I see that the 2010 Gr 12 results are out with an improvement over previous years. Is that because of a genuine improvement, a more relaxed exam or a not so stringent marking of the papers? In 2010 there was the World cup and strike so pupils lost a lot of work days. I am somewhat sceptical about this.
I wrote (and passed) Matric in 2003. A good friend of mine’s daughter wrote (and also passed) in 2009. I saw some of her exam papers, and tutored her in Math prior to the exams. My opinion at that stage was that the curriculum had certainly changed, but not that it had become any easier. I would like to compare some of the latest exam papers. Of course, Matric was pretty damn easy in 2003 too - my final English (Second Language, unfortunately) paper actually posted the question: “you wear a necklace around your neck. Where do you wear a bracelet?”
Yep, they gave us 2 marks if we got that one one right…
Yup, I remember it bein’ purty hard back then… 
Mintaka
Class of '89, '90, '91
Gee, I dunno. I wrote in 1976 and my son wrote this year (IEB). His syllabus is harder than mine was, I think. For example, we didn’t do calculus even for higher grade, but they do it now.
Why the username then - irony ;)?
Mintaka
Ha! did it later at 'varsity…
My son’s in matric this year, and I’m dreading it. I dont make heads or tails of his work (admittedly I didnt do the same subjects), I’m of an opinion that its on par with what we did back in the 80’s. What is not on par is the level of teaching taking place, he’s been taking extra classes for Maths, science and accounting since Grade 10, and whilst his marks are fair, its far from achieving a distinction. He’s in a good school which has managed a fairly consistent 100% pass rate for the last couple years (dunno about 2010 though).
Hey st0nes, I also did matric in '76 - Pretoria Boy’s High. But excuse my ignorance, how is your username linked to calculus?
But also
My nickname is after the Rolling Stones, who may or may not be named after kidney stones.
Was it? Dunno, I thought most of it was pretty straight forward. Say what you want about how tough it was in the '80s or whenever, people still have to pass matric if they want to get into a university, get a degree and get a job other than flipping burgers (not that I have anything against people flipping burgers, they play a very important role in society) My matric was good enough to get me accepted into a bridging programme at the conservatory of Amsterdam (which I would have had to do even if I was in school in the Netherlands by the way) and a kid getting my grades with my subjects today would most likely also be accepted. So I’m not saying that the standards have/have not dropped, I’m saying its a pretty tough one to prove since none of us who wrote matric at any time in the past are likely to do it again now.
I also did matric in '76 - Pretoria Boy's HighI am also a '76 boy. Morgenzon Landbou Skool.
The other issue: passed with what subjects at what level? How many of those 67% are going to gain University entrance?
On another note, there is a wonderful TED talk, on the strange never questioned way in which we educate. Why we value certain subjects over others. http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html
Thanks for clarifying. I always thought the Stones were named from a song, and so it seems to be - by Muddy Waters, and it has these classic lyrics:
Well, I wish I was a catfish, swimmin in a oh, deep, blue sea I would have all you good lookin women, fishin, fishin after me
Which, apropos of nuffing, brings us the song Catfish John, which the Dead recorded, IIRC.
There must be something to these catfish thingies.
I did it in matric Additional Maths, which allowed me to do Maths I at varsity and pass without sitting through the endless long 3-hour tuts. 
Lazily, I gave up on Mafs and went off artsy-fartsy after that.
My daughter though had Differentiation as part of her ( Cambridge ) matric maths, so the standard syllabus does seem to be more advanced than in my day ( which was so long ago the hypotenuse was just being invented ).
[derail]
Yes, that’s my understanding also, though it may be urban musical legend. Muddy Waters (“he invented electricity”) did release an album titled Mississippi Rollin’ Stone (though he came from Chicago) in the 50s and, according to the story, that is where Mick Jagger and his crew took their name.
[/derail]
'Luthon64
I thought St Ones was a boastful referece to academic achievement.
Yay! Class of '76 produced 3 of us! CoooWELL!
;D ;D ;D
On the topic of subject choice:
http://www.rapport.co.za/Suid-Afrika/Nuus/Matriek-sonder-wiskunde-20110107-3
M.
Given that those that passed represent 28% of the children that originally entered the education system, I see very little to be pleased with. The education system has failed almost a million children.
Over course 28% might well be considered a pass mark nowadays.
I finished matric in '98, afaik this was one of the last years to not be on the “new and improved” OBE syllabus, at that point HG maths at a national level included quite a bit of differentiation over a substantial part of the matric year. IIRC logarithms were the first thing we did day 1 of matric, followed by differentiation, limits, and then moving onto the usual trig/geometry stuff. At the very, very end we were introduced to integration. Just basic stuff, nothing like 1st year calculus.
I also recall us walking out of our trig/geometry final ready to commit suicide. It was one of those “controversial” papers that just seemed unreasonable from the first question, robbed me of my distinction … and sunk quite a number of students. I recall being over the moon with the algebra paper, but that trig paper made me think I’d just lost my varsity entry. Luckily when I walked out this seemed like the all-round consensus, and it seems the varsity was fine with that mark.
I’m actually shocked to see that these days for a varsity exemption all you require is a 40% mark. Wow.