I'm not an educational snob. I left school with a moderate school pass. Then the National Senior Certificate - "matric" - results weren't treated with the fuss it's today. An unfocused student, I still hoped to study mechanical engineering but my maths grade wasn't good enough. A huge disappointment. I bettered them to meet university entrance requirements, but long story short, through self-education and perseverance I ended up graduating with a B Com.
Now every year there's the paroxysm of self-congratulation when the results are released. Btw, before I go on, how is it possible the Western Cape's pass rate is around the national average, which is around the same? It's the best-run province and that should be reflected in the education department. This strongly indicates the results are fixed.
Anyway, given the condition of basic education and state of society and economy school leavers are facing as adults, there's little to celebrate. The spectacle with master of ceremonies Angie Motshekga is smoke and mirrors and intended, once again, to hide the educational system's defects.
Only a third of students received a university entrance pass, a presumed average of 50%. A third! If all students need is 3x30% and 3x40%, an average of 35% for six subjects, it's not difficult to pass at all. Look at it this way, if one guesses on a multiple choice test, one will get the correct answer about 50% of the time.
But still with this very low pass mark, almost 20% of students are failing the NSC. This is why experts like Jonathan Jansen have said the certificate is not worth the paper its printed on. To achieve the government-mandated pass rate, examiners are instructed to mark up. On the principle of a rising tide lifts all boats, poor students who ought to fail are passing and the clever and hardworking ones, who otherwise would comfortably pass, are receiving 7, 8, 10 or 11 distinctions. (Given that passes in only six subjects are required, this is pointless and gratuitous showing off which politicians and media lap up.)
Anecdotally, the curriculum standard is not high either. This is proven by international bench mark tests where South African children score last or almost last, behind poor and less resourced African countries too. Apparently the IEB approximates international standards. But every year, for a few weeks anyway, those involved and media forget the intrinsic, intractable, ANC-caused problems with the educational system and pretend everything is all right. The perception is, with justification, standards now are worse than before 1994.
Good universities have given up on the matric exam and have their own entrance test. And for those lucky to get a place, the work is hard beyond the usual rigours of university. An associate professor in academic support at UCT, as it happens a former school teacher, told me there's "teaching challenges particularly regarding students from township schools".
I suspect even university instruction has been dumbed down to accommodate NSC graduates. Many university graduates, those I've come across anyway, display poor to moderate reading, including English grammar and vocabulary, beyond their rote-learned major subjects. It's inevitable that the poor quality, with some exceptions, of university intake - basic education - will impact the output.
This is another reason - another link in the chain of ANC misrule - why the economy is so unproductive, why it cannot grow and why, together with bad government policy, unemployment is so high - 15-24 years youth unemployment 61% and overall youth, 52%.
This is the scenario the majority school-leavers face, not the joyous wine-and-roses occassion that's being presented.
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