Now that the matric results are out, it’s time to comment about our education system again.
I’m afraid it’s not going to be very nice. But let me start with the nice stuff. A huge congratulations to all those who worked hard and succeeded in the exams. You made the Western Cape proud with a slightly improved 81.5 percent pass rate.
For the remaining 18.5 percent, don’t give up. Your options are many and varied, including rewriting the exams in a few weeks’ time.
Look at it this way, the fact that you made it all the way to matric, is already an achievement worth celebrating. So you might as well go all the way and give it another, harder push.
While you didn’t make it, just getting to matric, puts you in a class of your own, because only a little more than half of the kids you started Grade R with, made it this far.
A recent study shows that only 54 percent of children who start school in the country, actually make it all the way to matric.
This dismal statistic is much more worthy of attention, than the historic 82.9% national pass rate that the class of 2023 achieved.
It is a sad reality that our education system has become a political PR football that has become almost exclusively about the numbers. And I don’t mean that only at national level, but even on the micro, community scale.
Politicians are using the increased pass rate to blow their own trumpets and show voters how well they are doing as leaders. This is important capital for them, especially in an election year.
Gauteng’s Premier Panyaza Lesufi even went as far as giving performance bonuses to two of his district directors for supervising matric pass rates above 90 percent.
It’s laughable that the kids who did all the hard work got a few words of congratulations, while the high-salaried directors who simply did their jobs, got cash incentives.
The fact is, provide any school with enough resources, including passionate teachers, and you will get good results. It has nothing to do with a director doing exceptional work from is air-conditioned office.
You see what matters most here, is the optics that scream: “Look at how well we’re doing everybody!”
Let’s ignore the fact that almost half of those who started their schooling journey, dropped out along the way. Let’s ignore the fact that the pass bar has been lowered, to create a manufactured image of excellence.
Let’s ignore the fact that private schools still outperform government schools in just about every measure that matters. And this way of thinking has now filtered down to grassroots level among schools, who are determined to show off their academic prowess.
The individual learners don’t matter as much as being able to brag about the school’s pass rate.
And while that is, generally, not an entirely bad thing, what it fails to disclose is the methods used to exclude learners who don’t quite meet those high academic standards.
Let me explain. The reason why the national pass rate can reach 83 percent is because the learners who would drag that number down, have been encouraged or allowed to drop out before they got to matric. They are the undesirables. There is no system in place to catch them before they drop out, or to focus on the other qualities that make them worthy human beings.
They are discarded by the system, because they are not academically smart enough, or don’t make the cut on the sports field.
Private and former Model-C schools are ruthless in this regard. They eagerly advertise their high pass rate to attract more applications from parents, who understandably want their kids at the best school.
But they fail to mention the learners who don’t get accepted, because their parents can’t afford the fees, or their grades are not up to scratch and will drag down the school’s image of academic excellence.
It’s part of the reason why this year, some schools received 97 percent more applications than they can accommodate.
These days, most schools are essentially businesses, most concerned with securing ongoing revenue for themselves in the form of government funding or school fees.
And they usually hide behind the all-powerful governing bodies, which are equally determined to maintain the school’s glossy image.
In truth, this is a capitalistic model that victimises children, by boxing them into a set of rules, prioritising academics, sport and affordability over everything else, thus giving some kids an advantage over others. It’s all about the numbers.
Sadly, the individual human beings whose minds and world views are being shaped by these systems.
And those who can’t, must by necessity be directed out of the formal system, despite the damage it does to them as individuals, and by extension, to society at large; a society they may end up disrupting with criminal or anti-social behaviour.
It’s all terribly short-sighted because in the end, nobody benefits – except maybe some directors.
breinou@gmail.com