I recently read an article about how the South African academic system is being ‘dumbed down’.
Apparently the University of South Africa (Unisa) is planning to allow final year students who are ‘struggling’, to write open book exams from home to help them graduate. These students will have 24 hours to complete the tests.
The goal behind this is for more students to graduate. Is it just me, or will you also agree, that these qualifications will not only lack quality, it will be a disservice to the workforce and eventually our economy? Low standards will result in poor performance and so the ripple effect will continue.
This cannot be considered a solution to our already questionable education system. The Matric pass rate has been a contentious issue for the past few years. With the pass requirements dropping to 30 per cent – YES, 30 PER CENT – we have already lowered standards. A balanced exam paper should be set with questions of differing levels. About 30 per cent of the paper should have questions that require minimum effort. The point I am trying to make is that with such a pass requirement, are we saying it is progression when a pupil has mastered so little of the curriculum after a year of learning? Are we saying that the skills and content that needs to be mastered is not relevant anymore?
We’ve just entered the world stage in terms of introducing technology into the system, which will, I believe, take time to integrate, not to mention be used correctly. But it seems for every step we try to take forward, there are decisions made that take us hundreds of steps back.
