It gets worse!
Check this out, from the Natal Witness!
A dumbed-down matric
Three Es and four Fs to pass will give pupils a worthless qualification, say educationists
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Education experts have ridiculed requirements for passing the new matric.
The response came after news that candidates will need three E and four F symbols to obtain the new national senior certificate in 2008.
It means a candidate must score 40% in his home language, life orientation and one other subject but needs only 30% to pass the rest.
The candidate's marks may also be condoned in one subject. This means if he or she has between 0% and 29% for a subject, it can be condoned to 30% and therefore he or she would pass this subject as well.
Professor Kobus Maree, an educationist and guidance counsellor at the University of Pretoria, said it's absurd that candidates with such poor marks can obtain a certificate.
"What will candidates do with such a worthless certificate? What type of skills will they have acquired? And how would it be determined what level of critical thinking, problem-solving and so on they have?"
Maree said this qualification puts a question mark over the ideal of equipping pupils for further studies and the workplace.
He said there is one-sided and inexcusable pressure on schools to allow as many pupils as possible to pass. However, the future of these pupils and the usefulness of their subject combinations are not considered.
"Pupils should be informed about the dangers of merely passing Grade 12 and the long-term consequences of poor symbols, for instance."
Maree said parents should make sure they know what subjects and combinations of subjects their children need to go to university for example and to qualify to study specific courses at tertiary level.
Professor Izak Oosthuizen, an education expert at North West University in Potchefstroom, said when "the seeds of mediocrity are planted, mediocrity will be harvested".
He said the new criteria are simply not good enough. "To achieve success in this country, it is necessary to strive for excellence."
Several teachers said the low pass requirements will make teaching even more difficult. "Many pupils already have an attitude that they do not need to study to pass. Given the fact the pupils' continuous assessment mark [cass] will also count 25% of the final mark, many will simply sit back and not work hard at all.
"False expectations are created for these pupils. Perhaps they can pass matric with such poor symbols but the workplace and higher education will demand much more of them," the teachers said.
Publish Date: 10 September 2005