COPIED SOMEWHERE ON THE BEST SYSTEM OF SELECTING STUDENTS TO PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES. 1.0 Introduction. Since the previous government introduced the controversial quota system, there has been strong opposition against implementation of the same from different interested individuals and institutions. Roughly four years down the line, the battle on the criteria for selecting students to public universities refuses to die with the new administration pronouncing that it intends to revert back to the old system dubbed “merit system”. However, the manner in which various figures have been deliberately distorting facts and thus misleading Malawians on the merits and demerits and/or justification for or against the quota system has left a lot to be desired and therefore prompted us to issue this statement to clarify pertinent facts underpinning the two systems so as to ease the tension among Malawians at an embryonic stage. We have done this in our capacity as patriotic members of Malawian citizenry. 1.2 Is Merit system really bad for Malawi? People who vehemently argue against the quota system of admitting students to university claim that such a system allows the less intelligent or less gifted and undeserving students to access our universities and that the system is discriminatory. We strongly feel that such sentiments are framed based on a gross error in reasoning as they can not only be supported by proven facts but also are based on wrong assumptions. Firstly, to insinuate that a person who passes an MSCE examination with between 10-15 points is more intelligent than he/she who passes the same examination with 20 points is utterly wrong. It doesn’t require the brains of the likes of Albert Einstein, Aristotle and Socrates to understand the explanation for this. Apart from being hereditary, intelligence is to a large extent affected by several other factors to do with the environment which in turn greatly affect academic performance. A child born and raised in a remote village and is languishing with poverty cannot be expected to demonstrate similar intellectual instincts like that who is enjoying first class life in urban setting. Members of the public may therefore wish to know that a Grade in MSCE does not fully reflect one’s brainpower levels since such grades are distorted by numerous factors such as illness, stress unfriendly environment and thus may wrongly portray rich students as being more intelligent than poor students. Furthermore, MSCE grades like any other summative grades are based on a narrow scope of the curriculum content interpreted and imparted differently by different teachers with different ideologies, experiences and exposures and so does not in any manner warrant making conclusions about the level of knowledge , proficiency, and subject matter students gained during the entire course of learning. It is also important to emphasize the fact that the various programs offered at our public universities require different abilities in students in what an American psychologist Howard Gardner classifies as the nine types of distinct intelligence hereditary available in various people. Candidates enrolled to pursue Architecture for instance need to have high levels of what is known as “spatial” intelligence. Those admitted in Surgery need to have high levels of “Kinesthetic intelligence”. Teachers and journalists likewise need to have high levels of interpersonal intelligence and so on. Ironically, the yard stick for measuring students’ intelligence (MSCE and UEE) only concentrate on and thus benefit two categories of students; those with high levels of Logical (Numerical) intelligence and those with high levels of Linguistic intelligence. How does the UEE then identify students who have great psychomotor skills and can make good engineers using a test that only measures logical and linguistic intelligence? How does the UEE single out students who have high levels of interpersonal intelligence and can make good teachers and journalists using a test that only measures linguistic and numerical abilities? It is therefore not strange that even when the so called merit system was used to select students to university, some students with highflying MSCE grades were being withdrawn on academic grounds leaving behind those who accumulated poor grades at MSCE who go on to graduate with distinctions- How do the once labeled intelligent students suddenly become ‘academic debris’ at university? How did they pass through the so narrow meshes of the merit sieve? What about mature and parallel students? This is a category of students with one thing in common- they were not selected after sitting for university entrance examinations using the merit system. This according to proponents of the merit system means they were not intelligent enough to be university students. Surprisingly when such students use their financial muscle to find their way into the corridors of university, some have performed even far much better than the so called intelligent students whose high flying MSCE grade cheated everyone that they are the cream of the country. 1.3 Who deserves a place at our public university? Malawians may wish to be reminded that The University of Malawi’s requirements for enrolling students into its programs are simple and straightforward. An aggregate of 6 credits (not distinctions only) plus a pass in the university entrance examinations. This implies that all who get selected to study into our university whether through quota or merit system are equally deserving students for they fulfill all the necessary requirements. Hence the notion that the equitable access to education selection criteria tolerates selection of “undeserving students” to go to university is a fallacy of the greatest order and magnitude. 1.4 What about private universities? When the public university have taken it’s so called cream of students, private universities scramble for the left ‘overs’. In the view of critics of the quota system, by this time all the most intelligent students are absorbed by the public university. This entails that private universities and colleges such as the Catholic University, The Livingstonia University, and the Adventist University are only flooded by less gifted students who do not deserve to be at a place of higher learning let alone successfully contribute towards productivity of the industry upon graduation. Also it means the industry would have to think twice before employing graduates from such institutions given their perceived narrow brain based on their MSCE grade. Ironically many such a student who were thrown away by the university of Malawi’s merit system and labeled less “intelligent” defy all odds to overcome pressure of university education in the private institutions and go further to perform wonders in companies, organizations and different organizations and some even outshine the so called intelligent fellows who siphoned tax payers money at a public university thanks to merit system. Thus, the question of MSCE grade being used as the only tool to determine and make conclusions about intelligence levels of students disregarding the circumstances in which the grade was obtained leaves a lot do be desired. 1.5 What system discriminates who? We strongly believe that the so called merit system uses wrong assumptions to discriminate or isolate the poor whose intellectual levels aren’t fully exposed due to poor nurture. The poor who have never seen a laboratory and compete with students who learn in fully equipped labs. The poor who cannot afford to find an extra private teacher to complement the meager work done by a government teacher who sleeps in glass thatched house and has no motivation to dedicate all his efforts towards developing the minds of the hereditary intelligent but poor students. The so called ‘equitable’ system in its current form doesn’t benefit the poor either. It as well inclines towards putting students from rich families at an upper hand at the expense of poor students despite the possibility of similar intellectual traits. 1.6 Why then the misleading sentiments despite the obvious facts? We believe that individuals and institutions that are advancing false facts about both the merit and quota systems are just doing that in bad faith. We fear such acts may end up breeding hatred among different tribes in Malawi. Furthermore, the deliberate deceptions about the two selection systems may instill divisive, tribalistic and regionalistic minds among the poor Malawians who don’t have a say in matters that affect them and may die wrongly believing that intellectual traits are defined by regional or tribal lines and that the current form of quota system is a relief to them. 1.7 Towards a perfect selection system other than the Current Model of Quota system. The idea of equity in education is vey brilliant but the formula currently being used is very inefficient and inequitable. Focusing on district of origin is very poor implementation strategy in that it allows students from rich families of ‘under represented’ districts who live in other districts to compete with children from poor households who live in the ‘under served’ districts. As a result what the quota system intends to achieve is compromised by another inequality known as the socioeconomic inequality hence the quota system in its current implementation is both inefficiency and inequitable as it allows average students from wealth families to out compete brilliant students with low MSCE grades from poor households in the underserved districts. The quota system therefore suffers from the same deficiency as the merit system that it was meant to replace. Some thoughts that might improve the system in the medium to long term include: 1. Design a system that identifies and monitors top students before they even sit for standard 8 examinations, identify their poverty status confirmed by headmasters and school committees and this data should later be considered when allotting places at public secondary schools and universities. 2. For the top poor students that don’t go to public boarding schools after sitting for standard 8 examinations, trace and update their performance and after impressing in JC examinations such students should be promoted to full boarding schools. 3. Rather than using districts, empirically identify determinants of academic performance; modify the formula used to score MSCE grades for all students meeting entrance requirements based on the determinants and use the modified scores and UEE to select students into the university. 1.8 Conclusion This paper seeks to support neither the merit system nor the current form of Quota system but rather the idea of ensuring EQUITY in the education sector so that the poor who also contribute towards running the public universities through tax or other means realistically benefit from what belongs to all Malawians. To this end, we strongly recommend a review (not an abolishment) of the current selection system to truly reflect its purpose. The system so formed should not be based on tribal vengeance but that which cannot afford to leave behind some best students to rot in the village simply because they happen to be poor. Let all Malawians with our leaders in the forefront desist from looking at policy issues with tribal, regional and political lens. As the country strives to unlock its potentials to substance and become prosperous nation.
Posted on: Fri, 18 Jul 2014 17:54:47 +0000
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