Home schooling ‘is still best’
"From the perspective of a student, one of the most important things is to work independently and to think critically."
TEN years ago, at the age of 11, Rashalia Pither from Malvern was learning maths, science and biology at Grade 12 level. Today, she is a classical pianist completing a Bachelor of Music degree at the University of KwaZulu-Natal and achieved first place academic ranking out of more than 30 000 students in the entire university.
Indeed, she sounds nothing less than a genius; however, the humble 21-year-old said she owes her hard work and focused work ethic to being home schooled.
“From the perspective of a student, one of the most important things is to work independently and to think critically. It was never a matter of being fed facts and figures and being able to regurgitate them. We were always encouraged to problem-solve and critically evaluate everything that we did. So that’s what has helped me get through university,” she explained.
She added that she thought the leap from high school to university would be huge because of it being a completely new way of working, but instead she found university to be a continuation of home schooling.
Pither and her two sisters, Santhiska and Theshira, were home schooled by their father, Woody, who initially feared that home schooling his daughters would deprive them of a social life.
“There was always the fear that they were perhaps going to miss out on a social life that they build with their peers at school. But then I realised that not being in a formal school far out-weighed those disadvantages,” said the proud father.
On Wednesday, 28 August, Pither was awarded The College Deputy Vice-Chancellors’ Scholarship Award for College of Humanities, The Townley Williams Scholar Award and the Lawrence and Constance Robinson Scholarship for being the best single graduate in the entire university.
A former school teacher, Woody took early retirement in 2002 to focus on his children and said that he and his wife, Kalai, decided home schooling was best as it is an accelerated education system.
The Queensburgh News published an article in October 2005 about the Pithers’ successes in home schooling, where the family unanimously agreed that home schooling is the best. Today, they proudly reap its benefits.
“Santhiska, eldest of the sisters, completed her Bachelor of Science marine science honours degree summa cum laude through UKZN. Thereafter, she was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship and completed a masters degree in marine biogeochemistry through the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth in the USA.
“While in the US, she was also awarded a Knaus Marine Policy fellowship with the Environmental Protection Agency, which entailed developing marine policy. She was based in Washington. She returned to South Africa last year and decided to change her route and study medicine. She applied for the Graduate Entry Medical Programme at Wits and was one of only 60 students chosen out of more than 1 300 applicants.
“Thus she was accepted into the third year of medicine,” Kalai said proudly. “Our youngest, Theshira, is a talented artist who is currently in her first year pursuing a Bachelor of Arts degree in classical civilisations at UKZN. She is also achieving exceptional results and was awarded the dean’s commendation for the first semester,” she added.
When asked if he thought his daughters were geniuses, Woody said he didn’t think so but emphasised all the great benefits home schooling has.
“I also provide private tuition for high school pupils and they have all done well. I think my methods are bearing fruits,” he said.
