Israeli high school students’ massive nationwide protest and one-day strike Jan. 14 over the cancelation of all extramural activities has paid off. Field trips will resume. Quite a few organizations and even political parties have tried to take advantage of this show of force by students. And no wonder. Who wouldn’t want to take credit for such effective action, which resolved a teacher crisis in less than 24 hours — a crisis that the grown-ups hadn’t managed to settle over a period of weeks?

Just as the members of the National Student and Youth Council were careful during their preparations for the strike — refusing all sorts of tempting offers of assistance and insisting on controlling everything and doing it alone — they are now being discreet in declining to reveal the identities of those who could take credit for what the students did. At the end of the day, Israeli youth proved that when something is important to them, they can get things moving in this country, and in an impressive fashion that even adults envy.

The episode began in November with a decision by teachers’ unions that teachers would not be accompanying students on annual field trips in light of a decision to prosecute educators of a school for the 2009 drowning death of a student during a field trip. The teachers requested immunity from criminal liability but were rejected. They then decided not to accompany students on annual field trips. Subsequently, in early January they announced that this applied to all off-campus activities, including museum visits, concerts, day trips and so on. Youth delegations to Poland and extracurricular civics tours were the only activities outside the school that were not canceled.

The students expressed support for the teachers throughout, said Gal Yosef, 17, from the town of Petah Tikva, who heads the student council. Wisely, they did not blame the teachers, criticize them or even demand that they set aside their concerns and chaperone students on school trips. “We understood that the teachers’ claim was just and real,” Yosef said. “We didn’t ask that they stop their sanctions, just that a solution be found.”