The ManicaPost
Morris Mtisi
AMONG many reasons Literature in English pass rate at ‘A’ level continues to disappoint are the following:
1. Lack of interest in teaching and learning in both the teachers and the learners.
2. Dumping of mediocre students into the Arts by the subject-combination selection committees.
3. While lack of interest on the part of the teacher is one of the reasons, sheer incompetence, dismal inability and inexperience are another disabling factor.
4. Unrealistically high expectations/demands from the examiners and markers whose achievement bench marks are overstretched. (I will discuss this fully in my next week’s Literature Corner instalment).
5. An almost permanent fear, apprehension of the subject, actualized by the knowledge that Literature is difficult and an A or B grade is unattainable.
6. General poor or weak command of the English Language.
There are obviously other reasons beyond the above but there is one major reason no one seems to notice. In more than thirty years of teaching Literature, and now an independent consultant in the learning area, I have carefully observed this and come to realise it is one of the major contributing factors to the low pass rate syndrome. I am talking about the size of the Literature load. The syllabus is too wide and literally frightening. The number of set books is not only intimidating but brutally demanding.
My question is directed to the Examination Board— ZIMSEC for consideration. It is also must be an interesting question for teachers who teach the subject. Are all these set books necessary to develop or measure the right doses of critical thinking in a candidate? Is our education system not addicted with one ideal of achievement only at the expense of true learning?
Here are my submissions.
(a) It is not how many set books or authors one covers, that matters but how deeply or effectively the skills have been mastered. In the science of good health and wellness it is not how much you eat that matters but eating well. Two set books wisely selected for study can develop sufficient skills to produce an educated and intelligent critical thinker.
(b) Think of the load on the head and shoulders of every Arts student; the sports schedule on the time-table, the History books, Divinity notes and the Bible.
We all know it is not only Literature that demands serious attention. But Literature alone has enough set books to cause academic stress characterized by staying up very late or burning the night candle on both ends.
The education system especially in the context of ‘A’ level Literature, is too rigorous and heavily weighs down on students in many cases harping on the same string. The policy makers, examiners, and syllabi designers seem not to have ‘academic stresses’ in the dictionaries of their minds.
(c) A lot of what makes the ‘A’ level Literature too heavy is repetitive garbage in the can. All set books literally contain and test the same skills through different stories. Why the load damage?
School system seems to be made up of policy makers, teachers, examiners and specialist who do not know the magnitude of the learners’ anxieties. The pressure of the demands of the syllabi is intense especially in view of the new curriculum clearly overstretching the areas of learning and the scope of content.
School today makes students overwhelmed and hopeless. I do not for one second believe a good education is driven by a curriculum that overstretches the bow. It will snap. Students’ considered extremely gifted cannot be measured by their endurance or resistance to academic stress.
Where are our educational psychologists? What do they say about studying more subjects or learning areas, some students at ‘O’ Level choosing to study 12, 13 up to 15 subjects. We celebrate when they get As in all subjects but does anyone stop to think of the effects of such mental ‘torture’ on one student with one brain? Is this mentally healthy, or necessary even?
Some students take up to 6 subjects at ‘A’ Level and we all shout ‘whizz-kids’ when they attain 30 points. Is this necessary? What do educational psychologists say about exerting the tender and young minds of students to overloaded curriculums and syllabi?
My challenge is not and has never been whether the new curriculum was explained enough to everybody and how… the consultations were. How many great chapters of the Zimbabwean history escaped people’s views and opinions? How many heroic achievements have we appreciated and celebrated without being consulted? The armed struggle is a case in point.
There was neither a referendum nor an open consultation conducted to democratize the…of the war of liberation. It was good for Rhodesia to go and in its place Zimbabwe born. We trusted the sanity of the protagonists of the armed struggle and trusted all the sacrifices were for a common good-hence the…of consultations. Who today can in their right senses today condemn the…of armed struggle because they were not consulted before it was executed?
My challenge therefore is not about the validity of a new curriculum that expands the scope of teaching and learning and offers 21st Century education skills. That is in perfect order and the whole world is transforming school curricula to fit new socio-economic, and climatic demands and changes.
My challenge is how wise overloading the ship is? Do we recognise how much pressure we are exerting on the implementer’s of this great idea, moreso the learner? How mentally healthy is such
What do the education psychologists say? Please respond. This is important.
The educational side is clear, and so is the political correctness. What is the side of the educational psychologist? I cannot speak for learning areas far from my expertise and specialisation. But I know for sure the area of Literature is critically important in the development of critical thinking, but it is overloaded. And therefore overwhelmingly intense on students, affecting not only the pass rate but mentally doing more harm than good. Am I right or wrong? None of the above. Let’s talk. If you are as worried and concerned, full of questions as I am on the issue of mental health in this regard be my guest on Diamond FM Radio- Programme Head to Head with MM.
