SA education standards too low - Oprah

[noxibox]

no, politics.

In many companies it is almost the same thing.

I've seen adults who can't do basic maths like multiply by 10 and it doesn't bother them.

I'd guess that describes a lot of people, even those who came out of our allegedly excellent white schools of the past.

Another culture comes from kids who feel they'll get pushed through the system because of past oppression.

That's the wrong way to deal with it. I remember at university the black guys were told essentially that the university understood they may not have had a decent school education, and that the university would provide support and assistance to help them overcome that, but that this didn't mean those guys wouldn't have to put in the time and effort. So we shouldn't simply be progressing people, but we should be providing them with the resources they need to succeed.

The school’s success was due to good, knowledgeable teachers and to girls who were not pampered because they came from difficult backgrounds, said Winfrey.

But I'd bet they get as much assistance as they need to learn.

 

[RexxGrim]

Stuff Oprah this is what we need in this country...

The Derek Zoolander Center For Children Who Can't Read Good And Wanna Learn To Do Other Stuff Good Too.

 

[Picard]

I think many parents either don't have enough time or knowledge. How does a parent create a love of books if they can't or can barely read?

I'm not laying blame so much as I'm identifying the problem.

 

[noxibox]

I'm not laying blame so much as I'm identifying the problem.

Fair enough.

I wonder how we fix the problem.

 

[Nicodeamus]

I want to change the focus of the topic. It's not the schools' standards that are too low. It's the level of parental involvement and an absence of an academic culture at home that leads to the struggle teachers have in teaching kids even the very basic.

I agree, I don't think there is much wrong with the curriculum (apart from LO and Afrikaans 2nd language!), it is rather the low pass rate that discourage students from studying.

 

[FrankCastle]

That's the wrong way to deal with it. I remember at university the black guys were told essentially that the university understood they may not have had a decent school education, and that the university would provide support and assistance to help them overcome that, but that this didn't mean those guys wouldn't have to put in the time and effort. So we shouldn't simply be progressing people, but we should be providing them with the resources they need to succeed.

Lowering the pass rate is a way of pushing them through based on circumstances.They basically saying that the apartheid policy has created the current education slump so the best way to deal with this is to allow them easy an pathway through the system because ultimately its not their fault their marks are so low.

 

[JungleBoy]

I was watching Blade and Angie speak yesterday, and I'm not surprise they have lowered the pass mark to 30%. They sound like they have IQ's in the 70 to 80 range.

Really? Blade, a former university lecturer with a PHD in psychology/sociology? I really find that hard to believe... no one can advance that far academically with an IQ that borders on mental retardation. I challenge you to try though :erm:

 

[grok]

Damn that Verwoerd for making school work so hard!!!

 

[S7wede]

Really? Blade, a former university lecturer with a PHD in psychology/sociology? I really find that hard to believe... no one can advance that far academically with an IQ that borders on mental retardation. I challenge you to try though :erm:

The man is unintelligible. He stammers and pauses his way through prepared speeches in a way that makes would make Colin Firths character in The Kings Speech look like a professional orator. In other words, it does not inspire confidence if even the minister of education does not sound at least semi professional.

 

[JungleBoy]

The man is unintelligible. He stammers and pauses his way through prepared speeches in a way that makes would make Colin Firths character in The Kings Speech look like a professional orator. In other words, it does not inspire confidence if even the minister of education does not sound at least semi professional.

Granted, but that is by no means an indication of one's ability or IQ. If it was, then all the mutes and the stutterers, etc would be automatically presumed to be retarded, right?

 

[Sherbang]

Yip that is a big part of it. I remember a black academic in the USA who done a study on why black students on average were getting lower marks than their fellow white students even though they had the same facilities and their parents were equally middle class. He looked at absolutely everything trying to figure it out, and at the end of the day found that the black parents for whatever reason were not participating as much in the development of the child after school. They weren't following up as much, discussing the school day, enforcing strict completion of homework each and every day, etc. In a sense their attitude was that they were paying the school to teach their kids, and thus had doing their job.

I'm not in any way trying to bring race into it, i'm just saying when parents don't play a role, for whatever reason, the kids don't do nearly as well. So much of it is about a culture of excellence, and that starts at home.

Right. And next time someone asks you how we can still lay some of the blame on apartheid, for the problems in this country, and how children who were born after apartheid are on an equal playing field with each other, remember this ^
A child whose parents received so-called 'bantu' education, or no education at all, whose parents may even be illiterate is NOT on an equal footing as a child whose parents are well educated and able to participate in their children's education.

 

[S7wede]

Granted, but that is by no means an indication of one's ability or IQ. If it was, then all the mutes and the stutterers, etc would be automatically presumed to be retarded, right?

Well up until the 20th century, they were considered to be mentally retarded. This however does not change the fact that Blade Nzimande has failed dismally in his post to correct the inequality of bantu education, or rather he has corrected it by disheveling the current system so as to lower the standard so that everybody is equally pathetic. The ANC needs to wake up to the fact that we had a working education system 10-15 years ago. Go back to that model, improve what can be improved, but scrap all this OBE, CAPS and PACE bs they have introduced.

Also while they are at it, they can reopen all the teacher training colleges they have shut down over the years and make teaching a reputable and competitive field, so it would attract a wide range of applicants, because at the moment, it's being used as a fall back for people who drop out or cannot get into regular university. Give the power back to the teachers and governing bodies and temper back the unions who don't have a clue as to what they are doing. SADTU has caused this county irreparable harm in the name of equality, and now we are all equally screwed when it comes to education aren't we.

 

[Apache]

They (ANC) started destroying the education system in SA when Mandela offered all white teachers 60 grand to bugger off and never teach again back in the nineties.

 

[Apache]

Really? Blade, a former university lecturer with a PHD in psychology/sociology? I really find that hard to believe... no one can advance that far academically with an IQ that borders on mental retardation. I challenge you to try though :erm:

Lol good one . I suppose Blade tried and is a "doctor" now. Love to know what his thesis was on.

EDIT:
from wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blade_Nzimande#Education

He completed his Psychology Honours degree at the University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, in 1980. His Masters degree is in Industrial Psychology (1981) and more recently he has been awarded a PhD for a thesis in the field of personnel management from the University of Natal.

Why do people complain about bantu education and these okes all went to varsity and got degrees and what have you. Its not like blacks where not allowed to study, looks like they had ample opportunities to excel during the dark days of apartheid....

 

[Sherbang]

They (ANC) started destroying the education system in SA when Mandela offered all white teachers 60 grand to bugger off and never teach again back in the nineties.

:wtf: Do you have any more info about this?

 

[Picard]

They (ANC) started destroying the education system in SA when Mandela offered all white teachers 60 grand to bugger off and never teach again back in the nineties.

I beg your pardon?

 

[Apache]

:wtf: Do you have any more info about this?

Ask a teacher who was working in the nineties. They where offered golden handshakes to leave teaching. But if they left they were never allowed to teach public school again.

 

[Sherbang]

Ask a teacher who was working in the nineties. They where offered golden handshakes to leave teaching. But if they left they were never allowed to teach public school again.

I think this is BS. My uncle was a headmaster and was never offered anything. If this were true there should be info about it somewhere?

 

[Apache]

I think this is BS. My uncle was a headmaster and was never offered anything. If this were true there should be info about it somewhere?

A couple of teacher friends of mine took the package.

 

[Nanfeishen]

Do we have schools aimed at those who are not academically inclined?

They exist, according to http://www.schoolguide.co.za there are only 45 Technical schools in the entire country.

When you entrust education to the state you stop getting educated people, and end up with adequately schooled statistics.

Education by the state requires uniformity, measurability, controllability and absolute submission. Everyone must read the same books, learn the same things, draw essentially the same conclusions. How can wisdom grow in a population of people who all share a limited amount of identical, easily tested knowledge?

Education vs. Schooling
http://educationconversation.wordpress.com/2007/12/24/education-vs-schooling/