The Seker exam was a pivotal event in the lives of Israeli children for two decades. Over half a million students, an entire generation of 8th graders, participated in this test that determined their fate.

Not everyone understood the exam's significance.

Most treated it as a 13-year-old would – they knew it was important but didn't fully grasp just how much. A few internalized its weight and became anxious. Their parents, however, understood the full implications of the future results: the Seker exam determined their children's professional and social future.

 

The children of that generation are now men and women aged 70-90. Each one remembers the Seker exam, known by its short name: "The Seker." Among them are those who passed and others who failed. Some still include the official document certifying "The student successfully passed the Seker exam" in their life's records, while others never saw the document. And between these two extremes are all the rest, who only years later understood what it did to them – trying to suppress the failure, proud of the success, complaining about discrimination, or simply reminiscing with nostalgia.

 

"The Seker" was conducted between 1955 and 1972. It included questions from various subjects in the ongoing curriculum from 1st to 8th grade – Hebrew language, history, Bible, arithmetic, science, and geography. In total, there were about 100 questions (the number varied from year to year). No grades were given; it was only determined whether the examinee "passed" or not. Those who failed had a second chance through an appeal or a later make-up exam, which could turn failure into success.

 

The Seker's results aimed to determine a student's achievements and abilities, or, in other words: to decide who was talented and worthy of continuing their studies in an academic high school. At that time, the education system had two main frameworks: an 8-grade elementary school and a 4-grade academic high school. Elementary education was free for all Israeli children, while academic high school education was very expensive. "Junior high schools" had not yet been established, and anyone who finished 8th grade and wanted to continue studying could enroll in an academic high school or a vocational high school.

The more prestigious academic high school offered a broad education and led to a matriculation certificate (Bagrut). Vocational high schools taught specific trades – turning, mechanics, electronics, and other professions typically associated with men. For girls, study tracks in sewing, secretarial work, and bookkeeping were opened.

Those who passed the Seker gained entry to academic high school and received a significant tuition discount. Those who didn't pass either went to vocational school or were expelled from the education system and started working for low wages as exploited youth. Only those from affluent families could afford to fail and still enroll in academic high school, paying the full tuition.

A secondary goal of the Seker was to gather information on the school's and its students' performance, based on the number of students who passed the exam.