Education is special to me, plain and simple. Not only is this special to me but it is my passion that drives me every day. The ideas I wake up to every morning, the last thoughts before I go to bed at night, relates to education.
Education played a big role in my life. It helped me get to where I am currently and there’s still much more to educate myself on. But why a love for education? My love for education does not only stem from what it does for me, but more so for what an impact it could have on every other individual.
Let’s take a subject such as mathematics. What has it done for me? I’ve had conversations with many people talking about the applications of pure maths in our everyday lives. What I say is that it taught me how to be more analytical and precise. So there’s a much bigger picture than what is actually in front you.
Three years ago, I started tutoring a Grade 8 learner and watched him grow from strength to strength in maths. It boosted his confidence as much as it did mine, and I realised that I wanted to make a career from teaching mathematics. My initial plan was to become a mathematics teacher, and then I thought, what impact would I make to education by doing this?
After school I continued my journey in the education of learners by joining the Year Beyond Programme, first as a volunteer and then went on to be employed as a School Site-Coordinator by Action Volunteers Africa. It has been an amazing experience to have access to many different schools and engaging with learners from different environments gave me better insight of where the problems are.
Five months ago I had an idea. Mathematics is my greatest strength. I’ve been tutoring privately for a few years now in my personal capacity as well as through Year Beyond. I realised I’m not just good at maths, but also love teaching learners. So, I asked myself: “How can I, as an individual, make a big difference?”
After tutoring for so long I realised that students doing pure maths in Grades 10-12 struggled because of the lack of basic knowledge, which stems from their experiences in Grades 8-9. Therefore, if I could focus on tutoring the Grade 8-9 to improve their understanding and mastery of maths, they would perform better in maths in the higher grades and their marks would improve, giving them a better chance to pursue careers that require good marks in maths.
How will I do this? I have the thought of using matriculants to tutor the Grade 8-9 learners of the same school. Not only does this help the learners being tutored, but the matriculants as well. Based on my experience, I know that the more you tutor someone else, the more you understand the work yourself. This would result in matriculants improving their own marks to improve their own chances of success in the future.
There is so much more detail that comes along with this, but all will be revealed in time. My name is Cameron Kleinsmith, and I have plan for the future. Not only for myself, but for the future of education. Watch this space.