WHY DO WE HAVE TO SUFFER FOOLS ?

Ignorance may be bliss, but only for the ignorant. For the rest of us dealing with the unqualified, uninspired and plain incompetent makes performing to the professional standards to which we have been trained, a trial. DON ALBERT takes a hard look at education in South Africa, and comes up with some suggestions to deal with incompetence in our institutions, and it is neither dagga nor emigration.

Anybody who is creative knows how excruciating it can be trying to deal with bureaucracy, even educated bureaucracy who otherwise might ostensibly be on the same page. In a country as diverse as South Africa however, we have cultural issues, language issues, the warped legacy of apartheid, and of course affirmative action added to bureaucracy, which is the perfect recipe for graft. There simply is no other lingua franca that can transpose itself through the rainbow nation quite like cold hard cash. Cash is the only language we all seem to understand.

I am sure I do not need to remind you dear reader, of the wave of breathtaking scandals that have rocked South Africa in the last decade, but for those of you who are reading from foreign shores or deliberately editing reality through whatever form of escape you choose, scandals such as the arms deal, the former Police Commissioner Jacki Selebi corruption scandal, the Eskom lack of planning debacle, the hiring of convicted thief and alleged drunk former Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, the UKZN academic freedom row, the delaying of the matric results, the quality of the matric results, the ongoing freefall of South African Airways, the "Travelgate" scandal, the orchestrated xenophobia attacks, and so on and so forth and stuff like that (as former President Thabo Mbeki used to say), yes scandals like these have been gnawing at the core of even the most patriotic and optimistic of us. Law abiding South Africans are simply on the ropes.

There would appear to be a general systematic failure of many of the country’s institutions from a basic governance perspective, and this is compounded by a widespread lack of ethics. In GETTING EDUCATION RIGHT [1], Bruce Gourley suggests that a lack of basic training in social sciences, ethics and management may be the cause of this widespread collapse of services including education, as unqualified and unproven personnel (drawn from the so-called “lost generation” who were denied decent education at the hands of the apartheid regime) have often been appointed into important positions in the name of transformation. Adequate education he argues, transfers more than just knowledge but a set of interpersonal skills and ethics that transcend “management” issues or issues of the bottom line, which is so often what corruption amounts to in the end. There are bound to be repercussions from this kind of transformation at the expense of hiring qualified and experienced candidates for leadership positions.

In AN ACTING NATION [2], the editor of the Mail & Guardian stated that in addition to the number of executives and heads of national bodies that are currently on “special leave” for various corruption scandals or other reasons, including the South African Broadcasting Commission, the National Prosecuting Authority and transportation parastatal Transnet, about 30-40% of the state’s employment positions are currently vacant. Surely the infamous lack of service delivery in South Africa could be attributable to the fact that so many of these posts are vacant? While affirmative action is the most obvious root cause of these non-executive vacancies there is of course HIV/AIDS related vacancies in the foreground too.

In addition to South Africa being at the behest of the “lost generation” currently, in ANOTHER GENERATION BETRAYED, former University of Cape Town Vice Chancellor and World Bank head Dr. Mamphela Ramphele [3] argues that the current crop of school leavers have been grossly shortchanged by the Department of Education, and that another wave of fallout is ahead. According to Ramphele’s figures, 38% of matric writers failed the national exam, but more importantly, the drop-out figure for the group of school goers in recent years as a whole is more like 50% of those who enroll at grade one. “What has happened to the rest of our children?” she asks.

More critical to the interests of the membership of PY-TV perhaps, Dr. Ramphele goes on to quote that about 1% of those who sat the state-set examinations wrote what is known as Mathematics Paper 3, which covers Euclidian geometry, probability and statistics – crucial to the foundation of learning for engineering, architecture, business science and new technologies! This has become an optional paper on account of the fact that there is a shortage of teachers qualified to teach these subjects due to the restrictions the teachers union SADTU is placing on the use of foreign and/or non-affirmative action teachers. “How can a whole generation be denied an essential body of knowledge in order to protect the interests of unionized teachers?” she asks. Ramphele concludes with the assertion that our education system is “socially engineering the continuation of inequalities that leave the majority of black poor children behind”.

On the other hand in CLASS STRUGGLE [4], South African Democratic Teacher’s Union (SADTU) secretary-general Thulas Nxesi places the blame for the crisis squarely on the government’s inability to build adequate infrastructure in the form of schools since 1994. He says the student-teacher-ratio as a factor of physical space, is the prime issue. The true story is likely an amalgam between Nxesi and Ramphele’s facts, and it is hardly encouraging. It smacks of a lack of vision and commitment to change.

In A CRUSH AT UKZN’S EXITS, [5], Monako Dibetle reports that the management issues at the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal (which have been reported here at PY-TV in the discussions forum) have escalated to the point where the university has lost 45 highly qualified staff members in the last year, staff who have been eagerly snapped up by other institutions including University of Johannesburg, for the most part.

While the UKZN example may seem to be unique, if read in conjunction with the findings of Finweek’s survey by Ask Africa titled STABLE CRISIS [6] on the state of South Africa’s tertiary institutions, it is clear that the restructuring of certain institutions in the name of demographic transformation has had cataclysmic results in most institutions that were forced to merge.

In almost all cases, a gross disparity in the financial performance/management of the Vice-Chancellors of “merged” institutions like UKZN and DUT versus the former unmerged bastions of education like UCT or Wits exists, where government is effectively subsidising gross mismanagement in the merged institutions. The Mangusothu University of Technology being a particular offender where the VC was paid R3.6m to oversee a campus of just 9 828 students, compared to the University of Cape Town’s R1,55m it largely finances on its own, for its VC to oversee a campus of 21 188 students, notwithstanding profit calculations which are equally telling. [7]

In general, pertinent statistics relating to the national crisis gleaned from the report include:

• South Africa’s final graduation rate at 15% of all entrants, is one of the lowest in the world!

• Only 22% of those graduating, do so “within the specified three years of a generic bachelors degree”.

• 70% of drop-outs come from low-income (black) families.

The above statistics clearly point to a general failure of both the secondary and tertiary systems, but in relation to the employability of graduates, according to Finweek, the overall results exhibit a “lacerating trend” where the Government’s research subsidy disbursement formula is “mass producing mediocrity for a knowledge economy ever more discerning in its demand for globally competitive talent”. The irony is not amusing.

Among the conclusions of Finweek’s investigation are that “the aggregation of universities into fewer like entities is dumbing down the standard and quality of higher education because of an overriding, and galling preoccupation with advancing redress and equity for black people.” This is a broad statement but one that rings true even in some of the top ranking institutions.

Teaching architecture occasionally at institutions like UCT as I have, I can attest to the fact that this “dumbing down” is not just happening at merged institutions or formerly black institutions, it is widespread and happening in top ranking institutions too. Institutions where academic leadership is grappling with admissions quotas and with questions of how to pitch a level of discourse between 'disadvantaged' and 'advantaged students', particularly in the arts like architecture - which are inherently language based in origin, as opposed to just scientific or mathematical – place huge pedagogic challenges on those coming from disadvantaged backgrounds - challenges that cannot be overcome in the first year alone. There is a huge gap missing in literacy, language, space and logic processes in students coming from disadvantaged backgrounds, still, after all these years, and while anyone would agree that redress is required, it is becoming generally acknowledged that the current path is failing miserably.

“But what has this got to do with me?” I hear you ask, or hopefully, “What can I do?”

Well, as reasonably educated and patriotic citizens we have to firstly acknowledge the crisis. We do NOT have to suffer fools and be dragged into further crises. We do not have to watch our spheres of professional influence and culture eroded by the “dumbing down” which has been referred to. We do not have to watch our children being denied access to what is rightfully theirs – a good EDUCATION and a future full of creative promise.

Secondly, we need to acknowledge that the solution does not just rest with other people, it rests with all of us. It takes a village to raise a child. We all need to participate in the solution. Some of us may volunteer, some of us may charge, but we all have something to offer – and none of us should be excluded. Your active participation in PY-TV is already a start. Write more, contribute more to the discussions – it’s a platform, not a magazine - it’s about putting in, so that we can all take out. Perhaps you have some spare time to tutor at a local place of instruction, or from home? There are many people who could learn something from you, and as Bruce Gourley has suggested, we also learn when we teach. Step out of your box! Sponsor someone young and promising. Donate your old books to a school library. Offer support as a part-time teacher.

Thirdly I would suggest being more active in the area of politics and education. Be more demanding of your institutions. Recruit others to PY-TV who would appreciate encouragement towards their efforts in teaching, writing and participating in the debate. Pass invitations on to those who may be inspired to teach again, or in the future. We need teachers to regain the dignity they deserve as the cradle of our society. If you know someone who is a teacher or who has something to offer, invite him or her to join Pythagoras-tv.com today!

Lastly, I would encourage all of you who are registered to vote in the upcoming South African general election, to vote intelligently. Choose leaders who you know are not corrupt, who have a respect for the rule of law, and who have proven track records of clean governance. The rot is at the top in South Africa, and education has no chance of escaping its insidious grasp without a sea change in the values of our leadership. Our future depends on new thinking in education, but more importantly thinking that values the individual and the group as two inextricable sides of the same coin. One cannot suffer at the expense of the other.

If you are an expatriate, and still wish to vote, South Africans abroad now have another chance to apply for a special vote before 27 March 2009, in order to vote on 15 April (the special voting day abroad). Please enquire at your embassy. If you are traveling abroad you will have to fill out the VC10 form. (google it!)

We have a powerful constitution in South Africa. We should be demanding that the government works within and towards its objectives. Vote intelligently on April 22nd – shout to the top!

It’s your future, your show.

References:
1 - “GETTING EDUCATION RIGHT” – Bruce Gourley, Pythagoras-TV Issue 3, March 2009
2 - “AN ACTING NATION” - Mail & Guardian RSA, Editorial March 13, 2009, p. 28.
3 - “ANOTHER GENERATION BETRAYED” – Mamphela Ramphele, Sunday Times, RSA, Jan 18, 2009, p.19.
4 - “CLASS STRUGGLE” – Fiona Forde interviews Thulasizwe Nxesi, Sunday Times, RSA, Jan 25, 2009, p.25.
5 – “CRUSH AT UKZN’S EXITS” – Monako Dibetle, Mail & Guardian RSA, March 13, 2009, p.6.
6 – “STABLE CRISIS” - Finweek Survey SA Tertiary Terrain, 26 February 2009. p 3-4.
7 – “STABLE CRISIS” – Finweek Survey SA Tertiart Terrain, 26 February 2009, p 17-19.