South African ranks in the highest for economic inequality (Gini 0.67) and in the lowest for mathematics and science education (WEF 137). But there's the rub …
South African society is ruthless. While our system consigns the masses to a future mired in misery and poverty, our 1% are destined for greatness. If you lie awake at night worrying about egalitarian equality for all African children, don't read any further ...
While much economic analysis has been done on the poverty of Nations by looking at the 99% and the Analysis of the Gini coefficient, we should suppress the urge to fit a function to the Lorenz curve and then integrate that function. I do it anyway (simple non linear regression on a published dataset) - in South Africa I estimate the Lorentz curve for Grade 12 Mathematics outcomes to be y = 30 + exp(x ^ 2.7/59000) – see graph.
At the Copeman Academy we focus on the 1% and there you get a completely different picture. When we pit our top 1% of students against the 1% of the leading Maths nations. (Singapore, Finland) You find that our 1% leads them not follows them!
The bottom line is that students willing to leave the 20th century “teacher focused” methodology and move to a tech focused AI technology have the advantage, no matter what country they are in. The best maths teaching countries are still geared to produce mediocrity - in buckets!
How does this happen?
Top performing Maths countries with a higher level of Maths education and a lower Gini coefficient of inequality may produce an overall level of Maths and Science, but their use of “better teachers” actually works against them in the 1%. The top students get lumped in for longer with the 99%. In South Africa because our Government Education is so low, the 1% are forced to leave the grid early. They actually end up ahead of the students in the developed countries that stick to the grid.
Essentially because those institutions in South Africa teaching Maths and Science to the 1% are independent of the failing Government system. Here at the Copeman Academy we take no Government funding and are not beholden to bind with the 99% attached to the grid in a lifetime of mathematical poverty.
The unexpected outcome is that those students in developed countries construed to be more successful (better teachers) have their 1% dragged down to the level of their 99%. Whatever time you spend in the system for the 99% (whatever country) is essentially wasted. In South Africa we spent 92% of our education budget on teachers salaries and 8% on infrastructure and technology. At the Copeman Academy we spend 90% of our budget on technology and 10% on teachers salaries. Because technology is the most important component of Maths education. Those that break with the Grid and focus on technology based outcomes actually exceed the outcomes achieved by the 1% in the more egalitarian societies.
This leads to a dark scenario for the 99% and a bright one for the 1% who make the jump. Like I said, we are a ruthless society.
Further Reading Links
Open source and Economic Inequality
