William Smith (teacher)

William Macdonald Smith (born 25 June 1939) is a South African science and mathematics teacher who is best known for his maths and science lessons on television. Born in Makhanda (Grahamstown), he is the son of the ichthyologist Margaret Mary Smith and Professor J. L. B. Smith, the renowned chemist and ichthyologist who identified the coelacanth. He attended St. Andrew's Prep before matriculating at Union High School in Graaff-Reinet. He then went on to study at Rhodes University, where he obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in physics and chemistry, followed by an honours degree (cum laude) in chemistry at the same institution. Following that, he obtained a master's degree from the University of Natal (Pietermaritzburg campus) in only seven months. During his time at school and university, Smith showed an interest in film and camerawork, scripting, shooting, and producing the 50-minute feature documentary, ‘The Garden Route,’ in 1960. The film was digitised and relaunched in 2010. He started working at African Explosives and Chemical Industries (AECI). Deciding that he would rather pursue a teaching career, Smith left the industry and moved to the education sector, where he started 'Star Schools,' named for the mass-circulation Johannesburg newspaper, The Star, which published material that Smith prepared to support his lessons. The aim of these schools is to provide value-for-money supplementary education with top-class teachers to prepare learners for their matriculation exams. During the next 25 years, Smith became famous throughout South Africa, winning a 'Teacher of the Year' award in 1991. Smith ran his first multi-racial school in the 1970s, despite problems with the Apartheid authorities. At that time, education facilities were segregated under legislation such as the Bantu Education Act (1953), and black children were prohibited from attending classes on campuses that had been reserved for whites.