SA kids are failing mathematics: Here's why the numbers are NOT adding up

[@gailpool4042]

Many of the teachers of matric maths in this country can’t pass a matric maths paper. Surely that says it all?

[@Palmstreet-u7x]

Because no more colleges

[@farouk69jacobs]

Good day John & CapeTalk fam, Several factors contribute to the challenges South African students face in mathematics: Teacher quality and training: A shortage of qualified math teachers, particularly in rural areas, impacts the quality of instruction. Curriculum and assessment: The curriculum may not be effectively aligned with best practices in math education, and assessments may not accurately measure student understanding. Socioeconomic factors: Poverty, inequality, and lack of access to resources can significantly hinder a student's ability to learn math. Language barriers: Instruction in a second language can create challenges for students, particularly in foundational math skills. Teacher attitudes and beliefs: Teachers' beliefs about math ability can influence their teaching practices and student outcomes. It's important to note that these are complex issues with no single solution. Addressing them requires a multifaceted approach involving teacher training, curriculum reform, and addressing socioeconomic disparities. #TheUnassumingBillionaire

[@vmaxmadness]

Well said.

[@farouk69jacobs]

@vmaxmadness the Bishops Matric results proves what can be achieved even though you and I understand the difference between private and public schools. 133 boys wrote the NSC examinations; 100% pass rate achieved; 94.7% Bachelors pass; 7% of all subject results were above 90%; 30% of all subject results were above 80%; There were 32 A aggregates (24% of the class) and 2 boys achieved an aggregate of 90% and above; The top student had an aggregate of 93.6%, followed by 2nd with 91.8% and joint 3rd with 89.4%; 9 distinctions were achieved by the top student. 8 distinctions were achieved by 2nd placed student. 9 boys achieved 7 distinctions, 5 achieved 6 distinctions and 9 achieved 5 distinctions; 19% of the class achieved 5 distinctions or better. #TheUnassumingBillionaire

[@vmaxmadness]

@ Back in the late 70's I scraped through matric math and failed it 3 times at Technicon. 10 years later, married and with a small baby in the house I achieved a 99% pass. Took hard work, many hours of practice and the realization that math have basic rules that needs to be learned and memorized. A year later I would have failed the same exam. I don't have a mathematical brain. Point is math needs to be practiced daily when you are not good at it. Most kids give up too easily and sadly there are not enough good math teachers who can transfer knowledge in a meaningful and fun way. Motivation and mindset also plays a big role. The achievers have the discipline to push through. It is the average child who needs more attention. Sadly our current public school system is broken and many children are going to miss out on developing their full potential. I agree with your assessment.

[@karinjacka7422]

As a retired maths teacher, I have to say that the dilemma lies in basic arithmetic and maths training….meaning at primary school….once pupils are in high school, teachers can’t take them back to basics….it has to happen at an elementary level….and it’s not arithmetic methods, it’s an understanding and appreciation of logical reasoning, pattern recognition and number understanding…..consider cuisinere in grade one and two….

[@serogolemogole2685]

Couldn't agree more, I always tell people that mathematics is not about numbers, rules, algorithms, theorems etc, those are just useful tools for giving expression to the a particular way of thinking. Maths is a way of thinking which trains the brain to think and reason analytically with rigorous logic, recognize patterns and deduce connections in order to solve problems.

[@derekwoolley9729]

I for one found that the present maths is actually a load of crap. Borh my children were top students however maths made no sense and teachers could not do it either.

[@karthi7016]

Outrageous number of phds, in social, science, arts, political science,.... Try a PhD in science.. Most cannot do it

[@johnrowland9570]

As a person with 2 BSc(Hons) degrees and having taught these subjects for 38 years may I make a contribution? Most important is a 2 parent family. When a baby is born it must be stimulated from day 1. As the child grows up he/she must be read to and given stimulating educational toys. The parents need educating on parenting. At primary school level the old fashioned method of learning tables and number bonds. Teachers must use correct mathematical vocabulary. Stop referring to all kinds of problems as sums when they may be products etc. I could go on but this will suffice for now

[@MGold00]

I understand my brother who is a BSc graduate is the one that helps my daughter wit maths. And she has maintained 80% average since grade 5. And in the classroom the teachers dont know how teach the kids

[@kelumo7981]

I don't think that performance is tied to a two parent family, let's not even go there... I agree with you that kids must be taught the culture of learning and being curious, that will be the main ingredient for success

[@jjstrails3159]

A big problem is th curriculum in the books, it is so overloaded that the children cant grasp th basic concepts anymore, they just do new work everyday before the one concept was form. Example in gr 10 to 12. You do the work in the class, go home and do your homework, that night you have to mark your own homework and the next day, without having time to do any littlte revision of the previous day, the teacher do the new work. Then they wrote only one test and the next is the exam with lots of work that they were never test on, once during the term. That also happened with sience. You do your homework, mark it youself and the first time you get tested is in the exams! My son tht was good in Maths up to grade 9 just couldn't cope with this ridiculous method and he as well as most of his friends had to change to maths lit. 30 years ago i was a maths teacher and we never had a problem with time in teaching children Maths. But now a days they filled the curriculum with more and more stuff and it is not just maths, all the subjects. Accounting as well. Children sit in school for 7 hours and have to go home and do homework and assignments util 10 in the evening and work through weekends just to cope. All that assignments! Something is wrong with our education system!

[@Palmstreet-u7x]

But what groups are that

[@jjstrails3159]

Teneo on-line school​@@Palmstreet-u7x

[@petermabe897]

Why is SADTU not called to account for this mess💔 or success 💪😝⁉️

[@jamesmhango2619]

In America, it's the same. The problem is in the homes.

[@domaths7]

The problem is also .... where are the jobs?

[@Ash_Hole-f7p]

True, and AI awaits

[@PravitLochan]

The future of this country scares me

[@Palmstreet-u7x]

And who's fault is that ????

[@PravitLochan]

@ lets not say 😂

[@Palmstreet-u7x]

@@PravitLochan yes otherwise get labelled a racist lol

[@PravitLochan]

@ 🤣

[@Palmstreet-u7x]

@ and my surname is Hofmeyr, lol, so definitely i will be labelled as one, lol

[@jdQuinnn]

My experience is that they get far too complex (teaching kids 3 or 4 methods to solve a simple arithmetic problem) at the foundational level.The basics are not inculcated and therefore there's a deficit in understanding.

[@lenortancred]

Why dont they teach Wealth Building 101 in the Life Skills curriculum? Understanding compound interest and interest bearing investment.

[@douglasbullet6456]

Because the oligarchs don't want them to know

[@serogolemogole2685]

those concepts are taught from grade 9 maths going up, wealth building is covered in the commercial stream through subjects like business studies

[@frikkiehitge3912]

Mathematics starts at grade 4. This is where the basis starts, not in grade 11. Maths and Science are an understanding subjucts and not learning like a parrot. If you do not understand in the early stages, you will never make it at university in Engineering and Scientific degrees

[@One.Person]

Spot on.

[@cjtannerza]

Hewers of wood, drawers of water

[@Palmstreet-u7x]

Water 🌊💦🌊💦 bearers 😂😂

[@karenfelkers8169]

A grade 11 child in my community was told by his school he could not do math's because the school will not offer it. This child has so much potential but the system disadvantages him. This means this will affect his ability to gain entry to a university.

[@missbstuurman]

Change school

[@hansdedipper2912]

😂 Genetics. ▪️There is nothing so good that politicians can't make it bad ▪️ and nothing so bad that politicians can't make it worse. - Thomas Sowell

[@attievanwyk3561]

Dept. of Education and the government is ecstatic about the improved passing numbers for the matric exam. What they still do not realise is that, by lowering the exam standards, there will be an improvement in the pass rate. If the standards are dropped far enough, it will be possible to achieve a 100% pass rate. Surely that is not the way to improve the future of matriculants.

[@runnerbean5858]

Mathematics is a subject that not everyone can understand and it wasn't my best subject for several reasons. As a result when I was given the opportunity to educate a previously disadvantaged child I started her at extra maths from grade 1. The result is that now she is I n her second last year of secondary school she has been able to do pure Maths with an acceptable pass rate at a private school. This in my opinion gives her more choice when she reaches tertiary level but the extra maths must begin before the child starts struggling. Once the child starts slipping in Maths they begin to dislike the subject and fear it and thus begins a slippery slope. As the parent it is important that you don't reinforce the child's self doubt about their maths ability and this can be done by giving them help before they see themselves or maths as difficult. It gives them the choice of a different teacher for problems they encounter at school.

[@Palmstreet-u7x]

And sad part is that close to 1000 were caught cribbing most from Natal 😢

[@VickeyPretorius]

The prof over simplified maths with his example - maths isn't easy, but our young people must be helped to believe that they can do it

[@MikeMorrison-lw4gz]

One trouble is you have to be lucky with maths teachers twelve times. One bad teacher leaves you with gaps that are very hard to fill. The people becoming teachers are more interested in people than things so they tend to be weak in maths themselves

[@douglasbullet6456]

It's because South African schools don't promote trade skills and prioritize theoretical education which won't help the future generation in real life situations

[@TheTobs50]

China example: In addition, English is a compulsory school subject in China! Talk about an advantage over the rest. Best regards John!

[@LFK1951]

Well said!

[@marksmith-od7sg]

AI math teachers or tutors will replace normal teaching in the next year or two. AI won't get tired, won't complain and you can use it anytime of the day or night 24/7. The best thing it will be much better at teaching than average teachers.

[@Ash_Hole-f7p]

And like many other jobs, AI will take over

[@Shupstarr]

Until we bring back African Mathematics all of this will just be a piss in the wind. African mathematics is underrated but its applications are every where. Growing up we used an analog computer from the 1st grade (subA) and this still helps more than those horrible Times Tables, Long Division etc Teach children to be confident in Arithmetics 1st before going to the higher disciplines of maths such as Geometry, Algebra & Calculus. I am fifty and only now relearning my grade3 maths (without the Timestables & Torture of long Division). We can learn a thing or two from Nigeria.. It produces alot of good mathematicians in Africa. These are usually headhunted by western multinationals & universities. We grew up singing mathematics in our mother-tongue which made it easier to translate it into english. African kids play computational games like maketa & morabaraba. We could also popularise them like the Chinese have popularised Go amongst their maths learners. ALL IS NOT LOST .LETS START WITH THE YOUNG ONES >

[@geraldrafferty5485]

YES , MATHEMATICS WHY DID THEY DISCARD I Q TESTS IN SOUTH AFRICA.... JUST ASKING ???

[@Imraan-vj3oi]

I couldn't imagine a worse person to have interviewed . Students perform much worse on word sums compared to equations , thinking that you can motivate 45 students every lesson in subject the world tells them is difficult ,while simultaneously telling them for jobs like being a social media influencer or athlete its useless might play a bigger role than a teachers lack of hype ability . Lastly have you compared whether there was an increase in the number of commerce students ?

[@karinjacka7422]

Another thought….do you know what is good about rote learning of tables and bonds? It empowers children psychologically….they may not know everything about arithmetic and maths, but they darn well know how to add and subtract and do times table…that is a great start!

[@karinjacka7422]

Cuisinere…….consider it….it made me , a history and English and drama person appreciate the beauty of numbers….introduced to me in grade one and two….

[@Bob-be2pj]

Need to talk about demographics.....

[@Palmstreet-u7x]

Exactly 💯💯 And we know who those are

[@qhawejames134]

To do well in maths you need to do it everyday and you will succed.

[@TerenceBloem]

Music is the foundation for maths and science in the brain. Before you shoot it, go and do the research. Music has been dropped from most schools in the country . Music improves concentration, and memorisation and many other advantages. Most DEVELOPING countries have music programmes from grade 1. Did you know Einstein was a musician - yeah he played violin and piano - go Figure.

[@GrahamDup]

Keeping politicians shining😅

[@Honeybager1337]

Chemisty needs to be seperated from physics and both subjects need more depth.

[@markloubser2433]

Maths is about reasonable and logical thinking. A skill generally lacking in SA...

[@frankley187]

Word sums are pure distraction, unnecessary conflation of concepts, start with the basics for goodness sakes

[@yurigadafimaholeyistanbul]

As a former matriculant and university graduate, I can say the problem is we bombard our youth with mathematics, physics etc when these subjects aren't as important as people think in the real world unless you passionate about medicine, engineering etc

[@yurigadafimaholeyistanbul]

There are so many other industries that the youth can venture in, why don't we have logistics, plumbing, agriculture etc as subjects in school to replace mathematics and physics.

[@yurigadafimaholeyistanbul]

The curriculum is also messed up. Mathematics should be broken into 2 subjects. It's either you do calculas or algebra as a subject and the same with physical science being broken into chem & physics.

[@One.Person]

Yaaa there is method of multiplication and addition then verification what not.... about breaking down numbers 😂😂😂😂. That's the dummest way because it creates more steps and an average child want keep up with the step 2 and 3 etc

[@evertwenderpirt6328]

Dream on.

[@kelumo7981]

Is this guy a Professor? 🤔🤔He sounds dumber than the kids failing maths... His analogy is so asinine and completely unnecessary 😢

[@johnrowland9570]

As a person with 2 BSc(Hons) degrees and having taught these subjects for 38 years may I make a contribution? Most important is a 2 parent family. When a baby is born it must be stimulated from day 1. As the child grows up he/she must be read to and given stimulating educational toys. The parents need educating on parenting. At primary school level the old fashioned method of learning tables and number bonds. Teachers must use correct mathematical vocabulary. Stop referring to all kinds of problems as sums when they may be products etc. I could go on but this will suffice for now

[@Palmstreet-u7x]

Hallelujah 🙏🙌🙏 only one who sees the real answer

[@mathsastronaut260]

At last, someone else who probably gets driven up the wall by the incorrect use of SUM as a generic term for any maths calculation.