This book addresses a fundamental social problem arising from the massive and ongoing expansion of educational systems in the modern world. Educational expansion invariably involves the diversification of student populations, especially in terms of the distribution of ability and talent. Inclusion of a wider range of students in educational systems poses a major social dilemma: how can societies effectively provide equal educational opportunities for increasingly heterogeneous student populations while, at the same time, encouraging individual achievements based on the principal of equality? This book analyzes the strategies used by various educational systems and institutions, in order to cope with the equity-equality question in a comparative perspective concentrating on the Israeli case.

The collection is based on a colloquium which was held in memory of Professor Dov Weintraub in January 1986 at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The chapters are aimed at understanding some of the rural patterns of social change in Israel in a comparative perspective. In seeking insights about rural development in the modern world, the Israeli case is especially useful, because of its complex patterns of agricultural technology and organization that characterize advanced societies.