Rather focus on fixing dysfunctional schools

JONATHAN Jansen is a delight to read. He usually offers wise advice, but his “Desperation of a SA parent” (October 12) article suggests a quota system where 25% of spaces in a middle-class former Model C white school should be reserved for pupils from township or rural schools “outside the school’s prescribed catchment area”.

“Desegregation busing” failed dismally in US schools – just look it up for some of the experiences and reasons.

They included heightened racial identity, more discipline problems in schools and creation of a network of private schools.

Jansen notes that the dysfunction in the poorer schools is likely to be around for decades to come.

Why? How can we rectify this underlying problem, rather than move children out of their home base?

I propose a system that requires teachers in public schools to spend one in every four years (call it a sabbatical?) at a different school on the “other” side of town, in some kind of “teacher swop” arrangement with one or more partner schools.

Some teachers have never seen how a functional school actually works.

And coupled to that, a complete freeze on any annual increases in teachers’ salaries.

But all the money that would have gone to increases can still be earned by the teaching profession as a whole, but now as “performance bonuses”.

Performance bonuses would be based on measurable metrics, for instance the extent to which your school’s matric pass rates outperformed the average matric pass rate, or the extent to which it improved on last year’s performance. (I concede that the possibility for corruption in allocating the bonuses might make this impractical.)

Successful schools have a culture of discipline, a strong work ethic and interest in growing every child to his or her full potential.

We need to transfer this mindset to the schools that are underperforming, and start rewarding improvement, and penalising teachers and schools that don’t or won’t improve.

Please focus on fixing the schools, rather than solving individual parents’ problems by moving their children to other districts.

Picture: FREDLIN ADRIAAN MEMORIAL RIDE: Cyclists take part in a memorial ride for Nelson Mandela University professor Gerrit Radder, who was knocked down and killed by a cash-in-transit vehicle on Walmer Boulevard last month. The group handed over a petition to mayor Athol...