Listening to the silent majority

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The subject of racial integration of South African schools should be an important subject in my next report, when I will zoom in on black youths. As late as 1989, the South African authorities apparently still feel that there are historical, cultural, educational and practical reasons for retaining schools for white pupils only. The majority of white voters want this, so according to Piet Clase, Minister of Education and Culture, that is just what the government is doing; full stop. The reasons given are endless. The geographic position of schools is one reason; transport and mother tongue education are two other arguments. And then the minister maintains that the character of schools would change with the admission to white schools of other groups, and that social tensions and personnel problems would emerge. This is another frontal collision between ‘old thinking’ versus ‘new thinking’ in the minds of whites, because what else are schools than a reflection of society on the whole? The character of the South African nation has been changing for decades and, like a steamroller, is changing ever faster every day that God allows South Africans to live. Where has Mr Piet Clase been lately? Change ought to be encouraged and stimulated, not only at schools, but among the young in general, because they will have to live in South Africa untill the middle of the 21st century and beyond.^108.

Piet Clase: ‘A school,’ he says, ‘is not a knowledge factory... a community is a network of relationships.’ He continued on May 15, 1989 in the House of Assembly during the budget vote on Whites' Own Affairs, ‘Black-board jungles are created quite easily. They develop in

108. The Sowetan pointed out (April 27, 1989) that 250 000 black pupils could be given school accomodation, if only 278 526 empty places in white schools were opened up to them. (But would the black children be able to follow the white-oriented curriculae?)

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schools where there are substantial groups of alienated pupils.’ But what about oversized groups of alienated citizens among 28 million South Africans? Does no-one in the Ministry of Education and Culture understand that if children, especially in urban areas, can't be taught to communicate and study together, how does the government ever expect to be handling a population that feels alienated and misunderstood? I said it before, and I say it again; where is the courage of the Afrikaner who once was admired and respected by the entire world for his endurance against the odds? Now the time has come to share more of this wealth and prosperity created together with all residents of the Republic. If this revolution of thinking is to start anywhere, it must begin in schools.

The minister lists all the things that could go wrong. He speaks of alienation through subject offerings, representing a poor compromise to please all. He speaks of different value systems between teachers and pupils. He might have added, between black and white pupils, and between black pupils among themselves. He speaks of isolation from communities, black and white, and he expresses the fear, mark you, that ‘the school's ethos and character would change’. A remark like this by the Minister of Education in any country is absolutely shocking, but in South Africa, at this crucial moment in its history, is simply not acceptable. The ethos and character everywhere changed with the revolution of rising expectations of the formerly subjugated peoples of Asia, Africa and most of Latin America. The ethos and character of the United States changed with the gradual increase of equal rights for blacks and whites, mostly after 1960. The ethos and character of most of Africa also changed with the nationalist liberation movement in this continent beginning in 1960. Only South Africa remained relatively untouched behind massive racially-oriented legislation backed up by military might and police forces. How do the minds of South African whites function? Can they not see that they will have to integrate?

As pointed out in the beginning of this report, brains of children are first structured by what parents tell their kids and make them accept as being right or wrong, followed by the school, the teachers and fellow pupils, while by the age of twelve most children are in the possession of an independently-operating mind. Their opinions and judgements are based too often upon the values and priorities the parents have set for themselves. In practice this means, for a majority of white children, that

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they were brought up in racially-segrated schools. This is not necessarily a short-cut to creating a society in which blacks and whites learn to accept each other's equal right to a place in the sun on the same piece of land they have to share. To make South Africa livable for all races in the future, a step by step integration^109. of all schools is unavoidable and a must. Old concepts die slowly; very slowly. To expect that separate black and white schools could be maintained for ever is another myth that replaced a simple truth and fact of life.

In Soweto the shortage of schools is causing concern. Children often have to commute from one corner of the township to another to follow classes. Presently, Soweto has 63 515 secondary school pupils. Next year it will be 79 399. In primary schools there are now 143 614 pupils and next year the number will have risen to 152 552. It costs 3,5 million rand to build a school, excluding furniture and other facilities. Then, a lot of schools have been burned down by radical elements encouraged by the anc and other red-oriented forces from outside South Africa. Vandalism is another problem Soweto and all other townships have to deal with. The young in South Africa are exposed to the same television series and videos as anywhere else in the world. In the United States, by the age of sixteen, the average child has witnessed 200 000 acts of violence, including 33 000 murders through their television screen.^110. As anywhere else, the entertainment media in South Africa play a powerful role in the formation of values. The abuse that blacks have been exposed to in South Africa over the past century, at least, has left both parents and children often angry and alienated, while large numbers of blacks grow up as self-centered and as emotional cripples. And here comes the Minister for Education and Culture, who outlines a strategy for the future, that is wholly and completely out of touch with South African reality.

Most papers screamed against his presentation on May 5, 1989 in the House of Assembly. ‘The air may sometimes be alive with the sounds of verligtheid,’ editorialised the Johannesburg Star,^111. ‘but clearly it is still charged with racism. Mr Clase's statement demonstrates very clearly,

109. At most South African universities integration has begun, but experts are of the opinion that too few blacks are presently studying at university level

110. Time Magazine, ‘Violent Kids’ pp 56-63, June 12, 1989

111. Samkelo Khumalo City Press, May 28, 1989

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that in areas such as education, the National Party intends clinging to recist structures quite regardless of reason or cost.’ I expect, however, that an np under the leadership of Mr fw de Klerk will initiate an entirely new policy also in the realm of Education and Culture.