Three South Africans called Quid, Pro and Quo had it out on Tuesday night:
Quid: Halala, comrades! Halala! For the first time in 25 years the NSC (matric) pass rate has breached 80%! Wow. The system is stabilising, the government is working, and the children are passing. We are only going up every year — from 53.4% in 1995 to 81.3% in 2019, a growth of 3.1% over last year alone. Halala!
Pro: For heaven’s sake, Quid. You know the truth. Of the 1,052,080 pupils enrolled in Grade 10, only 409,906 passed in Grade 12, which makes the cohort pass rate 38.9%, argues Nomsa Marchesi. Or by another measure, of the 972,909 pupils who started in Grade 2, only 409,998 Grade 12s passed, in which case the real pass rate is 42%, calculates Nic Spaull. Halala, my foot.
Quo: Comrades, please. Settle down. We need to be objective. Pro, why for you is the class always half empty?
Pro: Glass, Quo, not class. But since you mention it, what happened to the 435,326 full-time candidates between Grades 10 and 12 who did not write? Some dropped out. Some failed. Some were held back. Whatever the reason, when 41.4% of your pupils do not come through in those three final years, the results look much better at the final hurdle.
Quid: I am sick and tired of all this negativity. You, Pro, are antigovernment. You are disloyal. You are a black sheep in blue wolf’s clothing, you DA clones of a special type.
Quo: Comrades, comrades. Let’s focus on the facts. Quid has a point. Let’s put our behinds in the past.
If you made the pass mark 50% per subject, as in most countries, then we are in deep cow dung because only 20-30% of children would then pass subjects like mathematics.
Pro: That’s a misquotation from The Lion King, Quo. You mean “let’s put our past behind us”.
Quid: Talking of the past. Did you see that the highest percentage pass in the gateway subjects was in history? Halala — 90% of children passed!
Pro: Wake up, you idiot. Anybody can recite historical facts and pass. The real measure of progress is in mathematics. You can’t memorise maths. You need to think. That is why, according to Spaull, the enrolment and pass rates for both maths and science are down by four percentage points! That Umalusi chief, John Volmink, is a maths guru and he nailed it when he said that one of the reasons mathematics does so poorly (only 54.6% passed, less than last year) is that children need to learn how to solve “non-routine problems”. You can’t fake it in maths.
Quo: But at least they farced …
Quid: Passed, Quo. But you’re right. Credit where credit is due. They passed and the country needs to bow and thank our leaders for taking us in the right direction. Halala! Pro must just leave because he is always criticising.
Pro: #ImStaying. A democracy requires many voices including those who call out official lies. For example, did you know how they calculate the per-subject pass rate? Those who passed with 30% and above! What the Eskom? You see, if you made the pass mark 50% per subject, as in most countries, then we are in deep cow dung because only 20-30% of children would then pass subjects like mathematics.
Quo: OK, Pro, but let’s be fair. Imagine the crisis for government if more than half of the children fail. They will have omelettes on their faces!
Quid: Eggs, Quo. But your point is taken. This is where Pro is useless. He does not offer concrete solutions — just unpatriotic, that man.
Pro: Please. I go along with Mark Twain who said: “I will always support my country and the government when it deserves it.” But let’s deal with Quo’s concern. We have a culture of low expectations built into our education system so it will be hard to change that. But we have evidence of school-wide change where you incrementally increase the standard every year while building the capability of the system to enable pupils to achieve that standard. It works every time because systems have the remarkable capacity to adjust to new expectations. We can move the minimum standard to 50% over a period of five years and give our country a truly transformed school system.
Quid: Nice try, Pro, but in the meantime let’s not deny the success of the black child. You saw all those black pupils on the stage when the minister announced the results. Halala!
Quo: True that, when I see that performance on stage my toes hurl in delight.
Pro: Curl, Quo. Hurl means to vomit. I wish we were celebrating all our children, and especially the black child with these results. Here’s the bad news. In 2018, only about 52% of African and coloured youth (22- to 23-year-olds) had matric compared with more than 81% for Indians and whites. So much for progress. Truth is, if you disaggregated that 81.3% pass by “race” the true damage to the black child will become clear.
Quo: Enough you two, let’s agree to work together. Let Quid talk up the results and give a tender or a government commission to Pro if he shuts up. It’s called Quid Pro Quo.
Pro: Actually, it’s called corruption.
Quo: Where are you, by the way?
Pro: I am sitting at Newlands Cricket Ground where in the last session of the last day the Proteas tried hard to eke out a win against the Poms in the blazing sun. They call it a five-day Test, not that mock exam called matric.
Quid: Oh, I’m with the party in Kimberley for the January 8 rally, Comrade Quo, celebrating 25 years of the great revolution that shed all our loads. Halala!
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.