Sam Harris, philosopher, neuroscientist, non-fiction writer and author of The End of Faith: Religion, Terror and the Future puts it well when he says: “If someone doesn’t value evidence, what evidence are you going to provide to prove that they should value it? If someone does not value logic, what logical argument could you provide to show the importance of logic?”
The thing about the lack of logic is that it always gives those who lack such logic the advantage of always reasoning out of turn without any consequence. Such people have an added advantage in an argument because it is almost impossible to engage them in a logical manner. The reasoning they give usually defies the basic tenets of logic and thus tires anyone who wants to have a meaningful debate with them.
It is no longer clear what evidence must be provided just to prove to the education authorities the value of the evidence that the education system has major problems and needs real and urgent attention.
It has also become impossible now to advance any logical argument to prove the importance of applying logic to the decisions taken in addressing the challenges facing the education system.
Very recently and at great cost, the Supreme Court of Appeal restated a basic logic about the fact that the delivery of books must be done on the basis of ensuring proper efficiency and addressing the right of children to basic education.
This followed an appeal by the education minister against a North Gauteng High Court order on the delivery of books in Limpopo. The illogical argument that led to the decision to appeal was that the department was not expected to be perfect in the delivery of books.
Before this very logical judgment was made, several court cases tried to enforce the logic that government must develop and implement norms and standards for education infrastructure. One would think this was a pure common sense issue. Pure common sense it may be, but not to everyone.
When the supposed scandal about the selling of posts broke out in the media, a ministerial task team was established. Its 179 page report led to quite a bizarre and illogical announcement that the government had lost control.
As if this was not enough, Umalusi announced a significant drop in the National Senior Certificate results and in some strange logic attributed this, amongst other things, to the high standard of question papers and improved marking.
One would have thought as a rule it was expected that question papers ordinarily be of a high standard and that the standard improves on a year-on-year basis. Similarly one would expect from a logical point of view, a year-on-year significant improvement in the quality of marking.
But the real issue remains, what evidence is needed to convince the powers that be to accept that there is evidence of a real problem in our education system?
We spend far more than our African counterparts on education, but our quality is far below far poorer countries.
We have a very high drop-out rate. We have very poor basic education infrastructure. We don’t have enough qualified teachers in mathematics, the sciences and other subjects. ANA does not serve the real purpose for which it was initiated. We need to invest much more in teacher training and development. We need to improve access for pupils with disabilities and learning difficulties. The quality of education for the previously disadvantaged is not improving.
The evidence of all these and many other issues is there.
But even more disturbing is the evidence that the powers that be don’t take this evidence seriously or apply logic in some of the decisions taken.
As matters stand certain education departments continue to hop from one crisis to another. Either the systems or governance has collapsed and basic administration is non-existent. The learning and teaching environment has hardly changed for the better in certain areas.
Despite all this evidence of a major problem and the absence of a coherent plan to address these challenges, there is an expectation of a sustainable qualitative and quantitative improvement in education outcomes.
In the past few years, South Africans have been sold the story of a “supposed improvement” in the performance of learners at National Senior Certificate level as “improvement” of the system.
What South Africans are not told is that what is reported is a pure statistical change as opposed to real and qualitative change in education outcomes.
This better explains the danger of using the Grade 12 results as a measure of the system “improving”.
But the fact is, ad-hoc interventions have now become a permanent feature of our system. It has become “normal” to have extra classes, winter or spring schools, and to take children to camps as part of drilling them for the examinations.
This on its own is hard evidence that certain things that were supposed to have been done during the 216 days of actual contact time over the year have not been done.
The simple logical question is why is not enough being done to correct the situation in the prescribed 216 days of contact time?
The system may be celebrated over the years, but the mediocrity of its performance exists alongside that celebration.
The drop-out rate at tertiary education level continues. And many of those who supposedly pass leave the system for another life of agony.
As evidence continues to pile up that even the quality of the Grade 12 certificate does not help in the afterlife of 12 years of basic education, the lack of logic about a Grade 9 certificate is upon us.
This lack of logic tends to defy the logic about what should be the logical approach towards TVET education.
There is enough evidence to demonstrate that the biggest single contributor to youth unemployment in particular, is not necessarily slow economic growth, but the low skills base of those who complete the 12 years of basic education.
With this evidence, the lack of logic in ensuring a sustained and qualitative improvement in basic education remains amazing.
There is no doubt that this year, the focus will be on improving the Grade 12 results of 2015 instead of focusing on the overall improvement of the education system. Quite significantly less and less is being said about the chapter on basic education in the National Development Plan. More and more is being said about changing the rules.
Bearing in mind that from this year, Grade 10 will have mathematics as a compulsory subject for those taking life sciences and accounting, one wonders where the teachers will come from.
The problem won’t fix itself when the system is still reluctant to accept the evidence and the logic that it must change and focus on the core of what will bring about qualitative change in education outcomes.
Well, it is almost impossible indeed to provide evidence for the powers that be to accept the importance of evidence and to provide any logical argument that logic has value.
Advocate Modidima Mannya is a former Eastern Cape director-general of education
Elementary logic eludes basic education bosses
The thing about the lack of logic is that it always gives those who lack such logic the advantage of always reasoning out of turn without any consequence. Such people have an added advantage in an argument because it is almost impossible to engage them in a logical manner. The reasoning they give usually defies the basic tenets of logic and thus tires anyone who wants to have a meaningful debate with them.
It is no longer clear what evidence must be provided just to prove to the education authorities the value of the evidence that the education system has major problems and needs real and urgent attention.
It has also become impossible now to advance any logical argument to prove the importance of applying logic to the decisions taken in addressing the challenges facing the education system.
Very recently and at great cost, the Supreme Court of Appeal restated a basic logic about the fact that the delivery of books must be done on the basis of ensuring proper efficiency and addressing the right of children to basic education.
This followed an appeal by the education minister against a North Gauteng High Court order on the delivery of books in Limpopo. The illogical argument that led to the decision to appeal was that the department was not expected to be perfect in the delivery of books.
Before this very logical judgment was made, several court cases tried to enforce the logic that government must develop and implement norms and standards for education infrastructure. One would think this was a pure common sense issue. Pure common sense it may be, but not to everyone.
When the supposed scandal about the selling of posts broke out in the media, a ministerial task team was established. Its 179 page report led to quite a bizarre and illogical announcement that the government had lost control.
As if this was not enough, Umalusi announced a significant drop in the National Senior Certificate results and in some strange logic attributed this, amongst other things, to the high standard of question papers and improved marking.
One would have thought as a rule it was expected that question papers ordinarily be of a high standard and that the standard improves on a year-on-year basis. Similarly one would expect from a logical point of view, a year-on-year significant improvement in the quality of marking.
But the real issue remains, what evidence is needed to convince the powers that be to accept that there is evidence of a real problem in our education system?
We spend far more than our African counterparts on education, but our quality is far below far poorer countries.
We have a very high drop-out rate. We have very poor basic education infrastructure. We don’t have enough qualified teachers in mathematics, the sciences and other subjects. ANA does not serve the real purpose for which it was initiated. We need to invest much more in teacher training and development. We need to improve access for pupils with disabilities and learning difficulties. The quality of education for the previously disadvantaged is not improving.
The evidence of all these and many other issues is there.
But even more disturbing is the evidence that the powers that be don’t take this evidence seriously or apply logic in some of the decisions taken.
As matters stand certain education departments continue to hop from one crisis to another. Either the systems or governance has collapsed and basic administration is non-existent. The learning and teaching environment has hardly changed for the better in certain areas.
Despite all this evidence of a major problem and the absence of a coherent plan to address these challenges, there is an expectation of a sustainable qualitative and quantitative improvement in education outcomes.
In the past few years, South Africans have been sold the story of a “supposed improvement” in the performance of learners at National Senior Certificate level as “improvement” of the system.
What South Africans are not told is that what is reported is a pure statistical change as opposed to real and qualitative change in education outcomes.
This better explains the danger of using the Grade 12 results as a measure of the system “improving”.
But the fact is, ad-hoc interventions have now become a permanent feature of our system. It has become “normal” to have extra classes, winter or spring schools, and to take children to camps as part of drilling them for the examinations.
This on its own is hard evidence that certain things that were supposed to have been done during the 216 days of actual contact time over the year have not been done.
The simple logical question is why is not enough being done to correct the situation in the prescribed 216 days of contact time?
The system may be celebrated over the years, but the mediocrity of its performance exists alongside that celebration.
The drop-out rate at tertiary education level continues. And many of those who supposedly pass leave the system for another life of agony.
As evidence continues to pile up that even the quality of the Grade 12 certificate does not help in the afterlife of 12 years of basic education, the lack of logic about a Grade 9 certificate is upon us.
This lack of logic tends to defy the logic about what should be the logical approach towards TVET education.
There is enough evidence to demonstrate that the biggest single contributor to youth unemployment in particular, is not necessarily slow economic growth, but the low skills base of those who complete the 12 years of basic education.
With this evidence, the lack of logic in ensuring a sustained and qualitative improvement in basic education remains amazing.
There is no doubt that this year, the focus will be on improving the Grade 12 results of 2015 instead of focusing on the overall improvement of the education system. Quite significantly less and less is being said about the chapter on basic education in the National Development Plan. More and more is being said about changing the rules.
Bearing in mind that from this year, Grade 10 will have mathematics as a compulsory subject for those taking life sciences and accounting, one wonders where the teachers will come from.
The problem won’t fix itself when the system is still reluctant to accept the evidence and the logic that it must change and focus on the core of what will bring about qualitative change in education outcomes.
Well, it is almost impossible indeed to provide evidence for the powers that be to accept the importance of evidence and to provide any logical argument that logic has value.
Advocate Modidima Mannya is a former Eastern Cape director-general of education
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