In South Africa, the educational system has been hit hard by racism which still persists way after apartheid has ended. Black Africans are said to be continuing to university in low numbers compared to whites and the few who are continuing are described as ill-prepared, and are not graduating. When a deeper analysis was performed, it showed that not only were the materials that the students used inferior to those of white students, but that the teachers were also ill-prepared, and/or were leaving class early to focus on projects/businesses of their own.
Reading about this, I couldn't help checking the date of the article as I felt like I was watching an "Eyes on the Prize" documentary of segregation in the American South. However, the problem can be compared to present day America, because just like in America, a system that doesn't care doesn't produce graduates or signs of promising students. I don't think anyone is naive enough to believe that after apartheid race relations will magically become 100% better than they were before. However, blatant apathy towards the promise of young Black Africans is too insulting to be ignored.
1 comment:
This is the same problem that we're having here in inner city schools in America. There is a lot of apathy within the school administrative system and the students are suffering as a result. I do feel that the South African school system should feel ashamed of the statistics. After everything the country has been through, they should want to at least change education for the better.
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