JONATHAN JANSEN: Maths and science - Preparing our children for failure
Like every December, you know it's a slow news month by the desperate headlines. A former Wits student leader, the Hitler-admiring one, calls the vice-chancellor "evil, the third force and uncircumcised at heart". Yawn, this death by hyperbole. People coming to Hout Bay are "like stupid animals .tie them to a rope", says Vanessa Hartley, before there's nothing left of the place. Yet another racist Facebook rant. Did Ms Sparrow teach us nothing? Almost unnoticed in this toxic wasteland of everyday talk in South Africa is the real devastating news about our children's performance in maths and science when compared to other struggling countries. Somebody needs to send a note of thanks to the government of Kuwait. Without them we would have been stone last among the nations in Grade 5 mathematics performance. Last in Grade 9 science, below even Egypt and Botswana, and second-last in Grade 9 maths - thank you Saudi Arabia. However, we are doing better than before, say the politicians and...
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