The recent South African matric results are no cause for celebration — that much is clear. The question is: what should be done to improve them, assuming that this can be done without dropping intellectual standards so drastically that the description “improved results” would be meaningless.
An improvement in the quality of teaching would certainly help and to this end the education and training of prospective teachers is an objective that should always be pursued without relaxing one’s vigilance, but this is not a panacea. Just as important is the question, what subjects are given priority at primary as well as secondary-school level.
Cerebrally speaking, human beings are endowed with what neurologists call “bilateral specialisation”, that is, the left and right hemispheres of the brain have different functions. The left hemisphere is the seat of functions that involve quantification, abstraction and conceptualisation, including numerical calculation and writing (in a natural language such as English), while the right hemisphere is home to those cerebral capacities that involve imagination, affectivity (feeling), and the ability to appreciate music — in short, abilities which involve “concretely” qualitative knowledge.
This means, it seems to me, that unless an individual’s mind (which is the “function” of the brain) develops the aptitude of both hemispheres, she or he may be lacking in the performance linked to either one of them. Assuming, of course, that there is no neurological or cerebral shortcoming as far as one or both of the hemispheres are concerned. If a particular part of the right hemisphere does not function properly — such as, for example, the part that is the basis of one’s feelings directed at other people — it would predetermine what an individual is able to develop at all.
I say this because neurologists and neuro-surgeons know from experience that, if a part of the brain is damaged in an accident, a person may lose the ability which depends on that part to a lesser or a greater extent, although it is the case that the impaired function(s) could be taken over by other parts of the brain, especially with the help of occupational therapy.
One may wonder what this has to do with school education, although the direction I am going may be apparent to some, namely, that school education should, ideally, nourish the respective abilities of both hemispheres of the brain. How is this done? Primarily by engaging students at various levels relating to different abilities, namely those of numeracy (through arithmetic, among other disciplines) and literacy (through reading and writing), on the one hand, and imaginative invention and appreciation (through art and music, and by means of contact with nature), as well as the development, in various ways, of social or interpersonal affective capacities such as sympathy (and empathy), on the other.
I would imagine that the development of most, if not all of these abilities is represented in South African school syllabi, but I believe that there is a “disbalance” of some kind in the state of school education, as reflected in the poor matric results. If I am right about this, the “disbalance” in question concerns the teaching of something that depends on, and in turn affects, the functions of both hemispheres of the human brain. This “something” concerns language, specifically that I believe the teaching of language to be less prioritised at school than the teaching of the sciences and mathematics. (Not that the sciences should be neglected, far from it, but neither should language, especially literature, for reasons that should become clear below.) If I am wrong about this, I would appreciate it if teachers would correct me with evidence to the contrary. But even if I am wrong, what I am about to discuss still holds true.
Language — that is, so called natural languages like English, Xhosa, Afrikaans, German, and so on — is the most complex system of meaning that humans know. Just how complex ordinary language (which accommodates hundreds of what Wittgenstein called “language games”) is, is evident from the fact that (as Hubert Dreyfus has observed in his book, “What computers still can’t do”) programmers have not been able to teach computers to understand or make sense of children’s stories, although they (computers) can perform the most complicated computations at lightning speed.
I mention “children’s stories” advisedly here, because I believe there is a reason why this is the case. Computers work with binary code, and programmers have to use this as a basis for software programs, such as World of Warcraft, that incorporate narrative elements in a limiting pre-determined way. But it is one thing to do this, and quite another to programme the computer to show “insight’ into the complexities of narratives of human origin, the way children can when listening to a parent reading a story to them.
The point I am driving at is that NARRATIVE is probably the most universal (and at the same time, most particular, for every individual) linguistic form in the lives of individuals, as every psychoanalyst knows. In fact, from a psychoanalytical perspective, it would be a sign of psychic health for every individual to be able to “tell her or his own story”, instead of allowing it to be shaped exclusively by the social and cultural forces around us.
Add to this that — as Lyotard has shown so persuasively in his classic text, “The postmodern condition: A report on knowledge” — there is a fundamental distinction between “narrative knowledge” and scientific knowledge, and the implications for education may be seen as being far-reaching.
Scientific knowledge, Lyotard points out, is denotative or “constative” in form — that is, scientific statements are formulated as descriptions of some kind, and may be judged true or false on condition that what they refer to must be repeatedly accessible, and that they be formulated in the language relevant to the field in question. The latter condition is always decided on by the scientific authorities or “experts” concerned.
Knowledge is not restricted to scientific knowledge, however, Lyotard is careful to point out. It is a matter of “competence” that pertains to “knowing how to live”, “know-how”, “how to speak”, “how to listen”, and so on. It also operates in a multitude of so-called “language games” (a term borrowed from Wittgenstein), from descriptive utterances (“this is a frog”) to performative (“I hereby declare you man and wife”) and prescriptive (“open the door!”) ones. One might say that, the more “knowledgeable” a person is, the more “competences” she or he displays in pragmatic terms.
Among these “language games” Lyotard singles out (the varieties of) “narrative” — referred to earlier — as the linguistic form employed for transmitting “traditional” knowledge. These include popular stories such as myths or legends, which confer legitimacy on social practices and institutions, in so far as they provide the criteria used by a society to judge and evaluate certain competences on the part of individuals.
Importantly, Lyotard remarks on just how accommodating the narrative form is as far as other language games are concerned — they “easily slip into” narration. For example, in any story, one probably finds denotative (descriptive) statements about the surroundings in which the action takes place, interrogative utterances and implications (direct questions, as well as implied responses to questions and challenges), “deontic” propositions (what the hero or heroine, or the listener, “should” do concerning friends, family, different sexes, children, and so on), as well as evaluative judgments of various kinds. All of these “language games” are governed by certain distinctive rules, without which they would not be recognisable as being different from others.
This brings me to the crux of my argument regarding narrative: as Lyotard has indicated, it is a receptacle for virtually every other kind of language game employed by people — even the language game of mathematics can feature in a narrative, where the heroine is confronted by the need, for instance, to perform an arithmetical calculation to be able to proceed with her actions. In other words, narrative, in whatever form — myth, legend, novel, novella, short story, epic, film narrative — constitutes the linguistic form with the greatest capacity for introducing individuals, including students at school and at university, to a large, potentially unlimited variety of language games (or uses of language).
What should be kept in mind here, is that all disciplines or so-called (school) subjects are instances of “language games”, from mathematics through literature, history and home economics to computer science, chemistry, biology and physics. In other words, students have to master the rules of these to be able to perform adequately in them. Recall, too, that I have referred to what I believe to be a teaching “disbalance” at South African schools (about which I could be wrong). This disbalance consists, as far as I can judge, in the neglect of the kind of teaching that has narratives of various kinds — but especially in literature, which itself includes a variety of narrative and other language games, such as drama — as its subject.
While it is understandable that a country like South Africa would be seen, at this time in its history, by any incumbent government as having to prioritise technological and (related to this) informational, as well as natural scientific education, what the relevant authorities do not seem to realise is that the exposure of students to as many (and as varied) narratives as possible, is the best way for them to learn, not only one language game, but many language games in what Lyotard calls a “tightly woven … web”. Not only does it give them access to many different uses of language (in one narrative context), each governed by a different set of rules, but it also provides the opportunity to learn to be flexible in their use of language (and therefore in their thinking).
One should add to this that, in neurological terms, it is a way of engaging both hemispheres of the human brain — those that enable abstract, conceptual functions, as well as those that involve more concrete ways of imagining and (very importantly) occasions for identifying sympathetically with certain characters in narratives (for example a tragic heroine like Antigone or Iphigenia).
The discussion of Lyotard’s work should explain why I said, earlier, that language is the most complex meaning-system available to humans — I should really have said: the most complex concatenation of “systems” of meaning, considering that it consists of a multitude of “language games”, or discourses. To neglect the most accommodating of linguistic forms, namely narrative in all its variety, is therefore to deprive students at school of the opportunity to learn how to understand the interplay between a variety of such language games in ONE linguistic form. The moral of the story: teach school kids as much language (especially in the form of literature) as possible, without neglecting the sciences, but remembering that the sciences, too, would benefit from what they will learn through narrative.
Interesting thoughts Professor, certainly makes a lot of sense.
Agreed Prof but I mean this in the nicest possible way, keep dreaming. Without dreamers we’re worse than lost. Pallo J was a cynical man who did at least appreciate and promote the arts when he felt like it, well mainly artists he liked. Lulama X’s appointment is just plain cynical. So let’s forget about the state. Getting artists to unite -on a non partisan basis and initiate mass based programs for kids is the real challenge but without some kind of groundswell arts ed. will remain a middle/upper class privilege. Do you think arts academics have a role to play and if so what?
I have to agree with you – evrything we learn, including mathematics, is taught through language.
Language development is vital for all other levels of development in the child. This development is a bottom-up/vertical process which starts early in the life of the child (home; foundations phase; etc). It also grows horizontally in each grade, as educators, parents, inter alia, assist in the child’s development of literacy, among other learning areas.
Specifically focusing on the development of “writing” in the left hemisphere of the brain, imagination, feelings, thoughts, interpretations, fantasy, etc., based in the right brain, contribute to the overall development of literature. To “speak” is merely not enough. The child must “understand”. Therefore, the term “reading for meaning” is vital, and both hemispheres of the brain contribute to this.
When you understand, you can apply. This can be taken in account for all learning areas.
By bringing reality into the classroom, the child can experience for himself or herself, rather than experiencing and learning through others. Creating a safe, positive, fun, interesting and rich environment for learning will stimulate the child in her or his own individual way, because the child will identify with/through something, someone.
Reading, for example, (although only one of the components of literacy) must be modeled at home and from a very early age. When a child is very young, it is a matter of “monkey see, monkey do”.
When it comes to formal reading in our schools, there are 2 very important aspects which assist in the development of reading, i.e. (1) reading for enjoyment and (2) reading for meaning. The child must enjoy and understand what he or she is reading (“how to speak, how to listen” as you stated).
(There are many wonderful reading series available today, compared to many years ago. However, the problem is that so few of our schools can afford this. Despite this, our educators learned that there are many other ways in which to develop and stimulate reading in the young child).
Our classrooms are full and over-crowded and because of maximum capacity, it is impossible to give individual attention on a daily basis. Thus, literature (reading, writing, spelling, etc) takes a big knock. Teachers are also pressured to work through the expected assessment, which means “more assessment, less teaching”. Not to mention the lack of understanding and meaning in terms of all the learning areas. At the end of the day, whether the child can or can not read or write, s/he gets passed on to the next grade, for “it is no longer my problem” (sadly, as so many teachers feel).
This so-called “disbalance” does exist. Children do not fully learn to learn language. This disadvantage is the cause of the next problem : children struggle to learn , because of the lack or absence of literacy (and this does not mean spoken language only) for learning (which requires language) brings understanding. Understanding brings analysis, synthesis, insight, creativity, fantasy, imagination, etc.
Social and cultural forces around us definitely have an influence on our creative thinking and thus our ability to understand and learn literacy, for, as stated earlier, we do not learn to think or experience for ourselves. It is much easier for others to “tell” us what we are supposed to learn, feel, think, imagine, experience, etc. Why do the effort if someone else can supply everything and you can simply absorb, rather than being “able to tell her or his own story”? Thus, the development of creative and critical thinking is limited, if not suppressed; therefore other learning areas won’t fully develop.
There may be various reasons why our youth’s literacy is so poor, but I also believe that, despite governmental, socio-economical, political, and all kinds of external and internal factors, there is “a neglect of the kind of teaching that has narratives of various kinds”.
What should be done to improve matric results in SA? My answer to you: One of the fundamentals for human existence is communication, i.e. language, and if not fully taught, understood or applied by both learners and teachers, children cannot develop.
I read Tolstoy’s “War and Peace” as a 14 year old. And several times since. In the absence of parents the novel made me the person I have since become. Although it has taken 50 years to appreciate this. However, after reading the post-modern and post-post modern verbiage in Bert Olivier’s post-rational paean, I’m forever indebted to the Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Anderson, Enid Blyton, Shakespeare, Wordsworth, Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Leo Tolstoy, Pauline Smith, Olive Schriener, Alan Paton, Evelyn Waugh, Frank Herbert etc ad infinitum. Understanding them didn’t require a post-rational degree in obscurantist philosophy.
In his book “The Age of Spiritual Machines” Ray Kurzweil says that the time will come soon that computers start to think. Neural networks are being built and robots are being taught predatory behaviour. How long do you think we have before they will know to come in when it rains?
The whole ‘right-brain/left-brain’ thing seems to be a popular myth. Here is a standard view:
http://scienceblogs.com/neurophilosophy/2007/10/the_left_brain_right_brain_myt.php
Nothing terribly important in your argument presupposes physical localisation of the relevant functions, though.
Excellent post, Bert – we are linguistic beings through and through…
Andre – Your account of your own education via novel-reading confirms my point about literature; I find it strange that you did not notice…
JP – My argument does presuppose a distinction between these functions, though, which just happen, according to neuro-surgeons such as Leonard Shlain, to be located in different brain-hemispheres. My point is that a study of especially literature, for instance narrative, is the best way to develop the different mental functions on the part of children – something that prepares them for a study of the sciences, too.
Franco – The new generation computers will be modelled on the human brain’s operation, which is a ‘connectionist’ conception. As such, although they will not be human, they will certainly take artificial inteligence to a new level. You might want to read my paper on artificial intelligence, AI and Irobot in the journal, Film-Philosophy (available online).
Alan – Artists need not wait for the state to take the initiative. Nothing prevents them from moblilizing to expose more people/children to the unique capacity of the arts to stir the imagination.
Janine – Thank you for your very relevant observations – clearly, you are a teacher who has reflected on what she does. What you have said about reading and understanding is accurate, I believe, and is indispensable for developing a child’s critical faculty. Thank you, too, for what you have said about assessment – it validates what I have written before about OBE.
I fully agree with your argument about the narrative. I think that languages are the foundations and key to interpretation and understanding anything and everything. Not only do I think that it’s important for people to educate themselves, but also to want to be educated.
This brings me to my first point, I would think that teachers would study a curtain field, to gain the maximum understanding and knowledge as possible to be able to teach and pass the knowledge that one have studied onto others, but instead they study a profession – “teaching” , and after your course in say teaching 101, you get your degree showing that you know how to teach. That all good and well, but what are they going to teach? If I’m struggling to remember geography on grade 12-HG standard, how difficult must it be for a young teacher to remember what the subjects about? A better understanding and insight from the teacher’s side and a more “edu-thirst” from the scholars and students side will improve the quality of education.
Coming back to the point of language as a narrative in architecture, we as architect have to communicate our ideas and visions to the public by means of architectural langue, the fundamentals’ of theory and design, and if we lack in the translation of these principals in our buildings, we would be designing grotesque and meaningless pieces of architecture. When we communicate, we speak in a different tongue, like lawyers or priests, a language that describes and enlightens our ideas and expresses of our visions; as a result of studying a curtain field for a number of years, one understands the language and the meanings thereof, and if one lacked the skill of understanding literature and language, one will lack the skills to sell your idea and communicate your design to other parties involved.
I really like your chosen topic Bert, perhaps more so because I read Malcolm Gladwell’s “Outliers”, the study of what really makes a genius, over Christmas. I think what he has to say may have quite some relevance here.
I’m sure you’re well acquainted with the book mentioned above, but just on the off chance- and for the benefit of those who are not- Gladwell’s thinking is that geniuses are not born destined for greatness, but it is instead through a series of “lucky” events and chances given to the individual, that he or she may realise their success.
For example, Gladwell goes on to illustrate how children born at the beginning of the year (in the southern hemisphere) have a minute head-start over those born in the last months of the year. A Grade 1 academic year starting in January would hence benefit those who are oldest (most recently turned 7) than those who could be 11 months younger. This tiny head-start snowballs over the years, through the older child being chosen for “advanced learner” classes over the younger, and concluding in a great and seemingly impossible advantage. (Please don’t think that I am discrediting natural ability… I am merely proposing that brains aren’t everything.)
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My argument may have little to do with your topic exactly, but as far as I understand you are questioning the intelligence in teaching children maths and science without providing the appropriate background in language and perception. What would you then say (manageability in our education system aside) to the proposition of a school year starting twice a calendar year, say in January and July? This way we could eliminate the vast education-based-on-age gaps and perhaps take full advantage of our country’s youth, and not just those lucky enough to be born in the right month.
I fully agree with this post, and reading Janine’s comments made me think of my school days – there were not many students (espeacially in high school) who actually read for fun. And to me that is a big problem. We would read one book a year, write a test and carry on with something else, and for many, that was the only book they would read all year.
Furthermore, I think there is an “uncool” label attached to the pupils in junior and high school who read or spend a break time in the library which needs to be broken down as a student would rather not read to fit.
I also believe that reading needs to start at home at young and is the parents responsibilty to encourage it as apposed to buying there child a playstation or x-box.
Imagination is the most important tool/ability humans have and to neglect to nuture and encourage it in schools and at home is rather unfortunate.
Language, Indeed it is the basis of most things, and looking at the 2010 matric results, a true reflection of what happens when one ignores the importance of things like it.
Language (mainly literature) is the basis of critical thinking because when one masters it, one is able to play with the words in a rich manner and turn a somewhat seemingly difficult situation to a more pleasant one (if the intentions are good), e.g. in “Julius Caesar “ a play by William Shakespeare, Marc Anthony manages to convince an angry mob that Julius Caesar was not as bad as his assassins portrayed him to be, thus the reasons for their slaying him, through a simple but powerful speech “Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears, I come to bury Caesar, not to please him………………………” as the narration goes he manages to turn the angry mob against Caesar’s murderers, and explained to them that they killed him because of their own political ambitions.
My point here is that it is so obvious from the performance of our learners (or pupils?), that the foundation was not laid properly (the same is the case in architecture if your building is on weak foundations it is bound to collapse and kill people). Our matriculants were not equipped with linguistic skills to help them understand what they are taught and be able to debate on such lessons with each other or their tutors, in the process increasing their understanding of the subject. Instead they
Instead they became sponges absorbing whatever the teacher is teaching without digesting because they lacked the tools to digest it with i.e. Language and overcome such a hurdle (matric) in ones academic journey.
Lack of the reading culture amongst scholars is also another cause of poor matric results, even university students find it difficult to grab a book and read it just to increase their knowledge on a certain topic out of their curricula, people would rather go on the internet and look for information there instead of going to the library to look for a book on a particular topic.
Nowadays the computer and many other electronic gadgets have taken away mans ability to communicate with each other, instead people sit all day behind a TV, or computer watching programmes or playing computer games, gone are the days when kids used to go out there and play with their friends in the sand or in the street (of course this could be blamed on the deteriorating security measures our governments are putting in place).
In universities nowadays students are given a maximum number of credits that they MUST register for them to “successfully” pass the year regardless of who they are and what grades they have been getting. What happened to the word Genius?? Can’t people take in one more language module in the university because they would have exceeded their 120 credits per year limit?
In some universities the computer, or the system as they call it, decides your fate and your fellow human being (your faculty officer who is helping you with the registration), who looks, feels, listens, talks and understands just like you sits on the other side of his or her desk, in between you and the machine (the computer) and tells you, sorry Bhutie but the system says you have exceeded your credits, I cannot register you for this one more module because “the system won’t allow it”. Who have we left in charge of our affairs the computer?
So it’s up until we start going back to our roots and rediscover how the first scholars handled their issues when we can start putting in measures to eradicate this cancer that is slowly creeping into our education system, this will work with LANGUAGE because someone has to do a survey, walk around talk to people about how they feel and experience and come up with an informed decision on what to do about this, we need another RENAISSANCE.
The problem with most teachers today is that they teach children what to think and not how to think. This I believe is because some teachers lack the linguistic ability to interpret their teachings in a narrative form. Add to this the pressure of parents guiding their children into careers that bring home ‘the bucks’ and you are a left with a setting which is totally homogenised in the left hemisphere of the brain.
When politicians are confronted with questions about the state of our education, they always drive home the fact that the standards of maths and the sciences need to be improved, but are these of the uttermost importance. I mean a subject like organic chemistry is deeply routed in language. One cannot describe a bond between two or more elements without understanding the linguistic relation the elements have on eachother.
Back to my point on parents. It seems that most parents want their children to do well financially. This is no surprise because the sooner the child becomes financially stable the sooner the parents can retire. But how many parents support their children no matter what profession they decide to pursue? How many parents want their children to live a happy and relatively stress-free life? Afterall, they do say that if you do a job you love you’ll never work a day in your life.
So to conclude, I believe it’s not solely the responsibility of teachers and politicians to improve the standard of education
Bert, you asked us in class how does your article relate to Architecture. Of course there is a language in architecture that plays all the language games, different ‘styles’ of architecture, different thought schools, different epochs. I am wondering wether your question about which subjects are favoured in schools do not even have far reaching results into the way South African Architecture is approached in the Design phase. When one works in the field, many other priorities dominate one’s thinking each shouting louder than the other and all of them drowning out the little creative voice of the language of Architecture. At the end of the day, the client says, I have a budget of 2 million, I want a Tuscan house. Maybe some space making features may have survived the client’s requests,at the end of the day, but the Language of Architecture as professed in our Universities, becomes a toy. Either to please fashion driven clients, or employed to express the new money on the block. Or mindlessly employed programs that take you through walk throughs or 3D views – aimed at impressing.
This shows a lack of appreciation for language in general. An inborne part of our South African society. Money might make the world go round, but language makes the ride worthwhile.
yes i fully agree with you Bert, but i think there s a bigger problem than the underlaying fact of poor illitracy and that is our education system is structured in an old fashioned way of having to teach children to study from 8 till 2 in the afternoon with a small break inbetween is that really the way we should force our youth to learn language, science and maths etc??I dont think its the sake of poor teaching i think its more a fact of “school is boring its just a place to go too” i think we should rather start by creating more creative ways in teaching language than sitting in class for 6 hours listening too a teacher why dont we create a system that would give schools the power to teach in a way that would generate a feeling of excitement to the youth of the country, by generating more activity during school times such as physical exercises combined with language, colourful classes rather than boring painted rooms and create a sense of excitement too study than to force pupils to study a language that they dont seem to care after school hours!?As OBE failed so did the post apartheid educatioin system failed as they both tried to force down students to sit down for six hours and listen to a teacher, we dealing with the youth they developing their mind but at the same time their physical ability to perform and to think clearly!
It is interesting how Technology as the one thing that was to ease/simplify and make learning enjoyable has robbed us of our natural communication skills. We see computer technology playing a significant role in child development, and this role is rapidly increasing. Concerns have risen with respect to the impact this has on children in relation to their cognitive development, social, physical and psychological development as well as the potential effects on their education. Cell phones being the biggest threat to language skill as well as social skills arouses hesitation of use predominantly in the younger children, 6-12 yrs. What is commonly known as “sms spelling” which is an abbreviation languange used to serve convenience is established and regularly used by these children. Repeated use of such language eventually becomes part of the child’s language pattern.
Other technological things are; internet, which has proven to play a significant role in the loss of social skill through use of email (indirect communication). TV which has eliminated reading, one opts to sit and watch a movie as oppose to reading it from the book, to get the story as it is from the author. Book has been replaced by BOX! Another object that is worth mentioning regarding mental development is; calculator which has caused loss of maths and concepts of logical connections.
As the Government aims to make sure that all schools have access to computers and that technology is upped to match the standards of the world, it is important that pragmatic research is conducted to understand the balance between the potential and the dangers of computer technology.
The development of a child’s brain is said to start at the very beginning of formation in the womb. Parents play Mozart and other classical compositions as well as read to their unborn children in the hope and expectation of stimulating the brain as early as possible. Parents are aware that a healthy diet and even mood can have an impact on the fetus as it is so dependant and apart of the mothers’ body. So many parents try and give their children that ‘head start’ in life as they know that there is a need for basic intellectual competence in order to survive in this world and a superior intellect will provide the opportunity to make the most of what they have and harvest more of the diverse richness that life provides. Unfortunately most children are not exposed to these opportunities and rely on later development and education to empower themselves. Sadly as you have stated, the quality and approach of the current education system is severely lacking and robs the youth of this intellectual development.
It is clear that Arts and literature are key elements in the educational development of the human mind and the way in which we are taught can be revisited and revised so as to accommodate not only the bilateral development and ability of the brain but the varying ways in which each individual child learns.
If this could be achieved and the system was improved then I think in terms of the governments
-roll, there needs to be consistency in educational systems and policies. I think the problem lies heavily in the way in which these systems always change. How can we tell if a system is failing if we keep on changing it? Government does not allow for anything to mature and I believe that it is only then that a system can be justifiably changed or revised.
One mistake that often happens when evaluating academic performance is totally discarding that education is a two way process; (teacher- student) and more often than not we tend to evaluate each one on its individual merit forgetting that the two are interlinked. The teacher’s role is primarily imparting knowledge to the student and the student acquiring the information, this is what happens at a classroom setting. Beyond the classroom, more emphasis is placed on the student to do additional work to enhance his skill, forgetting that the same role should also be expected from the teacher to cultivate his skills and to keep up with the technologically changing world. While students are expected to engage in literature reading to enhance their language skills, the same should be encouraged for teachers.
Serwadi has mentioned an important point regarding technology. It has replaced our traditional learning paths of a conventional classroom, where students were encouraged to go through processes of thinking to acquire information. Today everything is set behind a click of a button. Conventional teaching which was based on the principles of social interaction; to improve mental development, no longer exist. Technology has not only invaded our schools, it’s taken over our homes as well, where family interaction activities that assisted in child development are taken over by the world of TV and TV games (violence dominated), we no longer have mind building games such as monopoly, chess to mention a few.
It would be nice to have the upcoming generations use available technological advancement to their advantage, and assist in the upbringing of a more intellectually developed generation and at the same time not forgetting the core traditional learning acts that will always work .
I fully agree with this post. I think in order to achieve results in life, one need to have an imagination more than anything. Languauge is an integral part in development; it allows us to decipher information. In these times the youth have started to depend on the world of technology, reading has decreased causing imagination to lack which even results in people not being able to dream.
This article made me think of my childhood, I was born in an Afrikaans family, sent to an English school. This lead to me scraping through and lacking in the essential language understanding. Another thing that increased my lack is that my parents only believed I should succeed in maths and science. This brings me to my point although my lack in language I still achieved good results in math’s and science, to me it was due to imagination never lacking in my life.
Although I must agree my language has always affected my learning. I think all kids attending primary school need to understand the language they are being taught in. Even if the child does learn to understand the language, the information he has missed out in will always affect him.
Although I fully agree with the lack in results. I also think that at the end of the day our genes play major role in our achievements. With understanding your genes one can possibly see in what you will achieve in and what you won’t.
Well Bert, i agree with you completely. the malleabilty and unlimited potential that literature, through skilful manipulation of language, has in ‘painting’ a mental picture is not only greatly beneficial to one’s imagination, it conditions one’s mind when dealing with a number of problems. this affects the way pupils approach and eventually solve what could be considered pragmatic, left brain problems. basically, a better imagination is beneficial in all aspects of one’s life (provided a certain balance is attained. we don’t want to live in our heads..)
that being said, the idea of reading, and the books to be studied should be reconsidered. the image traditionally associated with reading(anything beyond magazines) is, among the general populace, the realm of lofy intellectuals, or nerds. this is unfortunate but true. examining literature is made to seem like a chore at school, as a result, any idea that books can be enjoyed is killed for most of the learners concerned.
this leads them to play console games or watch tv. while i cant condemm these activities completely, they do generally stimiulate only a fraction of the imaginative capability that children/people have at their disposal. if one uses the body as a metaphor, reading is akin to playing a sport, or participating in the martial arts/yoga, while watching tv or playing games more is more likely related to sitting on a couch and, well, watching tv
in short, the approach to reading….
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in short, the approach to reading, understanding, interpreting, and most importantly enjoying literature has to be reconfigured within our school system. it will benefit science, maths and allow progression (and a novel way approach and idea generation) in all fields of study, regardless of the hemisphere they supposedly preference.
well,this quite interesting especially that for one to be able to part of the commmunity,or tribe , nation communication through language becomes the major intergral part that ties up the perculiar community of such.i will i magine one in foreing land how difficult it would be for understading instruction as means of communication.
languge is a basis of commmunication.its is a body of words and the systems for their use common to a people who are of the same community or nation, the same geographical area, or the same cultural tradition into, defination.so it is clear that for unsderstading the language reamains one way to understand all pedigree way of communication to all sort of acttion we encounter in our everyday lives.as Bert inndicated earlia on,human beings are endowed with what neurologists call “bilateral specialisation”, that is, the left and right hemispheres of the brain have different functions. Then in this case language will remain part of what human being, be presented by nature.
child learn this from tender age, sucking the best parts of what remain as mother tongue and through that developing everyday as the mind also grow to adapt to change surrounded by the community.
in my childhood, i might say i understood my best subjects more because of combination of both intutive and mean of intruction in my mother tongue.but still, the art of reading, literature, creative compostion came slow as i was introduced to new comminication way that requires…
an adption to learn, what still exist practically, but in a diffrent medium of instruction.
if at all the world was moving into globalisation, i would imagine diffrent nations use their native language to educate their children, scholars but stillholding to the same theme.teach xhosa child, mathematics in their language, still holding the pride they are great interpretors because they have been taught the other language that will able them to commuminate with diffrent counterparts, for instance at the high academic institutions.
that will mean, if we learn jargon, thats relate to architecture, i will be confident enough to interprete what the german architect might communicate to me, because we will be in the same language. so please if eduacation system maybe more emphasised on the significance of languge, then better result may be produce, the love for reading be applied,avoiding whats the world is up to with technology…computer absessed nations, then we might be like the old time great scholars, reseachers, professionals and so forth!
Not only is there an imbalance between the two extremes-the “arts\language” and the”sciences”…the poor amalgamation of the two into one system to produce a common goal is in no way an exception to the poor matric results.
The varsity education system I would argue demontrates a succeful amalgamation of the two. Take for instance the structure of the architecture programme, we have the “design” module and the “theory and the history” module that we can say are the major modules with design been the “most important one”. One can not design without an insight of how it used to be done in the past and that’s where history and theory comes in. essentially there is no distinction between the design, theory and history classes, the only difference comes where a student has to excecute. If less emphasis was to be placed on history and theory how would we know how the heroes like Frank Lyod Wright, Frank Ghery and the gang used to tackle architectural issues, their strong and weak points and having interogated that how to come with the right kind of architecture suitable for our time. (continued…)
(…continued) We look at the works of one the well renouned and of course successful south african architect-Ora Joubert…we see a profound influence of Daniel Libieskind with the way they use sculptural boxes as primary space informers. The point been, we learn about these guys in history and theory then we tend to make them our “role models” if you will…and this is what I think is one of the reasons south africa produces world class architects.
On the other hand the high school education system lacks cohesion…the “sciences” are a separate entity and the “arts\language” a separate entity on its own and the latter even given less attention like Bert says. They need a system that merges the two and the two complements each other one way or the other.
Not only is there an imbalance between the two extremes-the “arts\language” and the “sciences”…the poor amalgamation of the two into one system to produce a common goal is in no way an exception to the cause of the poor matric results.
The varsity education system I would argue demonstrates a successful amalgamation of the two. Take for instance the structure of the architecture programme, we have the “design” module and the “theory and the history” module that we can say are the major modules with design been the “most important one”. One cannot design without an insight of how it used to be done in the past and that’s where history and theory comes in. essentially there is no distinction between the design, theory and history classes, the only difference comes where a student has to execute. If less emphasis was to be placed on history and theory how would we know how the heroes like Frank Lloyd Wright, Frank Ghery and the gang used to tackle architectural issues, their strong and weak points and having interrogated that how to come with the right kind of architecture suitable for our time.(continued…)
(continued…) when we look at the works of one the well renowned and of course successful South African architect-Ora Joubert…we see a profound influence of Daniel Libieskind with the way they use sculptural boxes as primary space informers. The point been, we learn about these guys in history and theory then we tend to make them our “role models” if you will…and this is what I think is one of the reasons South Africa produces world class architects.
On the other hand the high school education system lacks cohesion…the “sciences” are a separate entity and the “arts\language” a separate entity on its own and the latter even given less attention like Bert says. They need a system that merges the two and the two complement each other one way or the other.
At a time when science and technology play a central role in education, there is a growing need to re-examine the place of art and the computer in our lives, in general, and in education in particular. Beyond the qualities of self expression, art and communication, art is a type of the work through which students learn the meaning of joy of work for the satisfaction of a job well done. Visual arts, dramas, literature enhance the awareness as well as understanding the various cultures of the past and present.
Language development is vital for the development of the child’s brain. I also agree when they say reading for enjoyment alone is not enough. One must also read for meaning, in order to gain power of awareness. Children must be taught how to think, not what to think, then the rest will just fall into place.
There is no denying the argument on the importance of teaching kids language in a form of narration. Often it is said that it should even start in the utero. Bilinquism is also important in brain development; teach them different languages at young age.
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Remember the news story of a decade or two ago about the girl who was raised by wolves to the age of 11? She couldn’t be taught to speak, and scientists believed this was because she was too old, though social services at first believed her to be brain damaged. Patricia Kuhl used to be a big name in infant and child language learning. She’s said true bilingualism is possible only when a child learns two languages concurrently as his or her first, and that learning as an adult or simply beyond a critical period of plasticity is not the same. Regarding culture/environment, brain imagining researchers awhile back were comparing native speakers to native signers (sign-language users) and arguing that the latter employed a spatial grammar administered from a different brain area. I suppose a lack or impoverishment of whatever kind of stimulus normally activates this spatial area (being reared in darkness and free floating in space?) would delay or prevent acquisition of sign language in a deaf person. Likewise perhaps an impoverishment of the metaphors a child is to live by in his or her culture. But how different are the lives of infants around the world really, I mean in ways a child no older than 6, say, can appreciate? Not a lot, I reckon. The main thing must be to grow up around people who move around, look around, do things with their hands, feel and get angry,and speak as they do so.
…cont..
Remember the news story about the girl who was raised by wolves to the age of 11? She couldn’t be taught to speak, and scientists believed this was because she was too old, though social services at first believed her to be brain damaged. Patricia Kuhl used to be a big name in infant and child language learning. She’s said true bilingualism is possible only when a child learns two languages concurrently as his or her first, and that learning as an adult or simply beyond a critical period of plasticity is not the same. Regarding culture/environment, brain imagining researchers awhile back were comparing native speakers to native signers (sign-language users) and arguing that the latter employed a spatial grammar administered from a different brain area. I suppose a lack or impoverishment of whatever kind of stimulus normally activates this spatial area (being reared in darkness and free floating in space?) would delay or prevent acquisition of sign language in a deaf person. Likewise perhaps an impoverishment of the metaphors a child is to live by in his or her culture. But how different are the lives of infants around the world really, I mean in ways a child no older than 6, say, can appreciate? Not a lot, I reckon. The main thing must be to grow up around people who move around, look around, do things with their hands, feel and get angry,and speak as they do so.
As a response to the proposition, I fully agree that arts and literature should form an integral an integral part of a child’s development, and that narrative as a form of teaching should be prioritised in schools. This I base on the fact that the learning of a particular language, in order to communicate, is one of the first skills that a child is taught. Other than in rare and unfortunate circumstances, skills such as crawling and walking are learned instinctively. I also feel that there is a definite need for a balance in the development of rational, as well as, intuitive characteristics of a child’s brain.
Considering that these “right-brain”, intuitive skills are developed in a child during its critical development years as a toddler this concept should be carried through the years of schooling but should be done in balance with the development of the “left-brain”, rational skills. It is also true that in South Africa, due to the shortage of skills in the technological and scientific fields, the automatic response by education authorities is to emphasize and prioritise technical education and the sciences, to the detriment of literature and the arts. I believe that nobody is a purely rational thinker or a purely intuitive thinker and everyday one is faced with complex problems that will require creative thought to solve, and vice versa.
Although the problems we faced with today’s educational system superceed language but language forms the epitomy of the learners ability to absorb,understand and formulateprinciples which could be applicable to the next subject matter to be learned. The school curriculum is not activity base.The teacher is an instructed but rather as the one who provide guidance.The teacher set out activity for learners to established solution to a problem. This way of learning is the best but the learners must have the abilty to interprate to be able to engage in such subject matters, by so doing the teacher is able to employ different methedology in theaching.The learners abilty to engage in discussion is dependant on language. Arts or science languge is important.The childs developmental stage of language development is crucial. Children who are offered with muiltple of facilities to assit in their early stages of language development heve good comand when they thought in the same languge and are able to perform task better in those languages. Since children speaks well in their mother-tongue it will be better if such children have their learning instruction in their mother-tongue so as to understand the language they from chlidhood, children engage with their environmet from infancy and their parents give the simple instructions to be carried out, such children reason better when the thought in such languages. The capitalist world of today give parents less time to check childs works after school.
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the childs ability to think is hihly dependant on the level of his reasoning through language.