Matrics performed poorly in maths - official

Nom Chompsky

Nom Chompsky

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Well no big surprise here. Maths is probably one of the tougher matric subjects and South Africa's poor teachers compound the problem.

http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/Matrics-performed-poorly-in-maths-official-20111230

Pretoria - Umalusi's chairperson has expressed concern on Friday at the poor performance in mathematics during the matric exams, as he announced that approval has been given for the results to be released.

Without revealing the pass rate in this subject, chairperson Sizwe Mabizela said: "We should be concerned about the poor performance in mathematics."

Umalusi, the council for quality assurance in general and further education and training, said matric exams managed by the basic education department (DBE) and Independent Examinations Board (IEB) were "valid, fair and credible", chairperson Sizwe Mabizela told reporters in Pretoria.

"Umalusi is satisfied that nothing has been compromised."

He said 620 000 students sat the DBE's examinations. The raw marks for 56 subjects were accepted, while the marks of three subjects were moderated upwards. Another eight subjects were moderated slightly downwards.

It was "significant" that 80% of the raw marks for the DBE were accepted without any adjustment.

Mabizela said 8 281 candidates wrote IEB examinations. They wrote 60 subjects, two of which were not National Senior Certificate subjects.

He said for 45 subjects the raw marks had been accepted, while for five subjects the marks were moderated upwards. The remaining 10 had their marks decreased.

The IEB still had to announce when the results would be released.

Mabizela said any adjustments were "significantly below" the maximum 10% allowed.

The results of examinations by the Eksamenraad vir Christelike Onderwys were problematic for the second year running.

"Umalusi has serious concerns about Eksamenraad vir Christelike Onderwys' ability and capacity to run a successful examination process.

These concerns range from their ability to set question papers of an appropriate standard to the actual management and conduct of the examinations process."

He said year marks of all ECO candidates had not been accepted and candidates' results were solely based on their examination results.

"Umalusi declares that the moderated marks are a fair reflection of learner performance in the examinations administered by ECO."

Mabizela said that 1 273 candidates sat the matric exams administered by ECO.

The raw marks for 18 subjects were accepted, while three subjects were moderated upwards slightly.

The 39 subjects where ECO had used questions papers set by DBE were approved without reservations.

- SAPA
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Why the criticism of ECO? They having a pop at the Afrikaaners again!

Maths is always a problem. Something to do with following logic.
 
phiber said:
What is this life skills subject anyway???

Learn math, science and english and you will be prepared for life!
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I agree. What was wrong with the origional six subject curriculum? All these newish subjects and splits, I haven't seen any benefit in them and the cries of agony from mates who are varsity lecturers seem to aggree.
 
hashbrown99 said:
But teaching time for Maths is being decreased :wtf:
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Not sure we even had seven hours a week for mathematics back when I was at school.

phiber said:
Learn math, science and english and you will be prepared for life!
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Not true.

Lounger said:
Why the criticism of ECO? They having a pop at the Afrikaaners again!
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Maybe ECO are simply incompetent. Does it always have to be about their race?

Kosmik said:
I agree. What was wrong with the origional six subject curriculum? All these newish subjects and splits, I haven't seen any benefit in them and the cries of agony from mates who are varsity lecturers seem to aggree.
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Back when I went to school it was more than six until Std 8.
 
The reason for more than six in the earlier years is to give a broad perspective but for us the main subjects of language ( first and second ) and maths were never questioned. To decrease anyone of those three and increase one not part of them is a detriment.
 
If you are thick, you are thick. Learners do as Joolias. Eish!! I is stupid. I will sleep on the highway at the night time. I is demanding brain cell.
 
Personally this is very sad to me, since I will be studying to be a teacher very soon. The department has to increase the reward packages for qualified and hard working teachers so that they will be motivated to work harder. They should also be much more stricter on discipline and the principals need to be top notch, not some lazy 60 year old guy who tries to perv over young girls. These changes need to be implemented. And the salry for a starting teacher is only 8K before tax.
 
Elite Override said:
Matric maths isn't difficult, it is damn easy.
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I could also say the same for Applied integral calculus...
Reality maths is hard,especially black learners.BUT you can't allow your situation to affect how you perceive things... Maths requires hard work and dedication. And if you don't work hard in it, then sadly you will just fall by the way side.
 
zizo911 said:
I could also say the same for Applied integral calculus...
Reality maths is hard,especially black learners.BUT you can't allow your situation to affect how you perceive things... Maths requires hard work and dedication. And if you don't work hard in it, then sadly you will just fall by the way side.
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That means that the reason for this poor performance is laziness. I agree.

And why especially black learners?
 
Elite Override said:
That means that the reason for this poor performance is laziness. I agree.

And why especially black learners?
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Black learners, because their is this belief in our black schools ( I attended one of these schools), that maths and science are only for whites. Black learners also don't want to attend universities because they feel that they won't 'fit in'. I know many many black learners who work damn hard everyday, but only manage to get a 50% in maths. They also have situations at home wher they have to look after their brothers and sisters and still work during weekends, its hard but they still manage to make it out alive. So before people criticize and assume laziness, they should think about the personal issues also involved... You can put that same learner in a functional household and he/she will eaily. Manage distinctions... Growing up in townships is hard, believe me I know.
 
zizo911 said:
Black learners, because their is this belief in our black schools ( I attended one of these schools), that maths and science are only for whites. Black learners also don't want to attend universities because they feel that they won't 'fit in'. I know many many black learners who work damn hard everyday, but only manage to get a 50% in maths. They also have situations at home wher they have to look after their brothers and sisters and still work during weekends, its hard but they still manage to make it out alive. So before people criticize and assume laziness, they should think about the personal issues also involved... You can put that same learner in a functional household and he/she will eaily. Manage distinctions... Growing up in townships is hard, believe me I know.
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I can understand that some people might see these subjects as "white" subjects since they originated mostly in Europe, but I don't see that as an excuse to fail.

In effect, what you are saying is that poor people have problems succeeding with scientific subjects. Not black people.

And I don't believe the whole "fitting in" at university. The majority of students at UFS are black.
 
White subjects? Really? I wonder what succesfull black businessman, engineers and accountants think of that.
 
zizo911 said:
Black learners, because their is this belief in our black schools ( I attended one of these schools), that maths and science are only for whites. Black learners also don't want to attend universities because they feel that they won't 'fit in'. I know many many black learners who work damn hard everyday, but only manage to get a 50% in maths. They also have situations at home wher they have to look after their brothers and sisters and still work during weekends, its hard but they still manage to make it out alive. So before people criticize and assume laziness, they should think about the personal issues also involved... You can put that same learner in a functional household and he/she will eaily. Manage distinctions... Growing up in townships is hard, believe me I know.
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This sounds like nonsense.
 
zizo911 said:
Black learners, because their is this belief in our black schools ( I attended one of these schools), that maths and science are only for whites. Black learners also don't want to attend universities because they feel that they won't 'fit in'. I know many many black learners who work damn hard everyday, but only manage to get a 50% in maths. They also have situations at home wher they have to look after their brothers and sisters and still work during weekends, its hard but they still manage to make it out alive. So before people criticize and assume laziness, they should think about the personal issues also involved... You can put that same learner in a functional household and he/she will eaily. Manage distinctions... Growing up in townships is hard, believe me I know.
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No offence but that's crap man. I know of quite a few black people who are awesome at maths.

The problem once again boils down to work ethic. Good work ethic is simply not being encouraged when people think that they have a quick and easy ride through life. And yes, having a president with a Standard 3 doesn't exactly set a good example.
 
Kosmik said:
The reason for more than six in the earlier years is to give a broad perspective but for us the main subjects of language ( first and second ) and maths were never questioned. To decrease anyone of those three and increase one not part of them is a detriment.
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Sounds like they were spending more time on them than they did when I went to school, and they've reduced mathematics by a small amount (still more than my school days) to spend more time on language. Sounds like a non-issue.
 
i really loved my math especially the algebra. i try to get a better grade for the i get in matric 1990. that was in 2007 but then there was a teacher strike and that messed up my chances of getting a better grade.
 
R13... said:
This sounds like nonsense.
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I agree this that is utter rubbish. I would be inclined to say that there are a lot of african students in the science faculties of our universities.

Maybe the only truth there is maybe there are a lot of black students in single parent homes or have to 'work' ontop of schooling. But that hasnt stopped anyone from getting a matric cert. And yes work ethich also counts

Its far easier to focus on school and homework in a "stable" home.
 
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