trail-blazing

With acknowledgement to the photographer

...the half-brained, half-baked, maths and science debate

We are currently preparing students for jobs that don’t exist, using technologies that haven’t yet been invented, in order to solve problems we don’t even know are problems yet - Karl Fisch, educator

Maths and Science is the clarion call for our schools to heed. We are wringing our hands about South Africa’s low global ranking in Maths and Science performance.

It seems this focus is because we believe that better ratings will make us more competitive and better prepare our youth for the workplace.This is barking up the wrong tree on a number of levels.

Firstly, Maths and Science does not maketh man or woman. If we study history we learn that most of our greatest leaders have been neither mathematicians nor scientists. As Sir Ken Robinson argues, there is a much richer conception of intelligence and ability available to us than is promoted by conventional education.

Secondly, we must re-calibrate our thinking in school education to focus on graduating whole-brain thinkers, whole-people performers. Es'kia Mphahlele correctly proposed that education should be seen as a process of self-discovery, a search for self.

Thirdly, schools should not be preparing people for careers. That comes much later.The great educationist Piaget argued that the principle goal of education is to develop people who are capable of doing new things, not simply repeating what other generations have done; people who are creative, inventive and discoverers.

What we require is a fully rounded education in our schools. We need the humanities as much as we need maths and science. We must unleash the ability within our learners to think both creatively and critically. 

Most importantly, we should unlock the confidence to pose questions and to moot different possible answers. A fixation on the right answer is damaging (because this is a world without absolutes). 

Ultimately we should enable our learners to marshall and present an argument. To be able to absorb and have some grasp of the fundamental issues facing us both as a species and within the context of our society and continent.

In short, I believe we need schools to graduate well rounded and confident thinkers. An education that fosters respect for the human imagination and the vital need to innovate and experiment so we can improve our condition.

We can select more career directed programmes in tertiary institutions but even here, I would argue that all university programmes need to consider a mix of analytical subjects and the humanities.

I recently heard that some South African schools are dropping history as a subject and on the playgrounds the message is, if you are not cutting maths and science, you then do art and drama - the sub-text being - shame, at least we can keep you busy.

Unless we make dramatic changes in our approach to giving a full education, I would have to agree with Dr. Stephen Heppell who said it would not be the end of the world if schools don’t make it. It would be, if learning doesn't make it.