Educational Conundrums...

[smokey]

Basic Education Minister, Angie Motshekga, wants to simplify the school curriculum

Motshekga believes certain criticisms of Outcomes Based Education (OBE) are legitimate. “What needs to be done is to say what is it that we do within that framework that simplifies the process, that gives teachers more opportunity to do teaching and learning that removes things that are really not fundamental.”

Simplify?!?!

Leave out things that aren't fundamental?!?!?

I mean this is the worst rubbish I have heard in the 15 years. Everything else I can understand. Blade's misguided "free tertiary education" isn't the best idea around, but it at least has merits. This "further dumbening" of the curriculum is ghastly... I mean seriously... WTF?!?!?

/rant

 

[The_Pumpkin_King]

what falls under her department?

Grade 1 -7 or up to matric?

 

[smokey]

Up to matric methinks... me scared. Me can't talk properlee bikoz this iz wut gud inglish wil bee laaik in 10 or so yirs. Me r pripairing.

 

[RetroBok]

The less money they spend on education the more they can launder elsewhere... It's the African way...

And of course there is the situation of if we keep the populace uneducated they will never work out that we're taking them for a ride. Unfortunately those "previously advantaged people" who can blatantly see this happening and point it out are being racist...

 

[Balstrome]

I was not that good at school and only managed a lower grade matric, but in today's world I would have the equivalent of a higher grade varsity entrance. This dumbing down of education is based on one thing only and that is the ability of the populace to study and learn.

 

[semiautomatix]

Fine, dumb down the system. Then implement entrance exams for universities. Those you see merit in education will round off their "basic education" with some O- and A-levels in year 13.

 

[metalcore]

I dont know what there is now that they do in schools, but I can say back in the day there was a lot of redundant stuff which I thought they could strip out.

First languages should also be of your own choice, however you must take 2 languages. Then people who speak English can have that as their first language and any of the other 11 official languages as a second. People who speak Xhosa can have that as their first language and then choose anything else as second. Not be forced to take Afrikaans to matric where you repeat the same stuff over and over. The could slot Afrikaans in somewhere inbetween Grade 1 and Grade 4, so that you know the basics, its pointless learning how to structure "Nie, ek nie dit gedoen nie" every year till matric. Beside nobody speaks Afrikaans properly anyway, so all that is needed are the basics.

I presume most people would choose English as their second language since it is the language of the world and the international business world, hence the Asians like coming here just to pick up on English. Afrikaans taal monumenters will get upset over what I am saying but it makes sense to focus more on English especially when most University Texts are written in English by Europeans and Americans and unless you can properly speak English you can't really relate to the humour and tone of an American author. Many people struggle at tertiary level because they are struggling to understand the language before they can even begin to try to understand the concepts.

 

[lsuacner]

I dont know what there is now that they do in schools, but I can say back in the day there was a lot of redundant stuff which I thought they could strip out.

First languages should also be of your own choice, however you must take 2 languages. Then people who speak English can have that as their first language and any of the other 11 official languages as a second. People who speak Xhosa can have that as their first language and then choose anything else as second. Not be forced to take Afrikaans to matric where you repeat the same stuff over and over. The could slot Afrikaans in somewhere inbetween Grade 1 and Grade 4, so that you know the basics, its pointless learning how to structure "Nie, ek nie dit gedoen nie" every year till matric. Beside nobody speaks Afrikaans properly anyway, so all that is needed are the basics.

I presume most people would choose English as their second language since it is the language of the world and the international business world, hence the Asians like coming here just to pick up on English. Afrikaans taal monumenters will get upset over what I am saying but it makes sense to focus more on English especially when most University Texts are written in English by Europeans and Americans and unless you can properly speak English you can't really relate to the humour and tone of an American author. Many people struggle at tertiary level because they are struggling to understand the language before they can even begin to try to understand the concepts.

I studied @ PUK (which is known to be Afrikaans) and books are available either in English, Afrikaans or both. I prefer to study in English as it is an academic language but don't dismiss Afrikaans @ varsity level. The most educated ethnic group in South Africa are Afrikaners and their product is often in Afrikaans.

I can read +-500 words per minute. Zuma can read +-2 (just check when he reads a speech). If you can become president with no education and if the current minister said "you don't need an education to be in a leadership position" there is little hope for the country's economy to grow based on improving the human resource and technology.

Our economy will grow based on the increase in population and cheap labour available - yet due to laziness and unions we are not known as the manual labour production capital of the world.

The only way to grow an economy (and I say that with economics II behind my name only) is through education and technology; in South Africa everyone has the right to a matric certificate - you don't even need to go to a real school to receive one.
so.. fail.

 

[Balstrome]

I have been ranting a bit in another forum about education and the lack of want to do it in our youth today. http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=172002
Most of the replies are basically weasel replies as they try to show how not doing English, Maths and Science is not going to have a bad effect on them later in life.
This generation will be the Left Behind generation, because the world at large is on a fast pace forward and only those who grab a good education now will succeed.
Even if they have to educate themselves because of poor education policies, the youth today will have to do this or fail.
Why does one read a bank statement? To see how much money is in it. So if one can put money into a bank statement through working for it, using one education, then surely one would know how to read said bank statement. So why have the need to teach students how to read a bank statement ? Small thing, but one of many small things that add up to clutter students minds.
Teach logic, scepticism, problem solving, experimentation if we want students to succeed.

 

[general_koffi]

Leave out things that aren't fundamental?!?!?

Have you seen the OBE syllabus? There's plenty of useless **** they could leave out.

I don't know whether they can tell what's useless and what's needed, though...

 

[smokey]

Have you seen the OBE syllabus? There's plenty of useless **** they could leave out.

I don't know whether they can tell what's useless and what's needed, though...

Mate, I have seen some of the **** they do. They could scrap the whole thing and the kids would still learn more if given unlimited pc time and a lock on wikipedia. Doesn't mean it's right. The Math and Science int his countries primary/high schools is a shade under completely useless (unless you love the subject and have a good teacher)... Seriously... OBE is a bad idea from the get go, but if they are going to remove stuff, then add more meat to what they are learning.

+1 on the A/O levels timgaul. Homeschooling kids is fast becoming a necessity. Go to school to learn how to socialize, come back home to actually get some decent stuff shoved into your head. Huzzah!

 

[dlk001]

I'm for giving teachers more opportunity to do teaching. Kids should go to school to learn things that are mostly fundamental to their advancement in education. If this is what she meant, I support her.

 

[TonyHawk]

I'm for giving teachers more opportunity to do teaching. Kids should go to school to learn things that are mostly fundamental to their advancement in education. If this is what she meant, I support her.

Congratulations to our President Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma, Msholozi, Nxamalala, Maphumephethe!

Please refrain from swearing

 

[Serqet]

I've not used majority of what i was taught in school. It's completely useless if you ask me. Children should be taught skills that they will actually use later on in life.

 

[smokey]

I've not used majority of what i was taught in school. It's completely useless if you ask me. Children should be taught skills that they will actually use later on in life.

That type of attitude is what gives the government power to kill education. You might not use Trig or Geometry, but it doesn't mean you don't need it to at least expand your view on life. Same with History, Biology, Geography and practically anything else.

Point is - school is there to put some fundamentals in place, not to make you into a labourer. What useful things do you think could be taught... come on, I'd really love to see what you come up with.

 

[Fazda]

Having taught under the OBE system, I can tell you that there is plenty that can be removed without dumbing anything down more than it has been already.

Under OBE, the teacher spends more time trying to follow the rigid structure set out by the idiots who are trying to re-invent the wheel, than teaching properly.

I would start by simply calling the subjects by their real names instead of the acronyms dreamt up by those in power. Then I would actually see to it that the teachers were allowed the freedom to teach instead of follow party lines. Finally I would see that the syllabus was more appropriate for the pupils, rather than boring the hell out of them with politically correct crappola!!

 

[smokey]

Having taught under the OBE system, I can tell you that there is plenty that can be removed without dumbing anything down more than it has been already.

Under OBE, the teacher spends more time trying to follow the rigid structure set out by the idiots who are trying to re-invent the wheel, than teaching properly.

I would start by simply calling the subjects by their real names instead of the acronyms dreamt up by those in power. Then I would actually see to it that the teachers were allowed the freedom to teach instead of follow party lines. Finally I would see that the syllabus was more appropriate for the pupils, rather than boring the hell out of them with politically correct crappola!!

I'd really appreciate it if you would give some examples. I saw a few things that were being done a year or so ago (family friends with kids in Std 4/Std6) and I was really shocked. So if you could please show me how you could take out without dumbing down and how any subject except from History has a party line to it. Not flaming or trolling, just interested in getting your view on it Fazda.

 

[Fazda]

I'd really appreciate it if you would give some examples. I saw a few things that were being done a year or so ago (family friends with kids in Std 4/Std6) and I was really shocked. So if you could please show me how you could take out without dumbing down and how any subject except from History has a party line to it. Not flaming or trolling, just interested in getting your view on it Fazda.

Interesting that you mention History which was about to be dropped for some subject called tourism and Culture!!

For starters drop the acronym names which only serve to confuse, then cut out the petty stuff that is needed at the moment, whereby kids with access to a computer are immediately at a 200% ADvantage over kids without.

Basically the whole system is based around kids doing their own research where it is glibly presumed that every school comes fully stocked with computers and a state of the art library.

My statement was possibly misleading when I said thay could take out stuff...the stuff that I am talking about is the superflous rubbish that I have mentioned.

An example from English, where I was given the following bit to teach:

"Get the learners into groups of three and tell them to write a story, Learner 1 will write the first paragraph, Learner 2 the second and Learner 3 the third. They are then to combine their paragraphs in the form of an essay."

You don't have to be an English teacher to see what total and utter rubbish that is! Individuality has disappeared from the classroom, and in the above situation you could bet that at least one of the "lenners" would be doing sweet blow all and relying on his mates to write the essay, knowing that they would all get the same mark!!

So when I say, take out something, that's what I mean, get back to basic teaching where each individual is treated as an individual, and gets his/her own marks for his/her own work!

 

[smokey]

Interesting that you mention History which was about to be dropped for some subject called tourism and Culture!!

For starters drop the acronym names which only serve to confuse, then cut out the petty stuff that is needed at the moment, whereby kids with access to a computer are immediately at a 200% ADvantage over kids without.

Basically the whole system is based around kids doing their own research where it is glibly presumed that every school comes fully stocked with computers and a state of the art library.

My statement was possibly misleading when I said thay could take out stuff...the stuff that I am talking about is the superflous rubbish that I have mentioned.

An example from English, where I was given the following bit to teach:

"Get the learners into groups of three and tell them to write a story, Learner 1 will write the first paragraph, Learner 2 the second and Learner 3 the third. They are then to combine their paragraphs in the form of an essay."

You don't have to be an English teacher to see what total and utter rubbish that is! Individuality has disappeared from the classroom, and in the above situation you could bet that at least one of the "lenners" would be doing sweet blow all and relying on his mates to write the essay, knowing that they would all get the same mark!!

So when I say, take out something, that's what I mean, get back to basic teaching where each individual is treated as an individual, and gets his/her own marks for his/her own work!

Plus bloody ONE!

That's what I like to hear. So when you say take things out, you mean changing the way people are taught as opposed to what is taught. Thanks for clarifying dude.

Didn't know that they write essays together. What a load of bollocks. I would never have let another use my hard work.

Agree fully with the stupid renames. That History example is FREAKY!

 

[Fazda]

Thanks, I'm glad you see what I am trying to say! The History is not only freaky, but a reality at the moment! Any kid who wants to study History at tertiary level is going to be forced to go to school outside SA if things stay as they are.