Thu May 23 00:48:26 SAST 2013

Malatji shares love for science with school pupils

Oct 29, 2012 | Reports by Sibongile Mashaba, Mpumalanga Correspondent | 34 comments

Fear of failure - and hard work - is what spurs on a Mpumalanga doctoral student, who is sharing his love of science with young people in his province.

Comments

Thu May 23 00:48:27 SAST 2013 ::
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Oct 29, 2012

Socrates

I cant agree with you more sir, science and Math are doable and should be seen in everything we do on our daily lives. we should be able to see how science and art combine to make life easier on our daily interaction, e.g a cellphone is both a scientific and artistic item, we should be able to see all subjects within that object then we we love the subjects more
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Oct 29, 2012

Shredder

Things are happening in this village. I was left with jaws dropped a couple of months when I went there. The people there are doing it. There is a place Dikolobeng, I think it is a lodge or bed and breakfast. What a beautiful place. Then there is Serite Park. I could believe there was such a beautiful place in that rural area.
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Oct 29, 2012

Shredder

@a couple of months BACK when - Eish Monday
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Oct 29, 2012

Mxaueht

Good work Sir. I remember when i was doing my matric (1996), we were forced to register maths and science on SG level because everybody (including teachers and the principals) saw these subjects as kilimanjaro mountain. I hope your work is acknoledged and apprciated by the incompetant policy maker or our so call failing education system.
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Oct 29, 2012

Pabi

keep up the good work broer, and to those who knows other subjects please help other learners to improve.
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Oct 29, 2012

MommaC

I wonder what Malatji's thesis will be on?

Marvelous how much one person can be such a positive influence. May he go from strength to strength
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Oct 29, 2012

MGEEZ

This is good work Peter; keep it up. Indeed Science an Math are doable, the problem is that our children have been programmed wrongly and they need a serious paradigm shifting and it starts with individuals like you. Thank you for being a breath of fresh air!!!
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Oct 29, 2012

Shredder

MGEEZ - I have been trying to help my nephew with Maths, it is discouraging. The boy is just scared of the damn subject. When we go throw the exercises, it's like he is just saying when are we going to finish. LOL. How I loved Maths and Science at school. I hate this memory driven subjects like history. I like solving problems.
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Oct 29, 2012

Tobby

welldone boy, many are jealous don't want to do that and the more you teach others the more God gives you knowledge, keep up the good work.
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Oct 29, 2012

MommaC

There is a lovely story in Times today about two schools who sent a camera up with a weather balloon. When we were kids we'd make turbines and stuff. That is how you show kids that science is quite easy. It looks scary but once you get involved in the practical aspect and get to see how logically predictable it is, it is really quite easy.
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Oct 29, 2012

Moffdat

Boooooooooo Hooooooooooo!
This man is on the front cover of the sowetan? For what?
Do you know how many people are doing what he is doing? Why can't we get on front covers and ish..
This politically connected cats are really getting on my last nerve.
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Oct 29, 2012

Shredder

Ahh Moffdat??????? Enlighten us about his political connections or how you relate politics with this article. You could have fooled me, you are Mofida ne.
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Oct 29, 2012

Moffdat

Shredder

This man pulled his strings and now he is on the front cover for being the perfect average.
I prefer to read about extraordinary things not some old man who should have finished school 10 years ago being hailed as the great philanthropist
booooooooooooooooooo! Very boring. Very
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Oct 29, 2012

Shredder

Moffdat. Have you got a PhD or have studied PhD? Why do you insinuate he is an old man?
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Oct 29, 2012

Molobedu23

this is great Peter, keep up the good work...@MommaC, jst read the story now....am jst inspired....we need such good news on a monday morning (infact not jst on a monday morning but anyday any tym)


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Oct 29, 2012

MommaC

Moffdat

LOL
Geez child, 37 is NOT old. I hope you live long enough to find that out for yourself.

Despite the Sowetan and their dyslexia, if he finished school at 18, did 4 years for an undergrad degree then another 4 for his honours and masters, then he would have to work in his field for another 5 years before starting his doctorate and another couple of years to research the doctoral thesis ...... sounds about right for the timeline
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Oct 29, 2012

MommaC

Molobedu23

I know. Junior school kids nogal ! I was 'WOW' when I read it. So promising for our futures
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Oct 29, 2012

Moffdat

Shredder
The article says the man is 37, has a wife and child and is still at res. No kingman if you are going to make me try and believe this man is an over achiever then tomorrow i want to be on the cover of TIME magazine and you write the first stanza of the classic piece. There is nothing extraordinary that this man is doing here. Big fish little pond
@MommaC
Mumz if you can answer me honestly and tell that this man deserves to be on the front page of this periodical then i will show you a liar.
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Oct 29, 2012

MommaC

Moffdat

Don't be jealous now. That is just nasty. He was in the Citizen too. Maybe because the kids are doing well as opposed to him looking for the attention? Maybe because a small dorp that is putting out kids who come second in provincial science fairs are not the norm (unfortunately) and it got a journalist interested?

Writing a doctoral thesis is k@k hard work so taking time to get kids to love science is not something we should discourage him from doing
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Oct 29, 2012

Moffdat

Molobedu23
this is great Peter, keep up the good work...@MommaC, jst read the story now....am jst inspired....we need such good news on a monday morning (infact not jst on a monday morning but anyday any tym)
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booooooooooooooooo booooooooooooooo. Am i the only one who sees the needless nature of this article.
@Molobedu23
You need a pet or a hug
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Oct 29, 2012

Moffdat

MommaC

no i'm sorry i can't settle for a cover story drenched in mediocrity. He is doing a wonderful thing. Woop teee doooo basil. But to be on the front cover???? No this is one of those things that i suppose i will never understand. Sowetan is a national periodical not some neighbourhood newspaper written by high school kids, although sometimes i wonder, this story is unnecessary
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Oct 29, 2012

MommaC

Moffdat

It makes a nice change from front covers of rapes, Mangaung, Zuma's screwups, political thieves, Malema, etc ..... its not often you see mankind's victories on the front page - they are normally on the back page.
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Oct 29, 2012

MommaC

"Tall poppy syndrome" alive and kicking on the Sowetan
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Oct 29, 2012

Moffdat

MommaC

haai Mumz go big or go home. I've read more philanthropic stories on the free4all.
I'm sorry this story is worse than Windows98
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Oct 29, 2012

MommaC

Moffdat

Every little bit helps and if it means that one person is inspired to get involved with their old school, I don't mind him having his 15 minutes in the suun.
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Oct 29, 2012

Moffdat

You see sowetan is even blocking my comment this old, gay underachiever probably called sowetan because my comments were hurting his feelings and deep down he agrees with me. lol
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Oct 29, 2012

Lord-Have-Mercy

Good job mr
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Oct 29, 2012

Papage

"Fear of failure - and hard work - is what spurs on a Mpumalanga doctoral student, who is sharing his love of science with young people in his province"

Where is this place, maybe one need to move to such a positive place and start a new life there, as long as there are no witch crafts like Limpopo and Eastern Cape, i will move.

Good work Doctor/student/married man
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Oct 29, 2012

Afrojoy

Well done Sir. People like you are the kind of contemporary heroes SA needs.
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Oct 29, 2012

Shredder

@Papage - "Where is this place"

Hammanskraal.side
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Oct 29, 2012

Papage

Shredder
@Papage - "Where is this place"

Hammanskraal.side

Jo that side, I am told Hammanskraal is where all the witches from all over ran too after been exposed by the people in their areas, i mean you find all tribes in Hammanskraal, Tswanas, shangaans, Mapedi, Zulus and even Xhosas, that is why there is science there?
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Oct 29, 2012

Moffdat

MommaC

I knew i would find the link weitse. It just so happens that this man shares the same surname with a writer from sowetan and the sunday world. You see i told you this useless story reaked of an unfair advantage. lolest
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Oct 29, 2012

Moffdat

MommaC
The only way i would have celebrated this story is if this guy was 16 or something. I'm not celebrating a 37 year-old man doing what a 37 year old man should be doing. Very useless story very
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Oct 30, 2012

BigBootyJudy

Ok, first of all, this article is not well-written. Secondly, the information about Peter is also not correct.

Peter Malatji is a Post-Doc student at UCT. He did his undergrad, masters and PhD in Chemistry but is now in Chemical engineering, specifically catalysis.

That aside, the work that he is doing for these kids is admirable and I hope that a lot of us can do projects like these in our communities which would help with this poor education system. I hope to start a similar initiative very soon.
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