The process of marking matric papers is unfair

daveza

daveza

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http://www.news24.com/Content/South...13-07-2009 09-07/Matric_marking_Change_needed


Matric marking: 'Change needed'
2009-07-13 21:02

Plan to boost matric results
Durban - The process of marking matric papers is unfair as it fails to recognise English is not the mother tongue of most pupils, teachers' union Sadtu in KwaZulu-Natal said on Monday.

SA Democratic Teachers' Union provincial secretary Mbuyiseni Mathonsi told a press briefing in Durban: "The current marking system is old. It was designed by the apartheid government to fail our learners.

"We have a situation where markers in every subject mark English before they mark content. Many learners fail because of that."
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Just what is needed - making it easier to pass Matric.

I suppose Malema had english woodwork....
 
Well I had a poor education and my lack of the command of engrish :) is evident.

What I at least like about UNISA is that my lecturers mark you on your ability to understand the work. Sure, if my language skills where better I would see an improvement in my marks but this does not mean I understand the work less or more.

I anyway feel that just sticking it out till the end of matric is good enough to get some credit, look at how many pupils drop out from Grade 9!
 
So what they're implying is that they're too thick to learn a language? If I were one of their students I'd be offended.
 
Lycanthrope said:
So what they're implying is that they're too thick to learn a language? If I were one of their students I'd be offended.
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It takes a very long time to get your second language up to standard, so they're at least at a disadvantage.

You'd see what would happen if every English kid had to go to an Afrikaans or Xhosa etc school. Wouldn't work well either.
 
Ekhaatvensters said:
It takes a very long time to get your second language up to standard, so they're at least at a disadvantage.

You'd see what would happen if every English kid had to go to an Afrikaans or Xhosa etc school. Wouldn't work well either.
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*nod* I can understand that. I also understand that they're at a disadvantage. When we (or at least I) went to school, I had to learn Afrikaans. I didn't "excel" in it, but 70% wasn't exactly a tragic average either. Granted, that was second language.

I can have a decent conversation with someone in Afrikaans but don't ask me to write a thesis. I hated Afrikaans and I hated having to learn to speak it, but I did and, I think, I'm more the better for it.

English? Go anywhere - US, UK, Denmark, Japan, etc - you'll find people who speak the language. Even the rural areas have people who can put a fractured sentence together.

I love the language I speak, and I'm sure they love the languages they speak, but to handicap yourself with a language as globally renowned as English is just insane. Even in Denmark and Sweden they teach English as a third or fourth language.

I just can't help thinking that the mentality of some people in this country is that you have to cater to some kind of "special needs" because they're too thick or lazy to learn. Or more precisely, that they don't want to learn.

There are thousands, if not millions, of kids out there who want to learn, who want an education. Why the hell should the standard of education be lowered to make it "easier" for those who, in all honesty, are capable of learning, but just think it's too much effort?
 
Ekhaatvensters said:
It takes a very long time to get your second language up to standard, so they're at least at a disadvantage.

You'd see what would happen if every English kid had to go to an Afrikaans or Xhosa etc school. Wouldn't work well either.
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It would be much harder for an english kid, english is everywhere outside of school. TV, radio, books, music etc. You can't hide from english, it's that readily available, but you can hide from the other languages quite easily outside of school.
 
I agree that it may be a problem having to write an exam in English, but I don't agree with the crap about it being designed by the Apartheid government to fail students. If anything, the Nats were forcing people to learn in Afrikaans, which is what the whole Sharpeville incident was about.

It's beside the point anyway - if you want to be internationally competitive then you have to be able to communicate in English, at least on some level, as it's the standard language of communication between people who have a language barrier. For example, a Frenchman and a Japanese person would usually resort to English to communicate.

It's all good and well if you can get your mathematics degree in Zulu, but try explaining a Lagrangian polynomial to the rest of the world and they'd tell you to rather just get lost.
 
Isn't english a requirement in every province? I do however agree with papers + learning needing to be done in others too but limited.. like afrikaans schools. Of cause this feeds a bigger issue of tertiary institutions teaching in english predominately and afrikaans.
 
Why does one need core subjects to be taught in home languages? Firstly, usually the home language can accommodate technical words and phrases, sometimes better than English, but mostly new words and phrases, have to created, converted and adapted into the home language for this to be possible.
Another reason, is it causes the home language to be given a high level of respect and acceptability in general usage, at least from the supporters of such changes. This ignores the associated facts of having to translate from English into the home language, concepts that the home language does not readily have available. Willingness to correctly translate and or create concepts and phrases into the home language, is usually left to persons, who fall back on inserting Anglicised versions of the concept in the home language. This leads to increased workload in learning the subject, and reduces the willingness in the students to learn and understand the concepts being taught.
 
Do these people actually think before they talk.

They are just confirming that African people are as thick as bricks and need to get special treatment when it comes to education......

WTF is that about?

They should learn to keep their traps shut. Why do we have exceptional African students who ace all subjects up to Masters level with no problem what so ever? O and they went to the same schools as all of us and english is also not their mother tongue.

Stupid teachers union.....

They are blaming the Children for their lack of teaching :p
 
Who is this THEY?
Oh .. the teachers union.

I think that perhaps we should wait to see if the teachers have something to say about "their" union.
 
What amazes me about this country's current political climate is that:
- there is continuous attempts to oust people from their positions, claiming incompetence / inability.
HOWEVER:
- there are no attempts to change procedure or legislation or lines of responsibility.

Therefore, nothing actually changes, except for the person in the gravy position.
 
Learning additional languages had never been a bad thing. At the very least, it opens up your world to something completely new, and broaden your knowledge and understanding of other cultures.

In Croatia, parents will lend money, just to be able to learn their kids another language, and usually more than one additional language. Why would parents in SA rather keep their children back from advancing? Make it even more difficult to compete in the global village? Cutting off the nose to spite the face?
 
Nod said:
Learning additional languages had never been a bad thing. At the very least, it opens up your world to something completely new, and broaden your knowledge and understanding of other cultures.

In Croatia, parents will lend money, just to be able to learn their kids another language, and usually more than one additional language. Why would parents in SA rather keep their children back from advancing? Make it even more difficult to compete in the global village? Cutting off the nose to spite the face?
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It's because Afrikaans and English is the language of the white man. Nothing you can do or say to change their mindset. But these same people stand with their hands cup'd for money from the States and Europe.....

Another day in Africa, nothing more nothing less :p
 
Smooth Criminal said:
I agree that it may be a problem having to write an exam in English, but I don't agree with the crap about it being designed by the Apartheid government to fail students.
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Apartheid actually had a special plan for indigenous (ie. non-white) learners, which took into account their poor knowledge of English and lack of general intelligence. It was called the Bantu Education System.

I wasn't aware that the Bantu Education System had been removed yet, so SADTU is (as usual) talking through its hat.
 
absolute rubbish..I went to government schools my whole life. In Standard 7, we did not even have a proper class.. we had huge shack..although it was well built, it was freezing in winter..

The point is, some of us had it tough, but I still kicked butt in my matric year of 99. I got B's across the board, all on high grade. I think its the current OBE trash that is messed up!


I turned out just fine.. :)
 
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Pilgrim said:
You don't know the French, do you? :D They would rather die than resort to English.

But I agree, English is a very important language if you want to communicate internationally.
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A lot of technical and even many English words come from the French language, mind you.
 
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