LL-L "Language politics" 2010.11.29 (01) [AF-EN]

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L O W L A N D S - L - 29 November 2010 - Volume 01
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From: Mark Dreyer <mrdreyer at lantic.net>

Subject: LL-L "Language politics" 2010.11.28 (01) [AF-EN]



Beste Marcus, Roger, All



Subject: LL-L Language Politics



Re: Gautengse Afrikaanse skole geteiken

En: Volgens Mokhosi is die probleem dat daar tans 44 skole in dié gebiede
ter sprake is. Daarvan is 14 hoër- en 30 laerskole. Van hulle is 14 Engels,
24 Afrikaans en 6 parallel medium-skole.



Well, Marcus, I wouldn't say you are off-topic.



Though I couldn't answer your question without a little research, I might
point out ab initio that it is not relevant to Mokhosi's concerns. To impute
benign motivation to his policy we should consider that when the Black
schools of every language-group were politicised, with the Soweto Riots, the
Black education infrastructure was destroyed. It made no difference whether
the schools were isiZulu, sePedi, seTswana, or whatever.



True, the buildings remain & there are staff drawing salaries, but with
salutary exceptions the 'Black' schools, which are 'free', do not provide an
education worth squat; in fact they don't provide an education period.
Teacher qualifications are low & poor (often fake), morale is lower &
discipline is non-existant. *Staff *absenteeism, drunkness & sexual abuse,
up to & including rape, is more than common, it is commonplace. This is
merely the backdrop to a general situation of theft, vandalism & gratuitious
violence involving the entire body, administration, teachers, pupils. The
horrendiously complicated Outcomes Based Syllabus is being patched &
repatched, but the pupils are lucky if the printed work-books are delivered
even three months into the school year. As for writing exams, some have been
waiting years for their results. True, there are good people studying &
qualifying as teachers, but they quickly snapped up by the Private Sector.
That is pull, & push is provided by the horrible teaching-environment the
New South African State has engendered. They just can't hold decent,
motivated & educated staff.



So any parents with the least bit of concern for their children pay in the
extra that is allowed by Law to support what used to be the 'White' schools,
& send their kids there. But there is a problem. The only community that
still holds teaching in some respect is white & Afrikaans. So the teachers
available are mostly Afrikaans, with a sprinkling of (good) Blacks & fewer
English. With the best will in the World, if a teacher is English, that had
better be the medium of instruction, or in all likelihood there will be no
instruction.



More than this, the pupils have a surprising degree of initiative in the
selection of their primary & secondary language (which must be African) of
instruction. They don't want isiZulu, or sePedi, or whatever, even if it is
their mother-tongue: They want English, because it is Kool, & International,
& their choice of a second language is Afrikaans, because it is African, &
easy. So serious has this problem become that it is now a profitable
business to set up as a mother-tongue teacher for supplementry lessons in
the student's parent's language.



Lastly, if we may impute malign motivations, Afrikaans schools & indeed
everything Afrikaans is being targeted for exclusion, marginalisation &
absorbtion. It matters little that when this is done the teachers leave &
the standard of education collapses. That is a different problem & somebody
else's department.



Yrs,

Mark



P.S. I am watching this country being run right back into the Old Stone Age,
& this is being done in the classroom. The children who started school on
the eve of 'Liberation' are starting families now, some are already well on
their way. 'Official' unemployment stands at 40%. Most of these are simply
unemployable. A large minority of long-term unemployed were never employed.
A critical mass of the present generation is incapable of operating a
technical culture even up to the Biblical level, to say nothing of the
Industrial Revolution. In fact, their forefathers that Moffat met in the
dark & savage Interior & brought to Salvation knew more than these. Pray for
my land.



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