It appears that the cacophony of voices lamenting the loss of skills within South Africa is finally being heard. The new curriculum for South African schools compels all learners to study mathematics. This is a splendid decision made by our education department. Judging from reports in the press, the standard will be set relatively high; this news gets better and better.
Vivian MacFadyen
However, I am a bit confused, as it appears that not everyone is overjoyed with this decision. Let us hope that this will not be debated ad infinitum until everybody loses interest and nothing happens because it impinges on some individuals' rights.
Recently, one of our colleagues related that he had interviewed a prospective learner looking for work. The learner was asked how many litres could fit into a cubic metre. The answer given was one! Logically, the answer is correct, even though there would be space for another 999. Later, the learner indicated the length of a metre to be the distance equivalent to the length of a matchbox. How can we improve the skills of our young people who do not have a basic understanding of measurement? Imagine if this individual was requested to measure 50 metres of cable for a customer?
From news reports, some school teachers have a problem with mathematics being reintroduced into the curriculum. This shows how deep rooted the problem is. Not only do we need to re-educate students who have left school over the past decade, we have to demonstrate the necessity to be able to count, and to apply this basic skill to geometry and algebra.
My personal observation is that in our industry, we are concentrating on rewards for academic achievement at too high a level. We should give incentives for success to the educators of mathematics and physical science at matriculation level.
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