Most kids entering grade 2 don't know the alphabet - 82% of grade 4 kids can't read for meaning

[MagNorthDigital]

The burden for teaching children to read and write first and foremost lies with the teacher and formal education, not the parent.

I sent my children to school to learn how to read and write...it is not my job to do that and I wouldn't know how, as I am not a teacher.

My job is all the rest... a roof over their heads, food, clothing, good manners, etc., etc.

Most parents have the state take care of that for them...

An interesting thing happened in the United States between 1950 and 2010 (I'll speak in general cause I don't remember the specific stats)

The effect of one-parent, multi-child household on cognitive and social development.

Before 1950, a large portion of African American families received no welfare, this contributed to the father more often taking responsibility for their offspring, and maintaining their role as provider, and therefore role model to the next generation.

Fast forward 50 years and single-parent families have skyrocketed. Bringing with it a role-model vacuum not filled by anything wholesome (media is far from a good role model)

In simple terms, this happened because the state stepped in and relinquished the father of just enough of his duties to validate his leaving. (In ZA its remote work, plus a government grant... so the express lane to f***ing up the family unit)

This all ends, as you might expect. Children are raised by people who, at best can give them some love and support, and at worst by their neighborhood and the media.

Now let's bring this back home...

The ANC destroyed the African family unit, here in South Africa by

a) Not reducing migratory work patterns

b) Incentivising single or zero-parent households, by not regulating and guiding fair wage principles.

c) Encouraging population expansion over individual growth, by lowering the quality of education, rather than expanding the diversity therefor.

This is how you destroy any family. And specifically, a family that in the past relied so heavily on culture, tradition and community to raise generations.

With everything stacked against them by the worst scum in South Africa, it borders on statistically anomalous the percentage of children who are capable of the three Rs

 

[Kosmik]

Now let's bring this back home...

The ANC destroyed the African family unit, here in South Africa by

a) Not reducing migratory work patterns

b) Incentivising single or zero-parent households, by not regulating and guiding fair wage principles.

c) Encouraging population expansion over individual growth, by lowering the quality of education, rather than expanding the diversity therefor.

What drivel is this? I'm no fan of the ANC but these points don't correlate.

Point a : if you are referring to the fact that folks move to cities where there is more work vs rural areas, that's not going to change and what are the government going to do about it? Cities cluster due to resources or some other common localized incentives. Most of that is geared by industry and commerce.

Point B: how does fair wage force single parent households? We are one of the heaviest regulated economies with wages, in fact a more aggressive approach to blanket wage brackets vs incentivising skull and individual aptitude, especially in lower labour.

Point c: Encouraging population expansion over growth? How? There aren't calls for more population? Don't disagree about the quality of education but the two don't correlate.

A big part of the problem is the failure to raise a child or the rampant sexuality that causes abandonment or single parenting. That is a societal ill. Contraceptives are freely available but people still carry on with no concern and a child is brought in, not planned or considered.

There's a old joke that we need a parenting license which is truly terrifying in thought and I personally don't desire or support it but, damn, lots of folks would fail it.

 

[MagNorthDigital]

What drivel is this? I'm no fan of the ANC but these points don't correlate.

Point a : if you are referring to the fact that folks move to cities where there is more work vs rural areas, that's not going to change and what are the government going to do about it? Cities cluster due to resources or some other common localized incentives. Most of that is geared by industry and commerce.

Point B: how does fair wage force single parent households? We are one of the heaviest regulated economies with wages, in fact a more aggressive approach to blanket wage brackets vs incentivising skull and individual aptitude, especially in lower labour.

Point c: Encouraging population expansion over growth? How? There aren't calls for more population? Don't disagree about the quality of education but the two don't correlate.

A big part of the problem is the failure to raise a child or the rampant sexuality that causes abandonment or single parenting. That is a societal ill. Contraceptives are freely available but people still carry on with no concern and a child is brought in, not planned or considered.

There's a old joke that we need a parenting license which is truly terrifying in thought and I personally don't desire or support it but, damn, lots of folks would fail it.

Drivel? No, drivel is what the last 30 years has been in ZA. I could say the same...

A) Men leave their families to seek work in more financially viable regions and send money home. This removes one parent from the atomic family unit.

B) Lack of fair wage. Lack of guidance, lack of regulation and lack of enforcement. You think minimum wage in South Afrca is enough to feed a family? Throwing a stipend at non productive members of society does not amount to fair wage.

C) Seen any population metrics over the last 100 years for South Africa? Breeding voters.

"Our people are our greatest resource" - a quote from Crook in a doek.

Throwing 10 bodies at the problem rather than two minds.

"Failure to raise a child", with the absence of proper reference how would one learn this?

"Rampant Sexuality" Remind me again what humans are hard coded to do, and succeed at least once a year, from the age of +/- 14

Who do you think sets the pace for society? Who do you think controls the narrative for South Africa? The policies, the rules, the laws, the public opinions? Name them and you will find the problem.

 

[nightjar]

C) Seen any population metrics over the last 100 years for South Africa? Breeding voters.

"Our people are our greatest resource" - a quote from Crook in a doek.

The ANC regards uneducated voters as its biggest resource and the unnecessary closure of schools accelerated the decline.

Bantu education was better: academic
The apartheid-era Bantu education system was much better than the current education regime, a Wits academic said in Pretoria on Thursday.

"It was far better in terms of quality than the education that our kids are receiving nowadays. That is where the problem is," Rabelani Dagada, a lecturer at Wits Business School, told a debate on affirmative action.

Bantu education was better: academic

The apartheid-era Bantu education system was much better than the current education regime, a Wits academic said in Pretoria on Thursday. "It was far better in terms of quality than the education that our kids are receiving nowadays. That is where the problem is," Rabelani Dagada, a lecturer at...

www.timeslive.co.za

 

[Kosmik]

Drivel? No, drivel is what the last 30 years has been in ZA. I could say the same...

A) Men leave their families to seek work in more financially viable regions and send money home. This removes one parent from the atomic family unit.

B) Lack of fair wage. Lack of guidance, lack of regulation and lack of enforcement. You think minimum wage in South Afrca is enough to feed a family? Throwing a stipend at non productive members of society does not amount to fair wage.

C) Seen any population metrics over the last 100 years for South Africa? Breeding voters.

"Our people are our greatest resource" - a quote from Crook in a doek.

Throwing 10 bodies at the problem rather than two minds.

"Failure to raise a child", with the absence of proper reference how would one learn this?

"Rampant Sexuality" Remind me again what humans are hard coded to do, and succeed at least once a year, from the age of +/- 14

Who do you think sets the pace for society? Who do you think controls the narrative for South Africa? The policies, the rules, the laws, the public opinions? Name them and you will find the problem.

No, I see a large part , "let me blame someone else for the consequences of my actions". I know and have helped a few who have had the surprise baby and they send money home to family and hearth to raise the child. I have no sympathy for those who breed without care.


It's like the litter argument the other day, "Oh the area is never clean it's always full of litter". "But you have same cleaning compliment as the rest of the city?" "Yes but it's never clean". "Don't you think that maybe if people stopped throwing crap in the street it would stay clean?"

Society needs to take a hand on itself and some responsibility. I have huge issues with the government and systems but the populace had a burden of blame as well.

I think a few folks here, or at least the older ones , came from large families? My father was 1/8, I am 1/4 and we chose specifically to only have two children because that is what we beleive we can sustainably afford and provide a good life for.

And that is not racial. Look around, most income families realise this. In fact most households have returned to the multi generational home vs a single generation shift last century.

 

[My_King]

Just got an example of another one:

View attachment 1463147

Fill in a * and = sign to each.

Teacher marks it wrong as a / should have been used.

But what was the instruction?

And the useless educators are also the problem.

When you explain the work to them :

"Moenie my aanvat nie, ek het baie kinders om te leer" ...feeks

So let us not teach the kids correctly... maybe blame a virus and take no accountability.

 

[MagNorthDigital]

The ANC regards uneducated voters as its biggest resource and the unnecessary closure of schools accelerated the decline.

Bantu education was better: academic

The apartheid-era Bantu education system was much better than the current education regime, a Wits academic said in Pretoria on Thursday. "It was far better in terms of quality than the education that our kids are receiving nowadays. That is where the problem is," Rabelani Dagada, a lecturer at...

www.timeslive.co.za

View attachment 1472519

See, there was an opportunity to improve education. Kind if a golden time period from 1996 to 2016, where you could seed a new generation of parents, a new dynamic.

Regardless of what education was before that point. Better or worse.

But instead we got 20 years of failures, lowering of standards and eventually today, the complete regression.

 

[noxibox]

In primary school my children had minimal homework. The school's policy was to mostly get work done at school. Even term projects were done primarily during school hours.

This is the kind of thing that parents should be on the look out for. Uneducated parents aside though, I doubt 84% of the country is uneducated.

Under-educated then. Every child that leaves school barely literate is another potential parent who won't provide their children with an intellectually rich home environment. Plus the parents who hardly see their children due to commuting and working time.

They deserve what they vote for...........no sympathy.............VOTELA I-ANC...................

Are there a lot of grade 2s and 4s voting these days?

Yep, back in my day... library trips were mandatory ... and the after reading quiz fun....not only did you have your school library books to complete, still had another three from the local library... -words you did not understand, out came the dictionary - and onto your list it went... -your book would be opened on some random page... and you would be quizzed, and always the definition of a crap word would be asked ... you were well aware of what the consequences would be, if you tried to waffle your way ....

We had nothing like that when I was at school. No requirement to take books out of the school or any other library. Even if there had been there would have been no consequences to waffling our way out of assigned reading other than not getting any marks assigned to the task.

 

[Craig_]

In simple terms, this happened because the state stepped in and relinquished the father of just enough of his duties to validate his leaving. (In ZA its remote work, plus a government grant... so the express lane to f***ing up the family unit)

You'll need to explain this, how does remote work relinquish a father of his duties? I'd think it makes it easier for a parent to be available rather, and the whole world seems to be moving towards remote work, not only SA. I'd actually guess we're probably somewhat behind on that.

 

[RedViking]

For you dumb clever people.

Who can start the alphabet at any random letter and complete it without saying the whole thing in your head?

Pffft..... Anything after "N" has me repeat the whole damn thing.

 

[noxibox]

Sure between them trying to work from home, not everyone didn't work during the pandemic, also for grade 1 and 2 it's more crucial with the actually being at school interacting with other kids and teachers, it sets a grounding.

Teaching them to read doesn't take much time. But that's assuming the parents themselves can read and they have access to books. Although even having a bit of paper and a pencil would do. It also assumes there is already a foundation of learning in the home. My children were read to from the time they could sit up. They had access to games and books that exposed them to shapes, letters and numbers. I don't know how easy it would have been for them to learn to read without all that.

There are tons of online resources as well as some that are zero rated and even many communities have wifi centers. There's always money for airtime and other data but not for school.

Is there always money for those things? Also what sort of devices do these parents have? A tiny phone screen is pretty much useless as a learning device.

 

[Lupus]

Teaching them to read doesn't take much time. But that's assuming the parents themselves can read and they have access to books. Although even having a bit of paper and a pencil would do. It also assumes there is already a foundation of learning in the home. My children were read to from the time they could sit up. They had access to games and books that exposed them to shapes, letters and numbers. I don't know how easy it would have been for them to learn to read without all that.


Is there always money for those things? Also what sort of devices do these parents have? A tiny phone screen is pretty much useless as a learning device.

Yup parents do play a role as well, I've seen it with my own eyes 15 year olds who could barely read, until we found out dyslexia, now reading is fine.

 

[noxibox]

In simple terms, this happened because the state stepped in and relinquished the father of just enough of his duties to validate his leaving.

That's definitely not why it happened in the US.

Anyway there is no way to avoid urbanisation and it is always disruptive.

Before 1950, a large portion of African American families received no welfare, this contributed to the father more often taking responsibility for their offspring, and maintaining their role as provider, and therefore role model to the next generation.

You have cause and effect backwards here. Welfare didn't lead to men being absent. Welfare is there because the men are absent. The US government has helped to make black men more likely to be absent, but not by providing welfare.

B) Lack of fair wage. Lack of guidance, lack of regulation and lack of enforcement. You think minimum wage in South Afrca is enough to feed a family? Throwing a stipend at non productive members of society does not amount to fair wage.

It probably isn't, but setting a minimum wage is a tricky business. It's a good thing to have, but not easy to find the right level.

Point B: how does fair wage force single parent households? We are one of the heaviest regulated economies with wages, in fact a more aggressive approach to blanket wage brackets vs incentivising skull and individual aptitude, especially in lower labour.

Besides minimum wages what other private sector wages does the South African government set?

A big part of the problem is the failure to raise a child or the rampant sexuality that causes abandonment or single parenting. That is a societal ill. Contraceptives are freely available but people still carry on with no concern and a child is brought in, not planned or considered.

From what women have told me the clinics are often staffed by people who are hostile to the use of contraceptives. That means women coming in to get contraceptives are actively discouraged from following through.

There's a old joke that we need a parenting license which is truly terrifying in thought and I personally don't desire or support it but, damn, lots of folks would fail it.

It would be impossible to come up with proper criteria.

 

[MagNorthDigital]

You'll need to explain this, how does remote work relinquish a father of his duties? I'd think it makes it easier for a parent to be available rather, and the whole world seems to be moving towards remote work, not only SA. I'd actually guess we're probably somewhat behind on that.

Remote work, not in the online sense. Remote work in that the father leaves the home, to go live in another part of a country, or in another country altogether.

Eg. Man is from Zim / North West / Moz but works in Gauteng, and is removed from his family for extended periods of time.

 

[Cosmik Debris]

So 82% of parents cant read either?

I will probably be labeled an apartheid apologist for posting inconvenient facts again:

During Apartheid:

65% Of black South African children were at school, compared to Egypt 64%, Nigeria 57%, Ghana 52%, Tanzania 50% and Ethiopia 29%.

71% Of black adults in South Africa could read and write, compared to Kenya 47%, Egypt 38%, Nigeria 34% and Mozambique at 26%.

 

[Sepeng]

Hmm, my daughter is in grade 1 and my son grade 4...
Be right back...

So I checked - the grade 1 child doesn't know the alphabet but can read for meaning.
The grade 4 child does know the alphabet but can't read for meaning.
All things considered, I'll take that.
So I can 100% confirm that 50% of my children have contributed 75% to the 82% figure.

 

[Not_original]

Mother tongue education instead of forcing them into English or Afrikaans schools. The apartheid governments' secret to success has been mother tongue education. Not facilities, not resources and tools, not great teachers. Of course basic literacy will decline in SA if you keep forcing children into schools, even pre-primary schools where they do not understand the language.

True. My SO is a teacher and every year nearly a third of the class doesn't understand a lick of English at the start of the year (the school is clearly an English school). Poor kids miss so much... Even worse, it's the parents CHOOSING the school, not unplaced children getting bamboozled into a situation. She's an excellent teacher, but with 34 kids in a gr1 class, you can only do so much pointing and gesturing before your class is seriously behind with their work. She has picked up on some basic Zulu but can only use it when one on one with a child

 

[Thugscub]

Stop breeding.
/ thread.

 

[RedViking]

Stop breeding.
/ thread.

Should have started with your parents

/popcorn

 

[MagNorthDigital]

Should have started with your parents

/popcorn

Jho that heat! Viking is baking bread today!