Educational System
So you may have heard that I'm going to South Africa to student teach. It's been a long, emotional couple of months, but I'm actually finally leaving next week.
When I first applied to COST (Consortium of Overseas Student Teaching), I never would have considered South Africa. And I have to admit, the only reason I told them to send my application there was because I was desperate for a student teaching placement. However, now that I've read my travel guides, talked to people who have been to Port Elizabeth, and learned a TON about the history and educational system... I am so thankful that I ended up with a placement in South Africa. The country is absolutely fascinating, and thier history is so recent.
Since I just finished writing a 13 page research paper about South African education, I think now is a good time to give you a very breif overview. (If you want to read all 13 pages, I'd be happy to send it to you).
South Africa's system of education began with inequality; even before Apartheid (white rule) was established around 1948, the white settlers believed they deserved better education than the natives. Keep in mind that there are 4 main ethnic groups in South Africa: whites (which includes the English and the Afrikaners), the natives, Indians, and coloureds. Afrikaners are white descendants of early settlers who sort of integrated themselves into South Africa, Coloured people are mostly descendants of slaves and Europeans (the "mixed race"), and Indians are the descendants of slaves from India/Asia.
So back to Apartheid...The National Party was elected in 1948, and a few years later, the government passed the Bantu Education Act (Bantu refers to the natives of South Africa). Basically, this is the most racist set of laws that you could imagine. The belief was that black Africans could never amount to more than low wage labor, so they didn't need to be educated beyond that. They needed to know their place in society and... horror of horrors... were not taught math or science. One of the main architects of the act was a man who studied in Germany and went by the Nazi philosophy of the "pure race." The Bantu Education Act also gave the government full control of education. Over the next 40 some years, black South Africans went to schools in horrible conditions, while white South Africans had pretty good schools. Each ethnic group (there are at least 9 different native South African societies) had its own "homeland" with its own schools. Families were pulled apart when the father and/or mother had to work in the cities but the children had to stay in the homelands (with the risk of being arrested and fined if you were found visiting a family member in the city). The government spent on black schools only one tenth of the money they spent on white schools; and this is a population that is almost 80% black and only 20% or less white. Teachers in the homeland schools were unqualified, there were no textbooks, no electricity or water in many of the schools, and the student:teacher ratio was twice that of the ratio in white schools.
Problems in education increased when students began to see the school system as a tool of the Apartheid government to further separate the races. Students declared "Liberation Before Education" and led their own protests. At least 100 children were killed in protests and riots. Schools were vandalized, and teachers and students were attacked on their way to school.
Finally, in 1984, the government called for improvements in black education. Things moved slowly until 1994, when Nelson Mandela was relased from prison and elected President. In 1995, schools were officially desegregated. In 1996, a new South African constitution was written, granting the right to a free, quality education to every South African citizen. And a ton of education reforms followed. The school funding issue was modified (each province must spend 60% of its resources on the poorest 40% of the schools, with more money going to the poorest school, and the least money going to the more affluent schools), all students are now required to attend school through the 9th grade and have the option of going on for 3 more years. There are now 11 offical languages in South Africa (there were only 2 under Apartheid: English and Afrikaans), and every student has the right to request instruction in the language of his or her choice (and the schools MUST provide this). A new national curriculum was developed, "Curriculum 2005," which is honestly some of the best ideas about education that I have seen from a government. It's focused on student centered, cooperative learning, where students not only learn subject material, but they learn how to think, how to work together, and basically how to function as a contributing member of society. Basically it sounds like my dream for what education should be.
Obviously, there are a lot of problems getting these reforms underway, the big one being money. The latest statistics I found showed that 30% of South African "homeland" schools still lack water and electricity. Many are still short on books, staff (apparently some teachers show up drunk, without plans, or not at all). When students are in Grade 12, they must pass their matriculation exams, or matrics. The nationwide average is about 60% passing, but some of the homeland schools have only a 20% passing rate while forme white schools boast 80-100% passing rates. There are huge discrepencies in all aspects of education.
I could go on and on...South Africa history and educational system is my new favorite topic of conversation, so please chat me up!
And now about the school I will be at... Alexander Road High School (www.arhs.ecape.school.za) was one of the white schools under Apartheid, so needless to say, it is a very good school. Although it has been integrated, about 60% of the students are white.
Wish me luck, I'll post again as soon as I settle into Port Elizabeth!
When I first applied to COST (Consortium of Overseas Student Teaching), I never would have considered South Africa. And I have to admit, the only reason I told them to send my application there was because I was desperate for a student teaching placement. However, now that I've read my travel guides, talked to people who have been to Port Elizabeth, and learned a TON about the history and educational system... I am so thankful that I ended up with a placement in South Africa. The country is absolutely fascinating, and thier history is so recent.
Since I just finished writing a 13 page research paper about South African education, I think now is a good time to give you a very breif overview. (If you want to read all 13 pages, I'd be happy to send it to you).
South Africa's system of education began with inequality; even before Apartheid (white rule) was established around 1948, the white settlers believed they deserved better education than the natives. Keep in mind that there are 4 main ethnic groups in South Africa: whites (which includes the English and the Afrikaners), the natives, Indians, and coloureds. Afrikaners are white descendants of early settlers who sort of integrated themselves into South Africa, Coloured people are mostly descendants of slaves and Europeans (the "mixed race"), and Indians are the descendants of slaves from India/Asia.
So back to Apartheid...The National Party was elected in 1948, and a few years later, the government passed the Bantu Education Act (Bantu refers to the natives of South Africa). Basically, this is the most racist set of laws that you could imagine. The belief was that black Africans could never amount to more than low wage labor, so they didn't need to be educated beyond that. They needed to know their place in society and... horror of horrors... were not taught math or science. One of the main architects of the act was a man who studied in Germany and went by the Nazi philosophy of the "pure race." The Bantu Education Act also gave the government full control of education. Over the next 40 some years, black South Africans went to schools in horrible conditions, while white South Africans had pretty good schools. Each ethnic group (there are at least 9 different native South African societies) had its own "homeland" with its own schools. Families were pulled apart when the father and/or mother had to work in the cities but the children had to stay in the homelands (with the risk of being arrested and fined if you were found visiting a family member in the city). The government spent on black schools only one tenth of the money they spent on white schools; and this is a population that is almost 80% black and only 20% or less white. Teachers in the homeland schools were unqualified, there were no textbooks, no electricity or water in many of the schools, and the student:teacher ratio was twice that of the ratio in white schools.
Problems in education increased when students began to see the school system as a tool of the Apartheid government to further separate the races. Students declared "Liberation Before Education" and led their own protests. At least 100 children were killed in protests and riots. Schools were vandalized, and teachers and students were attacked on their way to school.
Finally, in 1984, the government called for improvements in black education. Things moved slowly until 1994, when Nelson Mandela was relased from prison and elected President. In 1995, schools were officially desegregated. In 1996, a new South African constitution was written, granting the right to a free, quality education to every South African citizen. And a ton of education reforms followed. The school funding issue was modified (each province must spend 60% of its resources on the poorest 40% of the schools, with more money going to the poorest school, and the least money going to the more affluent schools), all students are now required to attend school through the 9th grade and have the option of going on for 3 more years. There are now 11 offical languages in South Africa (there were only 2 under Apartheid: English and Afrikaans), and every student has the right to request instruction in the language of his or her choice (and the schools MUST provide this). A new national curriculum was developed, "Curriculum 2005," which is honestly some of the best ideas about education that I have seen from a government. It's focused on student centered, cooperative learning, where students not only learn subject material, but they learn how to think, how to work together, and basically how to function as a contributing member of society. Basically it sounds like my dream for what education should be.
Obviously, there are a lot of problems getting these reforms underway, the big one being money. The latest statistics I found showed that 30% of South African "homeland" schools still lack water and electricity. Many are still short on books, staff (apparently some teachers show up drunk, without plans, or not at all). When students are in Grade 12, they must pass their matriculation exams, or matrics. The nationwide average is about 60% passing, but some of the homeland schools have only a 20% passing rate while forme white schools boast 80-100% passing rates. There are huge discrepencies in all aspects of education.
I could go on and on...South Africa history and educational system is my new favorite topic of conversation, so please chat me up!
And now about the school I will be at... Alexander Road High School (www.arhs.ecape.school.za) was one of the white schools under Apartheid, so needless to say, it is a very good school. Although it has been integrated, about 60% of the students are white.
Wish me luck, I'll post again as soon as I settle into Port Elizabeth!
posted by Katie | 8:10 PM
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