. Limiting your study to the correct, specific questions is half the battle. Nobody wants to spend hours studying the wrong thing.

Once you’ve determined the right Praxis study program for your discipline, it’s time to start practicing. Go over the questions again and again until you recognize them in your sleep.

The questions might change a bit on the actual Praxis II Test, but the gist will be the same. Repetition breeds confidence, and that’s what you need on test day.

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