blather

Skills transfer or is it?

Wed, 28 Aug 2013 13:10:33 +0100

I am increasingly convinced that the education system in our fair land is not about up-skilling people. This rather depressing observation has come about due to my exposure to both learners still at school and also to those that have recently left school and are in the work environment. Some confusion obviously exists in our Marxist brothers, that the "pass one, pass them all" system will deliver the necessary skills to take our economy forward. Boy, have I got news for you guys. The application of this system, where you have never failed but are just "not yet competent", has resulted in a generation that believe that it is easy to get an academic qualification. Anyone who has sweated blood trying to obtain good marks for an exam will know that pursuing knowledge is an exclusive past time and is not one that one approaches without trepidation. Allied to this is the fact that this pursuit is not for the masses. Only a small percentage have all the factors aligned to enable them to get a tertiary education and even so,there is a high drop out rate at this level.
Currently our success rate at University is 5%. Wasted resources, misallocation of government funding and a lack of understanding as to what it takes to increase this pass rate are characteristics of the failed attempts of Government.
I do not hold out much hope that we can get the pass rate up without a major rethink and a change in the allocation of resources. Foundation skills are a good place to start. My attempts to help those in the system above Grade 10 have not been very successful.
Pre--primary and primary school interventions. Forget about lowering the matric standard any further as already the Universities have had to institute their own exams to determine the level of the student.

Bedding down

Sun, 05 Aug 2012 07:54:12 +0100

As I have previously posted, the many changes in the syllabus for South African students has resulted in a bevy of unintended consequences. Only if you are intimately involved in the teaching and transfer of sills, can one truly appreciate the negative impact of introducing uncertainty into the marketplace. I question the consultants who have been advising the government on this aspect of education. I seriously doubt that they have any appreciation of the consequences. The panacea for the parlous state of education seems to be that we just design a new syllabus!!! A recent article in the Mail and Guardian stated that it takes ten years (thats right, TEN YEARS) for a new syllabus to bed down and start delivering results. In the interim there is uncertainty and wasted effort as various aspects of the syllabus get changed, amended, deleted etc. What this means for us is that we can only expect some sort of return in 2022. By that stage our second lost generation is in the marketplace, totally unprepared for what they are going to face, with the expectation that to bugger up two out of every three products they make or sell is somehow acceptable???? Well, what do you mean that is not acceptable? I passed matric with 30%!!!!! Oh and by the way I am not coming into work tomorrow as you were nasty to me!! And the band pays on! Happy Sunday.

New drivers

Sun, 01 Jul 2012 08:36:58 +0100

Following on a theme that has been percolating for a while- that the main drivers of humans are pretty basic, namely fear and greed-, I turned my thoughts to how to apply this to our current crisis in education. For most South Africans, the fear of not having a job is fairly low. We live in a welfare state, where one can gain access to grants fairly easily. Most young people will never get a job, have never had a job and are unfortunately not employable. This has to change!! Education is the key. So how do we convince the powers that currently govern that change is in their own interest? Well, threatening to take away their privileges has been tried and does not work. If caught being corrupt, the ruling party actually rewards you (a quick google on the Travelgate saga will enlighten you). Burning down the house is an option, but as we have seen, minorities (Somalis, Chinese, Whites) are the targets and not the tenderpreneurs! So the only option is one that is being increasingly pursued by NGO's. Take the Government to court. Only then does one get any action! (textbookgate!)
The other issue that we need to address is that of a lot of young people do not dream of a better future. Without this desire, there are no drivers to better oneself and pursue educational solutions. The unfortunate examples of barely literate leadership underlines the futility of putting in the hard yards to get an education, as the much easier route is to go the political route.
So, punish the bad, and get young people to dream! Simple to say, difficult to implement.

The magic formula

Wed, 16 May 2012 12:55:34 +0100

Right. So what is the magic formula?? Well the Finns seem to have a pretty good one going for them and read some interesting studies done in India with young kids and computers.
What would work in SA?
Lots of stability and most important of all- a shared vision between Unions, citizens and the Government.
At the moment there is too much adverserial stuff floating about. Read some interesting studies on Mauritius where they have effectively negotiated their way back from the brink. Only solution is to sit round a table and do the hard stuff!!
Cheers for today

Churn

Tue, 15 May 2012 07:05:35 +0100

Much clevererer okes than me have identified that in order to have learning take place, the learners (especially children) have to be in an environment that is stable, secure and to be taught by people who are confident in their subjects, stable and secure.
Right, so how do we go about it in this beautiful land of ours? We regularly change the syllabus, textbooks and deemands on the teachers, so that a smaller percentage of the time is actually spent on teaching! Since starting my interaction with the learning process, we have had, I think, 4 syllabi, as many different textbooks and I have not even touched on the best way to screw up the future- OBE! A system that in application requires a low student:teacher ratio, very skilled practitioners and constant maintenance, none of which are readily available in our country!
Well, that deals with the schooling system. What about the home environment? Stable and secure? NOT!! For the majority anyway. Children as heads of households, lack of basic services etc etc, are the challenges faced by many.
Our goal HAS to be to create stability and security both in the home and in the school system. The magic formula will appear in the next post!
Happy Tuesday

The very big stupid

Thu, 10 May 2012 06:31:30 +0100

The above is a quote from Frank Zappa. He was referring to the USA where less money is spent on research than before and that this leads to the following: "The very big stupid is a thing that breeds by eating the future". Sound familiar? My view of our crisis of education in this country is that we are eating our own future by pandering to the Unions and neglecting the prime directive of an education system- to empower the youth so that they can create our futures for us!!! A classic case of the tail wagging the dog. Teachers are servants (now there is a word that carries its own fire and brimstone) of the Public who we "subcontract" the care and education of our futures to. A case was made for trough nosing in the book "It is our time to eat", but I truly believe that we should not be eating our future. The irony of the teacher in the township sending her kid to a school in the suburbs is too great to be palatable. If those that know their own institutions do not trust them, what chance is there for those children who do not have the option to go to a different school. And I do believe that this country faces a very bleak future if the uneducated and unemployable products of our dysfunctional education system remain on welfare, with no jobs or even the prospect of a job. They have nothing to lose, do not have dreams of the future and will burn our futures. And on that happy thought, have a great day. (those that have enough education to read the above)

Why must I do Maths?

Wed, 02 May 2012 14:51:21 +0100

As an experienced tutor with many years experience, I can comfortably say that one of the most common objections I get is that Maths has no relevance for the learner. "I am going to study Fine Art/Lawyering/Ballet/etc etc. I am never going to use this stuff ever again and I hate it!!"
Well dream on kid! My course in Atlantis bears this out. A question to the class- If I buy 6 items each valued at R19.95, give the cashier R150 and she gives me R10 back, is it a good deal? Sad to say but most of the class would have accepted the R10 change and been happy. Without a basic numeracy skill it is very easy for third parties to take advantage of you.
Plus there is this small issue of Linear logic that sits very uncomfortably with a lot of folk. Maths in its purest most beautiful language, is absolutely logical and there is only one correct answer. Of course I can hear the chorus of bunny huggers and new age loonies decrying this terrible perversion of all that is magical, but try and tell that to the Judge. And this of course is where the mathematical method comes into its own. Jus yerronner! I did not apply logic to my actions!! And heaven forbid if the Judge applies logic- terror of terrors!!
Last but not least is the issue of learning a new language with all its strange symbols and conventions. If you are slightly rebellious, there is plenty to rebel against. The tiresome placement of the numbers. Get it just slightly wrong and the meaning changes completely. The discipline required to write legibly and in a logical sequence. The horror.
So I continue to try my best to do a sales job on maths to reluctant consumers and I do try and tell them how it is for their own good, but they just smile and nod, knowing that this makes me happy and I will eventually shut up and give them the short cuts!!!!
Happy Wednesday!

Obfuscation

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 16:03:40 +0100

Right. So now we have tried our best to make sure that everyone can pass but there is one crucial element left out- the text books. We have to make sure that there are enough errors in the calculations to completely destroy the learner confidence in the material- pretty easy to do if one changes the syllabus on a regular basis. Done! Oh, the next thing to make sure we get right is to not give the writers of the new text books enough time to truly check their work. Done!! Shoe, this is proving to be too easy. Lest we forget, let us use examples in the textbooks that have no relevance to the material but are politically correct. Done. Last thing to do- make sure that not even graduates can understand what it is that we are trying to do in the examples. Done.
OK. So there you have it. The textbook on how to ensure that maths and science remain un-accessible to most learners.
Have a happy day!!

Memory games

Sat, 21 Apr 2012 07:27:03 +0100

In order to achieve a political aim, our education authorities have structured the maths syllabus in such a manner as to exclude the requirement for memorising formulas. I think this is a VERY BAD mistake. In the process of memorising anything, the student or learner has to fully engage with the subject. The different symbols have to be learned, the way they relate to one another is emphasised and a deeper understanding of the subject matter is achieved. This then translates into a better ability to apply the formula when required and allows for interpretive questions to be set. Granted this is going back to the past with regard to the fashionable arguments that all the information is readily available on the net or in textbooks, but as I have experienced, learners without a memorised formula are all-at-sea as soon as you alter one element of the question. They reach blindly for their calculators, as this behaviour has been ingrained in them from the start of their school careers, and they actually have no idea what they are doing. Fortunately they only need 30% to pass and thus can achieve this by copying the formula from the formula sheet and blindly entering random numbers!! The horror!

Fun????

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 08:24:27 +0100

Here's a recipe for success: Take one historically relevant subject, filled to the brim with tales of sacrifice and prejudice, with knowledge that in some cases is over 3500 years old (and still relevant), package in a dry uninteresting format, add a dash of political bullshit to further confuse the learners, and then expect half literate teachers to inspire students in classrooms with no desks, roof or electricity and what do you get- a compliant electorate! (?)

I sometimes despair when I read of the parlous state of our education in my country. I cannot believe (as some conspiracy theorists do) that the ruling party has, with intent, destroyed the futures of a large portion of our future electorate. This to ensure that they have sufficient support in the future. As they have experienced, they lose support amongst the educated suburbanites or coconuts as they are known.

My cry in the wilderness is for Maths to made interesting, engaging, stimulating and relevant. This can only be done by passionate teachers who inspire their students, armed with textbooks that emphasise the wonder and magic of maths.