Cde. Motshegwa Your inability to properly engage Lazola on the issues he is raising is perplexing. Instead of picking apart his analysis and interogating the facts,you end up berating the SASCO leader. I agree with Gugu. Students coming from previously disadvantaged backgrounds come into varsities as mediocres quickly blossom by getting excellent grades when they get the neccessary support. Raising the entrance requirements simply means that those people who already have systems in place when writing matric have the advantage over the have-nots. Gugu made the excellent example of high students who are doing more than 6 subjects have an unfair advantage over those doing 6 subjects. The points system is a very simplistic solution to a complex problem. A holistic approuch should be taken when dealing with students coming from different backgrounds.
With best regards/Mit freundlichen Grüssen /Ngeminqweno emihle/שָׁלוֹם Litha Thando Yono Mechatronics Technician DaimlerChrysler South Africa P.O Box 671 East London 5200 Tel(W) 043-706 2970 Fax(W)043 706 9308 "You show me a capitalist,i'll show you a bloodsucker" Malcom X [email protected] Sent by: [email protected] 2010/08/05 01:09 PM Please respond to [email protected] To [email protected] cc Subject Re: [YCLSA Discussion] SASCO PRESS STATEMENT: Hiking of Entrance Requirements is a Class onslaught against the Poor Greetings Cde. Motshegwa, I'm perplexed with your level of ignorance and inability to read the issues raised by SASCO and other progressive forces who have been at the forefront in advocating for free education and access to Institutions of higher learning by students from disdvantaged communities. At no stage did SASCO make the insitnuation of lowering statndards or the point system of these mentioned Institutions of higher learning. This statement quiet correctly interrogates the spontaneous manner in which point systems are calculated and imposed on those who seek to get an opportunity to advance their academic ambitions. Just to give you a bit of information which might be useful in giving you a clearer picture of the supposed study which was done by Dr, Nan from the University of Cape town on the level of Illiteracy and numeracy abilities of students. The study was questioned as to how was it conducted and on which students, did she take into consideration the backgorund of these students and what language was used to conduct the test, as Afrikaans and English speaking students still have the privilege of being taught in their mother tounge and hence it is easier for them to excell in their studies! She was "mum" on these questions. It is highly simplistic and futile to merely say that ALL STUDENTS THAT DO NOT GAIN ENTRY TO UNIVERSITIES IS BY VIRTUE OF THE FACT THAT THEY CANNOT PERFORM AND ARE NOT CAPABLE. Are you aware that black students who met requirements in the University of Johannesburg were dumped on the Soweto campus in order to accomodate their white counterparts on the Kingsway campus? Do you have any inclination of the rife intransigent attitude that black students are subjected to by administration staff and lectureres in Liliy white Institutions of higher learning??? Why cant the point system be a universal one which is controlled by the Minister of Higher education, taking into consideration the diversity of our high schools..??? There are students who do not have the luxury of studying 10 subjects at a go because certain subjects are not offered in their school, that by its very nature disadvantages many of our students from poor communities! Students who do not have access to Labs, Libraries, research material!! The first causualties of the now defunct OBE system will be our brothers and sisters in poor community schools, who could not even absorp this education system, because it was resource oriented, now we will have more students who will not access universities NOT because they cannot perform, but because the system has never been in their favour! The issue of education has very little to do with capabilites and more to do with the willingness of those that control education to make our people capable. There are students who get distinctions but dismally fail when they get to University, there are those that get average marks in entering and excell when they get to university. The will by Institutions of higher learning needs to be there to help students from all walks of life. However it seems that there needs to be political intervention as a sense of urgency to see that transformation becomes a reality SASCO and all other PYA formations should continue to play their part in giving pressure to reactionary management in seeing that more students from disadvantaged communities are taken. If that student does not perform, there must be a clear assessment as to why and mechanisms in place to assist as long as that students shows potential and a willingness. Until when will education be for a privileged few????? The Minister of Higher Education must intervene and investigate this "unscientific" point system Amandla!! Cde. Gugu "I'm on the left because that's the FAB Lane"!! On Thu, Aug 5, 2010 at 12:39 PM, Motshegwa Mushi < [email protected]> wrote: Lazola, wake up and smell the dust settling right in front of your face! what is being upped is the capacity to unravel the very intense and hideous abilities and strengths of learning! what do you make of the university entrants that cannot comprehend the luxities of reading and writing? what do you make of the Misfiring of debate apex and shooting your mouth foul each time some discussion takes place? what is the SASCO's take on the quality and subsequent quantity of matric passes we have in this country? when and how do you suggest we improve the philanthropic genesis of digesting the need for skills while we have the lack of hunger to achieve better- why argue for lower entry standards when you have the power of each one teach one to advance the knowledge base of the very classes you want into universities? This is still quality sifting we are talking about; when they raise the fees what will be your argument then, because that then limits who has access to the same facilities? should you not be concentrating your current efforts on the times spent in class learning and teaching? should you not be focusing intensely on the beyond classroom times learning that pupils and scholars put to the betterment of their selves? cummon south africa, fight for the improvement and raising the bar rather than political point scoring of who is the loudest in (reckless) defiance!!! Come up with programs and campaigns that will entrench the culture of reading and research from among our own! On Thu, Aug 5, 2010 at 12:03 PM, Gugu Ndima <[email protected]> wrote: SASCO PRESS STATEMENT: Hiking of Entrance Requirements is a Class onslaught against the Poor 05 August 2010 The South African Students Congress is shocked and saddened by the hiking of entrance requirement by various universities as reported by various Sunday newspapers. These plans fly in the face of making university education accessible to the children of the working class and the poor. The hiking of entrance requirements is a class onslaught waged by neoliberal universities aimed at excluding the working class from universities. This move will have devastating effects for many working class children, who will sink deeper into the black hole of unemployment, poverty and crime. We are convinced that this move is linked to capital’s insatiable appetite for a pool of cheap black labour. It is not a secret that universities have become education arms of big business such as banks, mines and other monopoly industries. Instead of hiking entrance requirements and thus bowing down to the commands of the bourgeoisie, universities should instead be increasing academic support programmes such as tutorial classes. As SASCO, we call on the Ministry of Education to intervene in this regard. These reactionary moves by universities cannot be separated from an orchestrated attempt to subvert the revolutionary reforms entailed in the NSFAS Review Report, particularly the recommendation on the introduction of free higher education until undergraduate level for the working class and the poor. For Details please contact Secretary General Lazola Ndamase 0826798718 -- Gugu Ndima +27 76 783 1516 -- Gugu Ndima +27 76 783 1516 -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] . -- Motshegwa (RM) Mushi Technical Area Manager Human Diagnostics SA [email protected] 072 326 5549 "We will succeed or fail in proportion to our grasp of philosophy" -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] . -- Gugu Ndima +27 76 783 1516 -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] . If you are not the intended addressee, please inform us immediately that you have received this e-mail in error, and delete it. We thank you for your cooperation. -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] .
