It’s not rocket science — our deficient education system reinforces social and economic inequality

Last week, we witnessed the usual annual spectacle of the Minister of Basic Education, Angie Motshekga, announcing the 2022 matriculation results.

It was fascinating to hear everyone waxing lyrical about the top students, schools, and provinces as we celebrated what US educationalist Fredrik de Boer aptly refers to as the “cult of smart”, the idea that academic value is the only value, and intelligence is the only true measure of human worth.

The media bombarded us with pictures of students who, against all odds, had managed to get five or six distinctions, and they praised the schools that had achieved the highest number of bachelor’s passes.

In all this madness, we are unwilling to admit that people cannot achieve the same level of intelligence through good education and sheer determination. We already recognise this in other areas, such as athletic ability. Individuals are simply different.

I lack any athletic ability, and no matter how many times I’ve tried, I can’t run faster than an average professional athlete. Luckily, I live in a society that doesn’t place much importance on athletic prowess, so even if I’m a lousy athlete, I can still lead a respectable life.

Not so with regard to intelligence. In our society, your intelligence plays a significant role in determining the kind of life you can expect to lead. In general, if you are intelligent, you will have a much easier time surviving in the world than if you are not.

As a result, we place the majority of the blame on the already overburdened public education system and teachers, which benefits no one, wastes billions of rands, and generates constant dissatisfaction through extra ANA, Timms, and Pirls testing, etc.

We also internalise the notion that intelligence is superior to everything else and that our current hierarchy is natural. But no educational miracle is on the horizon, and there is no technology that will save our schools, no change that will pull children out of poverty, and no new model that would instantly transform struggling pupils into successful ones.

Ironically, in 2020 the Department of Basic Education released the results of the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study 2019 (Timss), showing how South African students compare to the rest of the world.

In this report, the department noted an apparent gap between teacher qualifications and student performance. The report noted that “compared to other countries, South African educators attended the highest number of professional courses. However, learners’ performance in mathematics and science does not match the level of tertiary education and the number of professional development courses attended by educators.”

To suggest that everyone could be as intelligent if they tried is dishonest and detrimental, especially to people who have no interest in academics. We should stop using intelligence to determine a person’s moral worth and accept that everyone’s intelligence varies.

Our high schools increasingly serve as a sorting mechanism between those destined for elite higher education and everything else that nobody cares about. Wealthy suburban parents harangue school administrators and hire tutors to fill the perceived gaps in their children’s education, while the poor put their eggs in the basket of whatever resources their child’s school has available.

But an even more immovable stumbling block on the road to the manifestation of our national ideals is the fact that our children have never been, are not now, and will never be equally blessed with the narrow band of academic talent that school rewards.