Thoughts on Education
My wife completed her masters in education policy two or three years after the birth of our twin daughters. It was tough on both of us, but we had fantastic family and friend networks who supplied encouragement, money and time.
My mother worked in education her whole life, from the classroom to the district to the department. She sacrificed a lot of her adult life to make sure I got the best education possible. I often wondered during meal times in the boarding house, whether my family at home ate as well as I was able to.
She worked incredibly hard at work, and was almost always tired. But I ask her about her experiences today and I when I listen to her speak I hear a woman who feels she gave all she could and more for something bigger than her.
My father left the teaching profession late in his life, and today is bitter about his experiences. He often refers to the poor material rewards associated with employment in general, and teaching in particular.I suspect there are many untold stories related to his experiences as school principle during the hellish days of apartheid.
He's constantly encouraged me to avoid working for somebody else. He's run his own business for the last fifteen years.
My sister is a teacher. My mother in law integrated education and leadership in her doctoral thesis.
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Today, I am working on my dream of creating a business that will provide entrepreneurial education for high school children.
We are still months away from the first cent in revenue, but what I've learnt so far is priceless:
1. Education is really the foundation of any societies progress and development, because it teaches people how to think, which is more important than what to think.
2. Education is something we all play a part in:
Consider this: how many women in South Africa leave home before dawn, and get home again after nightfall? Who are these women; they are the poorest of those who are employed. Who helps their children develop self confidence, the maturity to admit to being wrong, the strength of confidence to ask for help, to evaluate information and accept responsibility for their decisions?
Teachers don't have enough time to provide every child in our creaking public school system this attention.
Most poor parents have no time to provide this type of nurturing. And so the cycle of poorly educated parents raising poorly educated children continues.
Now, who sustains a system where the above is allowed to happen? We do.
3. The growth of the private school system is great, but comes at a massive cost for society.
Private schools are great because they take up the slack of the dysfunctional public school system. Thus kids have a better chance of earning worthwhile rewards for their work later in life.
But they perpetuate the illusion that public administration (government) is always slow, poorly managed, corrupt, unpleasant, small minded. Parents move their kids to private schools because that increased cost is perceived as cheaper than the cost of fighting the mighty behemoth that is a National Department.
What then happens is that the critical mass required to force the Education Department to improve is diluted. Public education thus remains largely inferior to private schooling.
The poor continue to receive poor education. They remain poor and raise children who will in all likelihood remain poor.
And in today's world, that means the gap between rich and poor keeps growing.
How do we move the mighty behemoth? And how can we give parents more time with their children?
My mother worked in education her whole life, from the classroom to the district to the department. She sacrificed a lot of her adult life to make sure I got the best education possible. I often wondered during meal times in the boarding house, whether my family at home ate as well as I was able to.
She worked incredibly hard at work, and was almost always tired. But I ask her about her experiences today and I when I listen to her speak I hear a woman who feels she gave all she could and more for something bigger than her.
My father left the teaching profession late in his life, and today is bitter about his experiences. He often refers to the poor material rewards associated with employment in general, and teaching in particular.I suspect there are many untold stories related to his experiences as school principle during the hellish days of apartheid.
He's constantly encouraged me to avoid working for somebody else. He's run his own business for the last fifteen years.
My sister is a teacher. My mother in law integrated education and leadership in her doctoral thesis.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Today, I am working on my dream of creating a business that will provide entrepreneurial education for high school children.
We are still months away from the first cent in revenue, but what I've learnt so far is priceless:
1. Education is really the foundation of any societies progress and development, because it teaches people how to think, which is more important than what to think.
2. Education is something we all play a part in:
Consider this: how many women in South Africa leave home before dawn, and get home again after nightfall? Who are these women; they are the poorest of those who are employed. Who helps their children develop self confidence, the maturity to admit to being wrong, the strength of confidence to ask for help, to evaluate information and accept responsibility for their decisions?
Teachers don't have enough time to provide every child in our creaking public school system this attention.
Most poor parents have no time to provide this type of nurturing. And so the cycle of poorly educated parents raising poorly educated children continues.
Now, who sustains a system where the above is allowed to happen? We do.
3. The growth of the private school system is great, but comes at a massive cost for society.
Private schools are great because they take up the slack of the dysfunctional public school system. Thus kids have a better chance of earning worthwhile rewards for their work later in life.
But they perpetuate the illusion that public administration (government) is always slow, poorly managed, corrupt, unpleasant, small minded. Parents move their kids to private schools because that increased cost is perceived as cheaper than the cost of fighting the mighty behemoth that is a National Department.
What then happens is that the critical mass required to force the Education Department to improve is diluted. Public education thus remains largely inferior to private schooling.
The poor continue to receive poor education. They remain poor and raise children who will in all likelihood remain poor.
And in today's world, that means the gap between rich and poor keeps growing.
How do we move the mighty behemoth? And how can we give parents more time with their children?
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