OUT TO LUNCH
___STEADY_PAYWALL___
One of the great challenges South Africa faces is reversing the apparent collapse of the education system which has taken place during 25 years of ANC social engineering. Now, I’m not an educationalist and I would be more than happy to be corrected by somebody far better qualified to speak on these matters but a conversation I had with an old friend over dinner the other day has been troubling me and I felt it warranted a public airing.
The old friend in question is a man of integrity, has no political axe to grind and has a strong academic background but gave up regular teaching years ago when he learned that exam papers were being “marked down” to ensure the right quota of examinees passed. I’ve heard similar stories from other friends, most worryingly those in the medical profession who were instructed from above that a certain percentage of “previously disadvantaged” students must be given pass marks even if the quality of their answers didn’t merit a pass.
As I said before, please feel free to tell me you’ve never heard such nonsense and that this is just another ploy on my behalf to discredit hard working students. For obvious reasons, those who have been asked in the past to “mark down” exam papers tend not to speak out for fear of reprisals. Those who find the practice objectionable simply stop marking exam papers and slip quietly into retirement. Those who still need the money grit their teeth and continue to mark exams with a quota pass rate in the forefront of their mind.
The example my friend gave me is of particular interest. The pupil concerned attended a very expensive private school in Johannesburg and regularly did well in subjects, particularly maths where she scored 98% in her matric exam. Her parents then decided to pay for her to attend university in England having, no doubt, despaired of the political shenanigans at our own universities. She was accepted by a very prestigious university but, to her parent’s horror, scored around 10% in her first exam.