Advice from the WCED....

[beLIEf]

This maybe could be added to the thread "our education system is officially in the bollocks..." Anyway I recently went on a training course for the "new" CAPS curriculum for Grade 10.

 It started with this video.RSA Animate - Changing Education Paradigms Which is actually very refreshing and encouraging. So I waited to be impressed by new ideas etc .... I was very quickly disappointed....

Going through the still incredibly prescriptive document someone raised the question of " didn't we just watch a video about thinking outside the box??" The reply came .... "well yes you need to think outside the box but from inside this box we are telling you to be in" Amazing. These are the people responsible for the education of the future South African leaders.

Next ensued about 10 mins of discussing boxes within boxes until the conversation went to Afrikaans and we all agreed the guy was a doos and that was the only conclusion reached.

[cyghost]

he he he

[Faerie]

Its frustrating in the end.  Even more so if you happen to have kids still at school and you cannot help but do a comparison to your own education way back in the dirty 70's and 80's.  Christelike Nationale Onderwys - quite.  Actually, musing on this a bit, we were also discouraged to think out of the box provided back then too. Nothings changed in other words.... 

[beLIEf]

Exactly and "critical thinking" is bandied around as a term without anyone actually doing any - least of all the management team. Critical thinking is actually in my school's ethos and I see none of it, whereas there is no mention of Christianity in the ethos and it permeates many school activities.

It is also far to strict in terms of discipline and uniform in that anyone with a bit of personality is discriminated against, it is impossible to develop critical thinkers in that environment, critical thinkers challenge authority and conformity which I have tried to point out.

From what I have seen school does not prepare kids for university or any higher learning at all..

[BoogieMonster]

Sounds to me like they're preparing critical thinking kids for the real world.

Like it or not, but most people don't look kindly on us. Perhaps this is a symptom of what you describe but

... critical thinkers challenge authority and conformity ...

I don't think people like that are going to be put down by a little bit of intellectual oppression. If anything it is a vivid illustration of the society they'll have to live in. Me, I learnt to sit down, shut up, and bide my time. They could only hold me for so long...

[Faerie]

It is also far to strict in terms of discipline and uniform in that anyone with a bit of personality is discriminated against, it is impossible to develop critical thinkers in that environment, critical thinkers challenge authority and conformity which I have tried to point out.

Whilst I'm all for discipline, it is sometimes pushed to the extreme.  My eldest is having his very last official school day today, got a letter yesterday from school that they will be having an inspection and if they pass said inspection, they will received their exam numbers and timetables after which they can go home (i.o.w they will be at school for all of an hour), if they dont pass, they need to rectify their appearance before being able to receive it. THIS after the matric farewell where all the kids had their hair highlighted, nails done and whatever else. What difference does their appearance AT THIS POINT OF TIME make?

I told the lad not to worry, I will personally go collect the documentation should it be withheld. (He's got highlights in his hair)

[beLIEf]

haha sounds about right! I just don't think that discipline always has to have uniformity - Kids need to find discipline intrinsically rather than by force but that depends a lot on background, upbringing, age  etc so I do see why some schools here are uniform and rules nazis. I'm just still adjusting! Hope his valedictory went well!

[brianvds]

These are the people responsible for the education of the future South African leaders.

That, of course, is the whole problem in a nutshell: parents believe it is the responsibility of the state to educate their kids. As long as that belief persists, we'll raise one generation of ignoramuses after the other.

In my limited experience, I have seen this time and again: parent dump their kids at school and then sit back and wait for their kids to be magically educated by bureaucrats, and simply won't take any responsibility for it themselves. But schools are best an aid, and how well a  kid can make use of this aid depends entirely on the education he received from his parents.

Of course, the sad reality is that In South Africa, huge numbers of kids for all practical purposes do not have parents. I have dealt with lots of them. They are screwed, irrespective of what the government does or fails to do.

[Bandit]

parent dump their kids at school and then sit back and wait for their kids to be magically educated by bureaucrats, and simply won't take any responsibility for it themselves.

I have to agree with this.  Yes you should allow your children to "get education" because that is what will give them "the money to live a good life".  But you should be teaching your kids critical thinking around the dinner table.  Teach them to question everything, but in a circumspect manner.  In a circumspect manner because we know what happens to tall poppies 

[brianvds]

I have kind of forgotten about this thread. I am a teacher at an independent school. I am profoundly relieved that I won't have to do CAPS training. :-)