Article: Matric pass rate improved in 2012

So those people complaining about Maths Literacy would rather have kids come out of school with no basic Maths ability. Reality is that not everyone can cope with Pure Maths which is only necesasry for acceptence into Engineering, Science, Medicine etc, The rest will end up in the Humanities and Commerce fields anyway.
 
stop calling it maths. It's glorified home ecc.

And make it compulsory not an elective.
 
JungleBoy said:
So those people complaining about Maths Literacy would rather have kids come out of school with no basic Maths ability. Reality is that not everyone can cope with Pure Maths which is only necesasry for acceptence into Engineering, Science, Medicine etc, The rest will end up in the Humanities and Commerce fields anyway.
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When I was at school, Maths was compulsory... even if it was LG... you HAD to do maths.
 
And 50% of those 73% wont be getting jobs anytime soon.
 
they are creating a expectation with kids.
What score does Math lit give you on your application for varsity?
 
Mila said:
stop calling it maths. It's glorified home ecc.

And make it compulsory not an elective.
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Did you look at the exam? It's not home economics. And it is compulsory to take either maths or math lit.
 
Mila said:
they are creating a expectation with kids.
What score does Math lit give you on your application for varsity?
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It's so bad it actually counts against you getting into varsity.
 
2012 said:
It's so bad it actually counts against you getting into varsity.
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To be honest, I don't think most kids actually want/need/are able to go to university. I'm glad they have no option but to learn at least some relevant basics. Much better than having no mathematical grounding whatsoever.
 
Sinbad said:
Did you look at the exam? It's not home economics. And it is compulsory to take either maths or math lit.
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Did you do home ecc? besides the cooking part you did economics based on day to day living.
Like taxes, budgets, formulations, percentages calculations you would encounter on a day to day basis.

It even had a bit of Technical drawing in it. You had to draw up plans up to scale for a home renovation. You got to budget and do the books and all that crap. source suppliers...

Take the cooking away and it is basically math lit for the little womminz that had to stay at home and do cooking. :twisted:

IF you took the cooking part you did parts of biology. If I understand it correctly if you did hotel as a subject you had to do all those things in scale with a hotel or a B&B.

I hated it but It did teach me some valuable random crap. :D I wanted to do shop but was told I'm a girl :mad:
 
ToxicBunny said:
When I was at school, Maths was compulsory... even if it was LG... you HAD to do maths.
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When I was at school Maths was NOT compulsory and that was in the 80's and early 90's. In my class of '92 out of more than 50 pupils in Standard 10, less than 10 actually took Maths.
 
JungleBoy said:
When I was at school Maths was NOT compulsory and that was in the 80's and early 90's. In my class of '92 out of more than 50 pupils in Standard 10, less than 10 actually took Maths.
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Ok, then obviously things were different at different schools, and if maths wasn't compulsory, then I think Maths Lit is maybe a good thing.

Maths was compulsory at my school at the time (during the 90's)
 
ToxicBunny said:
Ok, then obviously things were different at different schools, and if maths wasn't compulsory, then I think Maths Lit is maybe a good thing.

Maths was compulsory at my school at the time (during the 90's)
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I agree with Toxic, matriculated in '97 and maths was pretty much complusory. There was an option that came out I think in my matric year where one could do economics instead of maths.

As to the argument of pure maths and "dumbing down", I'm sorry but this IS the case. Purely for the fact that we used to have a minumum of two grades for mathematics, higher grade and standard ( there were stories about functional grade but never came accross it ). That you now have a single maths paper, means that it has to cater for both the previous higher grade and standard grade together, which means the standard had to be lowered to allow this. The argument over broader coverage of subjects is not a bad one and makes more sense in the case that you expect specialisation post school years in specific fields. Also, when I started tertiary, entrance exams were NOT the norm, they were the exception, nowadays I hear they are everywhere and that is a surer sign than any that our school standards are not up to scratch for tertiary education, never mind the final work place.

On a side note, I think more effort should be put into promoting the artisan fields. Not everyone can get a degree/diploma and there's a lot of demand for skilled artisans. We, as a country and parents, need to squash the stigma associated with a child/learner becoming a mechanic/plumber/carpenter etc.
 
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