Article: Pass black matrics, asks SADTU KZN

zippy said:
South Africa is more culturally homogenous than whites like to believe. Sure you can split the black cultures, but from a black/White point of view it's overwhelmingly black. So why the heck have a European language as the main language ?

Makes no sense at all to have 2 thirds of the population taught in a foreign language
Click to expand...

I think people should be taught English and Mandarin... Two of the biggest business languages in the world..
 
Knyro said:
I resent this statement. I'm black and have been owning academically since I can remember. I even won the Maths, Physical Science and Computer Science prizes in Matric (went to a majority white private school). Even in University I got First Class passes. I don't think that any one group of people is inherently deficient or superior mentally. Take the US, where Asians on average outperform white people academically, they can't ALL be geniuses as this would not correlate with the distribution of IQ scores (yes yes, controversy and all that but it's the currently accepted way of testing mental ability). Therefore it must be cultural, as traditionally Asian populations value education, the pursuit of education and educated individuals. We need to value education and hard work more in this country and the way we perceive it, i.e. stop seeing studying as being uncool etc. Then we wouldn't end up with such ignoramuses in government as we would value the learned man more than the idiot with a criminal record.

I'm also not buying this mother tongue nonsense. I learned English after my mother tongue(SeSotho) but If I had to write an Exam in Sotho I'd probably fail abysmally. This is because my command of is English 100 times better than my knowledge of Sotho. People don't necessarily know their mother tongue best even if they only picked up their second language later in life. While the ideal would be to let everyone write in the language they know best let's face it with 11 languages this is just not practical especially in the short term. Like it or not the prevalent language (especially in the sciences) happens to be English, just like it was once German, Latin, Ancient Greek etc. so deal with it, learn it and move on.
Click to expand...

+1000 (i don't often award 1000 points)
the irony is that the top echelons in government and commerce will send their children to the most expensive schools, where they will receive a good education.
meanwhile, the same politicians will make poor decisions about the education of their constituents, ultimately perpetuating the class divide.
getting paid more is about having something to offer which other people don't. it's about scarcity of skill and experience. without a skilled workforce, your country has little to offer the world - unskilled labour is a dime a dozen.

it seems like every policy government introduces in the name of uplifiting the poor has exactly the opposite effect, because it's an artificial shortcut to a problem that requires sustained hard work over a long course of time.
but of course, people don't like to hear that, they want quick solutions and shortcuts to wealth.
unfortunately, by handing something to somebody on a plate, you're not only robbing them of the skills they would have gotten, but also of the pride which comes with actually achieving something of worth.
making an education something to be proud of is something which needs to be restored.
 
Last edited:
I say pass them . . . . ! If they want to make a stupid decision like that, they'll pay the price on tertiary education level......so will the kids.
 
As far as i am concerned all matric papers should not be named but rather use the person's ID as a ref. Such papers should be marked on a merit basis only. You pass or you fail.
 
Well I 've just written Matric and I dont know how anyone will know whether the person who wrote the paper is black or white because we aren't allowed to put our names on the papers for exactly that reason. We get an unique exam number and each exam venue gets a number which aren't known by any of the markers.
 
Venomous said:
As far as i am concerned all matric papers should not be named but rather use the person's ID as a ref. Such papers should be marked on a merit basis only. You pass or you fail.
Click to expand...

That's how it works. One writes his examination number. No names involved. EDIT; Didn't notice Trot has already mentioned it.
 
Last edited:
Knyro said:
I'm also not buying this mother tongue nonsense. I learned English after my mother tongue(SeSotho) but If I had to write an Exam in Sotho I'd probably fail abysmally. This is because my command of is English 100 times better than my knowledge of Sotho. People don't necessarily know their mother tongue best even if they only picked up their second language later in life. While the ideal would be to let everyone write in the language they know best let's face it with 11 languages this is just not practical especially in the short term. Like it or not the prevalent language (especially in the sciences) happens to be English, just like it was once German, Latin, Ancient Greek etc. so deal with it, learn it and move on.
Click to expand...

You went to a private school, meaning you had more resources at your disposal to learn in a 2nd language, the average township student doesn't have that (which is what the HSRC study concluded), here is a report from Solidarity on the state of education in our country, http://www.solidarityresearch.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/SAT-MONITOR-Education-enrolment.pdf it is shocking to say the least.

This is what the found of the class of 2009
1,44 million learners registered for Grade 1 in 1998. Only 552 073 (38%) of those
initial learners enrolled for Grade 12 in 2009. 334 745 of those pupils passed the NSS
examination in 2009. This represents 60,6 % of the candidates who wrote the examination.
According to the South African Teachers’ Union, 109 706 of these candidates qualified for
grade studies. This represents approximately 20% of the candidates who wrote. This figure
constitutes approximately 7,6% of the initial 1,44 million learners who registered for Grade 1
in 1998.
Click to expand...
(page 7 of the study)

Table 11: The number of matriculants that wrote and passed maths in the period 2006 to
2009 varied from 33,8% in 2006 to 45,9% in 2009. The percentage of matriculants that wrote
and passed science in the period 2006 to 2009 decreased from 67,39% in 2006 to 36,83% in
2009. A significantly low number of matriculants wrote and passed maths and science in the
period 2006 to 2009.
Click to expand...

The fact is that black students aren't motivated to go to school and the language barier plays a big role as concluded in Namibia, as for the argument that English is the international language of trade, yes I agree it is, however the average South African will most probably never work in customs or ever set foot outside of SA, the reality is that English has no use for him and that he has very little exposure to it in his home community.

their reading ability is also shocking

The results of the PIRLS indicated that the vast majority of South African pupils at that stage
were not proficient readers as measured by PIRLS and Grade 4 and 5 pupils’ ability to shift
from learning to read to reading to learn during the intermediate phase is diminished. The
study shows that the results further indicated that South African reading performance does
not compare with other Grade 4 pupils internationally, despite being on average 1 to 2 years
older than their international counterparts.
Click to expand...

The ultimate losers are children who, despite enjoying access to education, are let down by
the system. A shocking number of pupils leave school without the necessary qualifications
and level of literacy and numeracy to empower them to have a chance of successfully
entering the labour market. Even those that successfully pass Grade 12, but do not qualify
for grade studies, face the daunting prospect of finding a sustaining and rewarding job. The
chance of escaping from poverty through acquiring crucial skills in a school system that
works seems to have been denied thousands of learners. Real empowerment can only be
achieved if children and the youth receive a good education and are taught the necessary
skills to enter the labour market successfully and become financially independent. Until this
can be achieved, we are setting children and the South Africa of the future up for failure.
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
So, ehhem, how precisely, are they to "pass" these matriculants? Up their marks in subjects they failed or what?
 
Khanya said:
So, ehhem, how precisely, are they to "pass" these matriculants? Up their marks in subjects they failed or what?
Click to expand...

you need an average of 35% to pass matric nowadays and above 40% for languages, the work covered is about 80% of that which the old HG and SG had had. Usually what they do when they want the average to go up they reduce the marks of which the test counts out of.
 
zulgin said:
You went to a private school, meaning you had more resources at your disposal to learn in a 2nd language, the average township student doesn't have that (which is what the HSRC study concluded), here is a report from Solidarity on the state of education in our country, http://www.solidarityresearch.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/SAT-MONITOR-Education-enrolment.pdf it is shocking to say the least.

This is what the found of the class of 2009 (page 7 of the study)


The fact is that black students aren't motivated to go to school and the language barier plays a big role as concluded in Namibia, as for the argument that English is the international language of trade, yes I agree it is, however the average South African will most probably never work in customs or ever set foot outside of SA, the reality is that English has no use for him and that he has very little exposure to it in his home community.

their reading ability is also shocking
Click to expand...

I won't deny that I had more resources at my disposal at school than the majority of black students, and probably a good bit of white students as well. While it is true that students in the township have a tough time learning a second language at school because of poverty, crime in the area etc. there is nothing stopping them from using outside means. It will be 50 times tougher for them to gain proficiency in English, but not impossible. As for motivation to go to school how many people are really motivated? Almost all of us hated the early mornings and we'd all drag our feet to the after school lesson of Science complaining about how boring it all was, black and white, but we knew it would be worth it in the end.

In school used to walk the kilometre from my house regularly to go to the public library and check out random books and use one of the few computers connected to the internet in town. If I relied on what I only learned at school I'd know less than 20% of what I know. People need to realise that school is not the be all and end all of education, even some of my former classmates are some of the most ignorant people I know because they depended on the system to teach them everything. Townships (some at least) do have libraries, not up to par with libraries in towns obviously but hey better than nothing. They could go there to increase their grasp of English by reading novels, watching the doccies on SABC 3, Google words they don't understand and read random Wikipedia articles using their cellphones to increase general knowledge etc.

Fixing the education system is important, however I think fostering a culture of seeking knowledge for the sake of knowledge in any way you can is equally important. Not learning a language because no one around you speaks it or that you'll never use it in local business is a terrible reason not to learn it. I've been learning Japanese for almost a year now and have never gotten a chance to use it in actual conversation except for one day when I happened across a group of Japanese tourists during the world cup. Who knows when I'll get a chance to use it next but I still consider it a worthy endeavour. Even if you don't use it in business I still recommend learning English considering the increasingly technological world we live in so you can read the manual for the TV, cellphone etc.

I agree with you about reading ability. In the 1st year Computer Science final exam one question was to design an algorithm for an alarm system that would "go off" if water was detected in an electrical system. Needless to say it caused much confusion and the lecturer had to explain the ambiguous nature of the phrase.
 
Last edited:
zulgin said:
you need an average of 35% to pass matric nowadays and above 40% for languages, the work covered is about 80% of that which the old HG and SG had had. Usually what they do when they want the average to go up they reduce the marks of which the test counts out of.
Click to expand...

:(:cry::erm:

Think of the poor folks who have to hire these people ffs.
 
The strike was a long time ago, any dedicated student would have either studied in the period of the strike. Or they would have studied alot afterwards..
Biasing marks on potentially lazy students is ridiculous. The person who came up with the idea should be whipped in public.
 
zulgin said:
you need an average of 35% to pass matric nowadays and above 40% for languages, the work covered is about 80% of that which the old HG and SG had had. Usually what they do when they want the average to go up they reduce the marks of which the test counts out of.
Click to expand...

Geez, why bother at all. That is pretty close to nothing !!
 
It changed to 30%.

You have to pass 3 subjects with 30% then you pass a grade.
You have to pass 2 subjects with 30% and two with 40% to have Technicon clearance and 4 subjects above 40% to have Uni clearance( toe laating?? :o )
 
Mila said:
It changed to 30%.

You have to pass 3 subjects with 30% then you pass a grade.
You have to pass 2 subjects with 30% and two with 40% to have Technicon clearance and 4 subjects above 40% to have Uni clearance( toe laating?? :o )
Click to expand...

Sorry but those are really to low....

40% means you don't understand or know even half your school work. How would such a person do at varsity? I would not want such a person entrusted with any of my stuff coz they will do less than half a job.
 
Venomous said:
Sorry but those are really to low....

40% means you don't understand or know even half your school work. How would such a person do at varsity? I would not want such a person entrusted with any of my stuff coz they will do less than half a job.
Click to expand...

:D I know.
No wonder the UNI makes you do grade 12 again when you get there. And they do not complain all those people pay money and do not make it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X