[buyx]

In South Africa, with its bottom of the world rankings in school mathematics, this problem is particularly acute. With the government-set matric (school-leaving) exams it is sufficient to work through past exam papers and memorise the answer patterns, to be guaranteed good marks. This isn't a recent phenomenon, but has been the case for many years, although it seems to have gotten worse in recent years. Although there is a more realistic matric exam used by most private schools (Independent Examination Board), they will inevitably have to lower their standards as well to remain competitive with the government-set exams.

I am ashamed to admit that even when I got to university, I preferred the handful of maths and physics lecturers who followed a similar approach - work through the homework, memorise the answers, and pass.

[chii]

>I am ashamed... I preferred the handful of maths and physics lecturers who followed a similar approach

no shame in admitting that you've been thru a broken system. Tertiary education isn't about setting a bar, it's about learning and discovery - setting a bar should be left for vocational training institutions, where you get certified that you are capable of doing such and such. Universities _should_ ostensibly be about personal learning and inherent motivation. I would garner that you shouldn't even be rewarded with any sort of formal certification from a university. Those who need such a formal cert ought to take an exam from a vocational training and certification institution.