South Africa’s matric certificate is not worth the paper it’s printed on: economist

[WollieVerstege]

Everything went down hill when they tried the whole OBE thing. Think it was Kader Asmal that spearheaded that.

 

[PrimeSteak]

South Africa’s matric certificate is not worth the paper it’s printed on: economist

South Africa needs to significantly overhaul its education system with the matric certificate 'not worth the paper it is printed on', says Dr Thabi Leoka, founder of economic consulting and advisory company Naha Investments.

Well, I wouldn't say Matric is worth nothing like the economist. But from my perspective as someone who got their Matric recently from a public school, there are a few problems in the system, let me explain:

1. Academic achievement isn't really incentivised, it's considered more of an optional thing than anything else. The mindset is "just pass and get Matric".
2. In some classes, there is no discipline at all. And the lesson then usually ends in the teacher either losing it or just leaving the classroom. There are no consequences either for disciplinary problems, I knew people who bunked constantly, constantly disobey most of their teachers relatively mild requests, etc. and they got either no punishment or just a reprimand. The kids who have parents that didn't discipline/spank them when they were younger, especially take advantage cause they know Mom and Dad will pull a "My KiNd SaL DiT NoOit DoEn Nie" and they won't get punished. But sometimes the teachers are also the problem and they know the principal will ****ing cover them 90% of the time if they mess up. So in general, discipline among teachers/staff and students is a problem.
3. Maybe this is a personal gripe, but the limitation of subject choices also lead to ****-ups. What I mean by limitation is as follows. To get the NSC you need to have seven subjects: your home language, a second language, a type of Maths (literacy, core or technical, if your school has technical subjects on offer), LO (which is anyway useless, cause no one learns anything useful from it) and 3 extra subjects. The problem arises with the three subjects, you can't really pick and choose what you want. You get three blocks of subjects to choose from and you can only pick one subject a block. So let's say you want to take IT, CAT and Accounting, but you can't take Accounting cause it's in the same block as CAT and so on. That eventually leads to complete disinterest and hatred towards the subject(s) you have, which then leads to the "just pass and get Matric" mindset and direct relation to point 2. Or you take the subjects you want but then in let's say grade 11 (standard 9 for the old people here, lol), you want to leave Physical Science (like I wanted to) cause you were dogshite at it and/or you didn't like it as you thought you would/anymore (like I did), but there weren't any subjects I could or wanted to switch to. And you're essentially pigeonholed for the rest of your school career.
4. The actual quality of teaching wanes from subject to subject and school to school and there isn't really a standard that's set for education. In my years in high school, I learnt that you get different types of teachers. Those who can effectively teach the subject, those that are there just for the pay or those who just like to teach or a mix and match of these qualities. But the common theme in some schools seems to be option 2, I (luckily) had only one subject with one such teacher in my tenure.

(P.S I bolded the first letter of each point ala "Drop Cap", for readability purposes)

A requirement for applying is to be able to complete a 2-page application. When they get to the question, "City and country of birth" some put down "muther" and "borned in hosstal" or "farm"

Yup, that most likely are poor English skills or people who thought they were ****ing funny when applying. Honestly, English as a second language isn't really focused on in schools (whether they're a double or single medium school) and is seen as a "take it easy" period, instead of actually learning how to speak, read and write standard English.

One fellow claimed to have studied Nuclear Technology. When we told him he was over-qualified for a trainee locksmith, we said there were probably vacancies in Iran as they employed people of his calibre. He wanted to know where Iran was, so we said "north of Joburg"

Oof, now that's what I call pain

 

[CTSA]

Yep, I am. So are many others.

BS, got my degree from UCT. International companies still highly regard it. So as @semaphore said, who knows where you got your degree from. Don't degrade the whole system in such an exaggerated manner, simply because of your political views.

 

[krycor]

I do not give a single flying f**k who agrees or don't agree. All degrees and diplomas are worthless in SA.

There is a ranking system which says otherwise which is independent of SA.

 

[cguy]

Tsk, nobody has pointed out the simplest solution to the problem: Use cheaper paper…

 

[cguy]

I do not give a single flying f**k who agrees or don't agree. All degrees and diplomas are worthless in SA.

Yeah, that’s nonsense.

 

[Moto Guzzi]

South Africa’s matric certificate is not worth the paper it’s printed on: economist

South Africa needs to significantly overhaul its education system with the matric certificate 'not worth the paper it is printed on', says Dr Thabi Leoka, founder of economic consulting and advisory company Naha Investments.

Ok went to the Agri Something the other day to buy 8 Meters of 13mm strong flex hose pipe.
1-Labels abcent & size-?
As sometimes a new salemen jumps me as soon as I enter. So 1st problem is nobody know how to measure the pipe, it has an inside, thickness, strenght/quality and outside diameter. 15 minutes later I showed them a fitting that fits the pipe. THe filling is marked 13mm, so that fits into the inside of the pipe snug, so the pipe is 13 mm, not 10, not 16. OK that is then accepted and they find the pipe 13mm particulars on the system.

2-Lenght of pipe: 8 Meters I wanted.
This was fun, because the pipe on rack was 8 meters long as well.
So a lady that can count and the salesman that cannot count and has no clue how long one meter more or less is is going to lay the pipe out on store floor.
She was bright spark and we went to the store where the wall is maked from 0 to 25 meters every meter.
She decided to start from the 25m mark backwards, this was a killer. The salesman now has to work with 8 meters that is 8 meters back from 25 meters... When he got to 23 meters he had me covered, and now my pipe is 2 meters long, and he wants to cut/decide....2 meters looked like 8-? He wanted to sell me 8 meters for the price of 2.

So I explain to him never trust your maths, if it looks wrong(then its very wrong) it probably is. So I don't know where this country is going. I also experienced that codes typed in can be wrong and you pay more, which is only obvious if you pay like R700.00 more than expected.

 

[Botha22]

"We need the education system to deliver matriculants who understand business so that they can start their own ventures, and create employment,” she said. That seems to be asking a bit too much from a kid straight after Grade 12. I would expect the more experienced people like those on MyBB to be the ones who by now would be starting their own small businesses. But a combination of factors including some poor government policies means most would rather not take the risk, and prefer the safety of their 8-5 jobs.

For those with experience from other countries, how many high school graduates in those countries start their own businesses and are successful at it?

 

[RedViking]

That is not entirely true. Mine has helped me once to do a financial business course at Unisa..... Other than that it has been useless, just like the Unisa certificate.

 

[Lupus]

Some of the degrees aren't either

 

[NarrowBandFtw]

BS, got my degree from UCT. International companies still highly regard it. So as @semaphore said, who knows where you got your degree from. Don't degrade the whole system in such an exaggerated manner, simply because of your political views.

it's not just where it's from, also what it is in ... a BA degree from UCT is as worthless as a BA degree from anywhere

 

[RonSwanson]

Ok went to the Agri Something the other day to buy 8 Meters of 13mm strong flex hose pipe.
1-Labels abcent & size-?
As sometimes a new salemen jumps me as soon as I enter. So 1st problem is nobody know how to measure the pipe, it has an inside, thickness, strenght/quality and outside diameter. 15 minutes later I showed them a fitting that fits the pipe. THe filling is marked 13mm, so that fits into the inside of the pipe snug, so the pipe is 13 mm, not 10, not 16. OK that is then accepted and they find the pipe 13mm particulars on the system.

2-Lenght of pipe: 8 Meters I wanted.
This was fun, because the pipe on rack was 8 meters long as well.
So a lady that can count and the salesman that cannot count and has no clue how long one meter more or less is is going to lay the pipe out on store floor.
She was bright spark and we went to the store where the wall is maked from 0 to 25 meters every meter.
She decided to start from the 25m mark backwards, this was a killer. The salesman now has to work with 8 meters that is 8 meters back from 25 meters... When he got to 23 meters he had me covered, and now my pipe is 2 meters long, and he wants to cut/decide....2 meters looked like 8-? He wanted to sell me 8 meters for the price of 2.

So I explain to him never trust your maths, if it looks wrong(then its very wrong) it probably is. So I don't know where this country is going. I also experienced that codes typed in can be wrong and you pay more, which is only obvious if you pay like R700.00 more than expected.

 

[mojoman]

That is why I don't have Matric
Just not worth it

But try to enrol for a degree at Unisa and all of a sudden its the most important thing in the world...even if you are 48 with a handful of management certificates and computer diplomas... Eye gess I kan like to be stewpid....

 

[konfab]

A little bit over dramatic if you think about it.

The curriculum certainly has gotten easier. But the main problem is what the socialists see as a pass, which has dropped so much that it is worthless. Which means having the certificate by itself means nothing.

That being said, your actual marks for a subject are still on the certificate. Which is what employers should start using for people who only have a matric. "Must have a C or above in mathematics" will replace "must have a matric "

 

[PrimeSteak]

The curriculum certainly has gotten easier. But the main problem is what the socialists see as a pass, which has dropped so much that it is worthless. Which means having the certificate by itself means nothing.

That being said, your actual marks for a subject are still on the certificate.

Honestly, they should look at how you did overall per subject instead of "pass or not".

"Must have a C or above in mathematics" will replace "must have a matric "

Isn't that a bit of a slippery slope? Take me for example, I apply for a software/web development job, I passed Matric, got 3 As, 2 Bs, 1 E and a D for Maths, I can do the job, the whole 9 yards. Yet the guy who can barely do the job gets the job cause of his maths mark in Matric and I get disqualified. So, many job applicants' applications would get disqualified cause of a technicality? And anyway, this might be a personal thing of mine but honestly, the whole "You have to get 60+ in Maths to be able to be a good insert career here (there are really few careers that actually require high maths marks)" is bullshit. I knew people in high school who struggled with Maths like me but excelled in other subjects like languages, technical subjects like Electrical, etc., IT (like I did) and so on. So while I agree that standards are a bit low for the NSC, putting up requirements like "you must have a whatever in whatever subject" and ignore all other achievements/qualifications would just not work.

 

[PrimeSteak]

"We need the education system to deliver matriculants who understand business so that they can start their own ventures, and create employment,” she said. That seems to be asking a bit too much from a kid straight after Grade 12. I would expect the more experienced people like those on MyBB to be the ones who by now would be starting their own small businesses. But a combination of factors including some poor government policies means most would rather not take the risk, and prefer the safety of their 8-5 jobs.

For those with experience from other countries, how many high school graduates in those countries start their own businesses and are successful at it?

Tbh they should replace LO with Economic & Management Sciences/Basic Finance skills, cause then people would actually learn something useful to use in the future

 

[TheChamp]

I do not give a single flying f**k who agrees or don't agree. All degrees and diplomas are worthless in SA.

 

[konfab]

Honestly, they should look at how you did overall per subject instead of "pass or not".

Isn't that a bit of a slippery slope? Take me for example, I apply for a software/web development job, I passed Matric, got 3 As, 2 Bs, 1 E and a D for Maths, I can do the job, the whole 9 yards. Yet the guy who can barely do the job gets the job cause of his maths mark in Matric and I get disqualified. So, many job applicants' applications would get disqualified cause of a technicality? And anyway, this might be a personal thing of mine but honestly, the whole "You have to get 60+ in Maths to be able to be a good insert career here (there are really few careers that actually require high maths marks)" is bullshit. I knew people in high school who struggled with Maths like me but excelled in other subjects like languages, technical subjects like Electrical, etc., IT (like I did) and so on. So while I agree that standards are a bit low for the NSC, putting up requirements like "you must have a whatever in whatever subject" and ignore all other achievements/qualifications would just not work.

I used math as an example.

With something like a software developer, obviously IT skills would be the most important. I would take someone with an A in IT and a D in math over someone with a B in IT and a C in math.

 

[PrimeSteak]

I used math as an example.

Ok, but still my point still stands, lmao

 

[Polymathic]

to be fair printing is expensive now