From Tractor Driver to Master's Degree

Summer 2012

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RESEARCH
Getting Hotter All the Time
Israeli Cinema: Perverting the Image of Holocaust Survivors
Can We Split Our Attention?
Violent Digital Games: Are They Just a Game?
Video Screening for ADD
The Sun's Cycles

STUDENTS & GRADUATES
Blind Date with the Open University
"The Open University: A Superior Training Ground for Professional Success"
From Tractor Driver to Master's Degree
A Family Affair

TECHNOLOGY
Digital University: Mobile Digital Books Project
Is Technology Tromping the ABC's?

INITIATIVES - LANGUAGE
Arabic-Speaking Students Study in Arabic
Sao Paulo University Students Learn About Israeli Society in Spanish

EVENTS
Graduation Ceremonies
The 7th Chais Conference
Evening in Honor of Dov Lautman
Visit by NASA Astronaut, William S. McArthur, Jr.
Exhibition: "Fireworks Blossoming in the Winter"
"Psychic Numbing of Genocide"

INTERNATIONAL
Conference at Cambridge University
Cambridge in Ra'anana
American Friends: The Open University Foundation

HIGHLIGHTS
Dr. Milly Perry
Prof. Yoav Yair
Prof. Yoram Eshet
Aviel Atias
Laurence Berry
Edna Tal
SuperBrands Israel
Prof. Judith Gal-Ezer
Co-editors: Elissa Allerhand, Ilene Bloch-Levy Photographer: Gideon Markowitz Graphic Designer: Laura Grinberg Web Manager: Batsheva Engelberg-Behr Web Master: Sonia Pechersky

STUDENTS AND GRADUATES
From Tractor Driver to Master's Degree While working construction sites and garbage dumps on his tractor, Mishael would prop his OU micro-economics books on the steering wheel and study. After two intensive years at the Open University, studying, raising a family of five children and working, Mishael earned his undergraduate degree in history and has just completed his Master's at Bar Ilan University. He is teaching high school now, and has formulated some ambitious plans for his future. Mishael Chaikin was no ordinary tractor driver when he and his family moved out to one of Israel's most remote regions – Hemdat in the Jordan Valley, nearly 9 years ago. "When you live in Israel's periphery, you don't really have a lot of options for employment," Mishael explains. So, you basically take whatever you can get. For Mishael, who had to provide for his family of five, the 'best' employment he could find was as a tractor driver on construction sites and garbage dumps. But Mishael had greater ambitions, some his own and some inherited from his parents. "OU gives an opportunity for people who live in the periphery to learn and advance. I loved the idea that I could learn from my house (and atop my tractor) and put in the hours as I needed to. And, believe me, I put in plenty of hours." Mishael Chaikin, OU graduate One of eight children, Mishael grew up in another remote location, in Israel's south Hebron Hills, where, in spite of the difficulties, all his siblings have earned degrees and are working in various professions. Mishael's father is an MIT graduate. So, academic learning was a vital part, Mishael refers to it as a 'good germ,' of their growing up. But how do you go about earning a degree when you are hours away from any university and need to earn a living for a growing family? The Open University was the perfect solution for Mishael. "The OU gives an opportunity for people who live in the periphery to learn and advance. I loved the idea that I could learn from my house (and atop my tractor) and put in the hours as I needed to. And, believe me, I put in plenty of hours." In the beginning Mishael studied accounting and economics, but during a trip to Poland as an IDF company commander, he realized that his real drive and love lie in history. So, he came back to the OU and quickly moved onto the history track. Two years later, endless hours of studying, reading and just running his life, Mishael earned his undergraduate degree in history. He quickly found employment in a local pre-army preparatory program and a high school in nearby Beit She'an as a history teacher. After completing his undergraduate degree from the Open University, Mishael was immediately accepted into a special Master's Program in political history at Bar Ilan University through the Israel Defense Forces. When he looks back on these past few years – driving the tractor seems long behind him – he realizes that it was his 'training' at the Open University that gave him the impetus to come this far. "Dividing the week into studies, work, family was always challenging, but the material at the Open University is so comprehensive, thorough and deep that I had to spend hours upon hours studying. And, I did. This prepared me for my master's and actually... for my life." His next step – yes, his mother would like him to earn a PhD (what good Jewish mother doesn't want that for her child) but he plans on moving into management, always with education in the background.

STUDENTS AND GRADUATES

From Tractor Driver to Master's Degree

While working construction sites and garbage dumps on his tractor, Mishael would prop his OU micro-economics books on the steering wheel and study. After two intensive years at the Open University, studying, raising a family of five children and working, Mishael earned his undergraduate degree in history and has just completed his Master's at Bar Ilan University. He is teaching high school now, and has formulated some ambitious plans for his future.

Mishael Chaikin was no ordinary tractor driver when he and his family moved out to one of Israel's most remote regions – Hemdat in the Jordan Valley, nearly 9 years ago.

"When you live in Israel's periphery, you don't really have a lot of options for employment," Mishael explains. So, you basically take whatever you can get. For Mishael, who had to provide for his family of five, the 'best' employment he could find was as a tractor driver on construction sites and garbage dumps. But Mishael had greater ambitions, some his own and some inherited from his parents.

"OU gives an opportunity for people who live in the periphery to learn and advance. I loved the idea that I could learn from my house (and atop my tractor) and put in the hours as I needed to. And, believe me, I put in plenty of hours."

Mishael Chaikin, OU graduate

One of eight children, Mishael grew up in another remote location, in Israel's south Hebron Hills, where, in spite of the difficulties, all his siblings have earned degrees and are working in various professions. Mishael's father is an MIT graduate. So, academic learning was a vital part, Mishael refers to it as a 'good germ,' of their growing up. But how do you go about earning a degree when you are hours away from any university and need to earn a living for a growing family?

The Open University was the perfect solution for Mishael. "The OU gives an opportunity for people who live in the periphery to learn and advance. I loved the idea that I could learn from my house (and atop my tractor) and put in the hours as I needed to. And, believe me, I put in plenty of hours."

In the beginning Mishael studied accounting and economics, but during a trip to Poland as an IDF company commander, he realized that his real drive and love lie in history. So, he came back to the OU and quickly moved onto the history track. Two years later, endless hours of studying, reading and just running his life, Mishael earned his undergraduate degree in history. He quickly found employment in a local pre-army preparatory program and a high school in nearby Beit She'an as a history teacher.

After completing his undergraduate degree from the Open University, Mishael was immediately accepted into a special Master's Program in political history at Bar Ilan University through the Israel Defense Forces.

When he looks back on these past few years – driving the tractor seems long behind him – he realizes that it was his 'training' at the Open University that gave him the impetus to come this far. "Dividing the week into studies, work, family was always challenging, but the material at the Open University is so comprehensive, thorough and deep that I had to spend hours upon hours studying. And, I did. This prepared me for my master's and actually... for my life."

His next step – yes, his mother would like him to earn a PhD (what good Jewish mother doesn't want that for her child) but he plans on moving into management, always with education in the background.