QJD's road in draughting education south africa

as a  passionate advocate of the concept of multi disciplinary draughting, design and multi CAD package skill sets. It has always been a goal which i feel  is imperative, that school education should be creating employable young people into the world of work after 12 years of schooling. the school system at present is not creating an employable end product after 12 years of school.

i was having a conversation with a school principle awhile ago , asking him why wood work, technical drawing , metal work , home economics and various other practical courses had been dropped from the main stream SA  school curriculum after 1994. his response amazed me - I'm not sure if it is correct, however it could be and it is a fact that these practical important subjects have been dropped. he said - they dropped subjects across the countries schools based on  if a school could not afford the equipment and if theft was rife at 1 school then no schools should have the privilege of carrying that subject - all schools must be equal in disseminating information. although this is noble it is an interesting approach and could explain why these valuable subjects have been dropped.

as an executive member of the SAID for close to 10 years and having represented SAID at various SACAP forums. ive had the privilege to sit between education, industry and regulatory bodies for a number of years now, as well as run my own architectural design studio for 11 years. 4 very important domains and role players in the world of work. my own interpretation of Draughting is the ability to clearly Communicate using pictures,  technical drawings to illustration to graphic design and even some graphic art could be interpreted as draughting. (escher)

having the privilege to lecture  draughting / design since 1994 at various draughting / cad schools. starting at the cad training center, academy of advanced technology, intec, damlin, northlink college and currently at the academy of inventive design and technology in century city. and the further priviledge of  currently being assigned the position of examiner and chief examiner for the department of education - south africa - creating isat's and exemplar papers for the NCV - architectural graphics and technology NQF level 1 and 2. 

i am always amazed at the incredible talent coming up through the educational system. talent that does not always hit its straps within this benchmarking 12 year arena. late talented bloomers find it difficult in a world that measures one on school performance  -  unfortunately an arena that doesn't always correctly work with out the box thinkers.

so having spent many years in the after school teaching domain - i am now going to try and expose younger minds to the concepts of out the box thinking - with my little character yip trip. if we can nurture talent before and whilst it goes through the school system. we can hopefully shield young sensitive creative minds and expose them to the concept of the creative within. an exciting prospect which welds tuition, industry expertise and designs around young creative futuristic design draughting mindsets.

so yip trip with his friend thandile, dog gidgit , sister yippi mippi and a host of characters - will start designing whacky furniture, houses , office blocks and improving life in grebnezium (muizenberg backwards.) the concept behind the character is to encourage out the box thinking before and during the formative school years.

most pictures are compiled in technical cad packages (as i couldn't hope to compete with today's graphic artists) the ability to create graphic pictures using CAD packages is a different approach and should yield drawings that are interestingly different whilst giving off the idea that its not necessarily the medium you chose to use to communicate pictorial ideas - but the actual idea itself.

would like to hear from you if you like this idea - qjdamstra@new.co.za