HelveticaHi David,
You make it appear, as if every mother's child wants to become
educated. Certainly you have a very good opinion of formal education,
but one that I am not always able to share. Still some formal
education is likely better than none.
1) May I assume that formal education is compulsory in DR Congo? If
so, from what age to what age?
2) What are the special features of DR Congo's public education system
that give it such a good reputation?
For example, the educational system of Singapore has a very good
reputation in the Far East, but upon close examination the educational
statistics show a very strong complementary private sector. This
suggests a public system that works well for a carefully screened
minority who find their way to the top and spread Singapore's
educational reputation abroad, but perhaps a much less satisfactory
system of education for those who do not make it to more advanced
levels.
3) I asked this question of Aurolyn about Bolivia, but she failed to
reply. Is French the language of instruction in DR Congo's public
universities? If so, does this not place enormous pressure on
Congolese children to excel in French while in grade school. What
happens to their French after they have graduated from school?
4) How would you compare the private schools run by the church with
those run by the government? Where does one obtain a better education,
or does it depend on the school and individual student performance. In
short, not everyone, who has the money, wants to attend a private
school.
5) I am not sure what you mean by K8. How many grades are there in the
public school system, and how are they designated?
6) Might one generalize and state that there are three general
language patterns for whicht the national (NLx) and local (LL)
languages are often one and the same?
a) A local language (LL), a national language (NLx), and KL-Creole
(KLC) [secondary-level education and below] -- Probably the vast
majority of DR-Congolese
b) A local language (LL), a national language (NLx) and French (F)
[tertiary education] -- A sophisticated and wealthy minority from
different localities that stands aloof from the rest of Congolese
society.
c) A local language (LL), a national language (LLx), KL-Creole (KLC),
and French (F) [secondary or tertiary level] -- A a large minority of
Congolese who enjoy either a secondary or tertiary level of education,
are widely distributed throughout society, and can sometimes wield
substantial power and influence both as individuals and as a group.
What adjustments would you make to the above structural generalization?
Hamo
p.s. If you have not read the article entitled "New perpsective for a
new adminsitration" I revised it this morning so that it would read
better. Sometimes I cannot write in any language, no matter how hard I
try.
On 1 Nov 2004, at 07:37, David Balosa wrote:
Dear Hamo:
The Lingala that Mobutu introduced to the DR Congolese was
the standard Lingala which originated from his ethnic background the
Bangala. Then that Lingala was modified by "La Kinoiserie" pride of
belonging to Kinshasa social group and its philosophy ( urban prestige
as an important motivating factor for learning Lingala Creole). And
promoted by its lyrics, entertainers, sport' s superstars, and so
forth.
1. Kinshasa is one of the biggest cities in the world. To
found out what % of all DRC live in Kinshasa you better read the UN's
world repot on that. Remember that DR Congo is the 10th largest
country of the world (D.C. Health and Company(1987, p.28)).
2. The DR Congolese believe that achievement is associated
with education. 95% of DR congolese receives formal education and 100%
would like to receive formal education if given opportunity.
3. Yes, there is. DR Congo public educational system is one
of the most respected educational system in Africa and Europe. Too
many DR Congolese scholars in Global educational arena.
4. Yes, they are. They are publicly educated. Since most of
them can't effort private education. The best public educational
system is under catholic schools' administration.
5. The textbooks are in French ( for college and high
school). In Kinshasa, textbooks are in Lingala and French up to K8,
the same apply to each province(region) - textbooks are in the
national language and French (Lingala and French, Tshiluba and
French, Kikongo and French, Kingwana/Swahili and French). Kinshasa
Lingala Creole as a lingua franca is dominant in the streets of most
of the DR Congolese main cities, such as Kisangani, Lubumbashi, Goma,
Kikwit and so forth. The DR Congolese language ecology has a huge
impact in the national educational policy. Young DR Congolese
performance is affected by the language ecology situation of the
country since the education at the higher level is in the language
that is not their every day means of communication or the language in
which they don't rationalize. There is the challenge for the DR Congo
and the African Union's language and education policy. Should Lingala
become the language of medium of education side by side with French,
thus the country adopting a bilingual educational policy like in
Canada? Then we will have the USA of Africa in terms of socioeconomic
development of that part of the world.
Indeed! the Kinois, "la kinoiserie" and its KL-Creole is the
almighty feature of urban identity/prestige among the DR Congolese at
home and abroad. What is interesting in the kinois is that they
(kinois) think that no matter from which main city of the country a DR
Congolese is from or has been educated, if he/she doesn't speak the
KL-Creole thus he/she is a "mbokatier" in Kinshasa
Lingala Creole , which is said
"mowuta" in Standard Lingala,
"villageois/e" in French, which means
"country man/woman" or "villager" in
English.
There lies an other big challenge for the DR. Congolese
language policy makers: Should they develop textbooks in KL-Creole and
French or in Standard Lingala and French.
Finally, KL-Creole as a special lingua franca like any other
special lingua franca has both national ( in a highly multilingual
country) and international ( DR. Congo, Congo- Brazzaville, RC.
Africa, Northern Angola, ...) identity feature.
0000,0000,EEEEhttp://african.lss.wisc.edu/nalrc/lingala.htm
David Balosa
LaSalle University
Philadelphia, USA