Poor Matriculation Results in South Africa

Students that live in a poor community often lack a good education because the community does not have the resources to allow the students to continue a good education. Students that are marginalized often lack the opportunity to a higher education because they are constantly being underestimated and not given the resources they need in order to be successful. In the article “Still Separate, Still Unequal; America’s Educational Apartheid” by Jonathan Kozol demonstrated the way schools in InterCitys are being forced to used methods that are nowhere helpful for students to be able to learn. Students are given many instructions to follow, but often lack the actual education they deserve. In addition, in the podcast “The Problem

The word curriculum can mean something different to different people, even to different teachers who use the term almost daily (Manning & Butcher, 2012). However, it boils down to curriculum being what a student learns, both in terms of core subject content, as well as though social activity and elective/activity courses. However, there has often been a disconnect between different states and districts over what exactly should be in the curriculum for various grades and what is needed to prepare students for life beyond school, as well as providing little basis for comparing the US to other countries. That’s where Common Core State Standards (CCSS) come in. According to Teaching in the Middle School (2012), the Common Core standards were created in an attempt to provide curriculum standards that are “rigorous, internationally benchmarked, and aligned with college and work expectations”. Since its implementation in 2009, 42 US states and the District of Columbia have integrated the standards into their curriculums. (Core Standards, 2015)

Diane ravitch also utilizes direct examples of laws and schools within her article in order to backup her claims about the new focus in educational systems. Within the first sentence of her article, Ravitch is already referencing a law that was passed in 2001, stating that “since the advent of no child left behind” schools have focused more on subjects that are being tested, in order for the school to be seen as having a more rigid educational system, which will draw more students and more funding. Ravitch then goes on to say explain what an ideal school would look like: a strong arts department, along with extracurricular activities, and also an in depth study of subjects like history, literature, science, and mathematics. She explains that this was once the norm for many schools, both wealthy and non, as well as both public, and private. However, in

It is important to have a successful education, but common core will not only affect the schools it will also affect how students learn. According to Applebee, “From my perspective, the CCSS offers a strong and well-intentioned vision of the knowledge and skills needed by a college-and career-ready high school graduate.” (Applebee, 2013, pg. 25-33). With the world constantly changing in order to be successful is to have the fundamental structure built up for the individual. A successful person is usually successful because of the knowledge they have gathered. However, CCSS (Common Core State Standards) focuses on the main parts of education, reading, writing, and mathematics. Teaching common core is not simple to children or teenagers. Often each individual has a different way of learning. With common core, every individual is paced at the same

After diving into the CCSS, I have become a full supporter. The Rigor/Relevance Framework integrated into the standards means that they cover demanding content and applicable skills. To be prepared for college curriculum and careers they will have for a lifetime, students need to master the content and skills. These students will “demonstrate independence, build

Education in the United States is in an abysmal state. It continues to spiral downward as students and educators fail to meet standards. The standards are then altered on a patchwork basis throughout the states. The goal is no longer to have a high standard educational system. The goal now is to maintain the status quo, allowing students and educators to strive for the minimum. There is no common approach to achieve success. Incipit Tragoedia, in comes the Common Core, agreed upon by educators, politicians, and

3. How to solve the problem of implementation of 2013 revised curriculum to comply with government regulations?

Another challenge that can rise from CCSS, is the grading format for students has risen which can become problematic for those student who are performing poorly with the current standards. In The Washington Post article “The Myth of Common Core Equality” by Valerie Stratus, explains the challenges student face with common core, and how it is unfortunately increasing the educational gap. Stratus explain how minorities are performing poorly in common core test, “When a student score in the Below Standard category of 1, there is a good chance that her or his answer were mere guesses, or the test was so difficult, they simply gave up” (Strauss). Unfortunately, student giving up on their exams is one of the challenges that the CCSS is having with ELL students, because they are academically frustrated with not being able to reach their goal of meeting their academic level. The stress level the new standard is having on students is no longer having a great passion for learning based on their poor school performance. For ELL students that lack of motivation can increase by them not being able to grasp the concept of the new standards. When students begin to guess on their exams they are no longer learning, but instead trying to ignore their academic frustration. The lack of student motivation with the CCSS is another example of how the learning gap is unfortunately increasing among students.

Common Core is the curriculum most children born in the 21st century have taken. The Common Core is the most recent update in America’s school system. The Common Core State Standards, also known as CCSS, is changing the way schools teach and learn. Currently, forty six states have adapted the curriculum. The system is run by the nation 's governors through the organizations “The National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA)” and “The Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO).” It is standardized to raise the bar to fit everyone’s educational needs, which is all done through testing electronically. State tests require that all the students answer the same questions that are scored consistently. The goals for the Common Core include helping students in a way to prepare for the future, and to advance their skills and knowledge. Realistically, it has been negatively affecting students, schools, and teachers. Although the area of government that created these standards and tests have decided they are the best choices, critics have disagreed with the given standards. The Common Core State Standards are too advanced and rushed, which have led to stress in students and teachers since its inception, therefore should be repealed by all states with implementation of the CCSS.

Education does not just take place in schools. Classrooms are places where many forms of discourses come together. Students and teachers with various forms of knowledge and ways of communicating interact together and unfortunately some ways of knowing and communicating hold more value than others. Sometimes researcher should stop looking at the bigger picture; capitalist economies and the true nature of society should become more of a focus in education research. You cannot hope to understand why students from lower socio economic areas do poorly compared to students whose parents are more affluent unless more is done to understand the prior.

These systemic obstacles that create circumstances that hinder the education attainment of the poor can be changed, their limits lessened, by positive actions to elevate living conditions – given the school system promotes and

Education comes with social benefits as well which can improve the situation of the poor, such as lower fertility and improved health care of children ("Poverty and Education"). "Poor people are often unable to obtain access to an adequate education, and without an adequate education people are often constrained to a life of poverty." - Servaas Van Der Berg. The absolutely poor in developing countries have low education levels. Some may not even have access to primary education or may not have completed their primary education, not realizing that it is important to reduce poverty. Education is often poorly measured, and the impacts do not always show up as statistically significant in cross- country growth regressions (Levine & Renelt, 1992). Africa’s education crisis makes media headlines and analysis by the Brookings Center for Universal Education (CUE) explains why this needs to change. Progress towards universal primary education has come to a halt and learning levels of children who are in school are poor as well. Using a Learning Barometer, CUE estimates that 61 million African children will reach adolescence lacking even the most basic literacy and numeracy skills, this will deprive a whole generation of opportunities to develop and escape poverty ("Poverty, Education, & Opportunity").

Systematic curriculum is designed to solve future issues and for a sustainable development of society. No Child Left behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) is the example of systematic curriculum. Systematic curriculum is used as tool for preparation of nations’ future workforce and makes able the communities to compete with the demands of twenty first century needs. In systematic curriculum there is great emphasis on higher level thinking and vast knowledge contents particularly in mathematics, sciences and technology. Another example of systematic curriculum is

According to the Education sector Strategic Plan 2002-2015 the main policy in Basic Education sub-sector is Education for all “Ensuring that by 2015 all children, particularly girls, children in difficult circumstances and those belong to ethnic minorities, have access to and complete compulsory primary education of good quality. Policies are simply guidelines by which the government shall achieve their goals or objectives basing itself from the foundation of the philosophy of basic education – Education for all Basotho and the provision of sufficient numbers of people with appropriate qualifications, technical and managerial skills to ensure the development of the modern sector of the economy.

Some may think that the only customers of textbooks are the students but that is not the case. There are a variety of customers that buy the textbook before it even reaches the student, someone has to decide what textbook the students are going to be using for which particular course. Business school curricula is changing and therefore their textbooks needs are changing, they want textbooks that cover a variety of information and data in one single, easy to transport textbook. Some school that were moving the modular course structures wanted books that were easy to cover in a course that lasts sometimes as short as a week long. And now, more and