Pat Sidley
Trainee teachers at the mainly black Colleges of Education throughout the country are seething over the textbooks they are required to study.
The books, condemned as “paranoid drivel”, are just one of a number of issues that are intensifying the growing crisis in teacher training.
A conference of college of education rectors met last week to discuss transformation — but barely touched the tip of the iceberg of the problems confronting education at the level of teacher training colleges.
Some of the colleges have so few facilities that there are almost no books in libraries (when there are libraries). One college is reputed to have no lavatories and at several colleges students say they are are treated like school children and barred from all political activity, including that of student representative councils. The South African Students’ Congress (Sasco), the largest of the student organisations, is effectively banned from several college campuses.
Among the Verwoerdian concepts still taught to future teachers is information that has been compiled and printed (sometimes reprinted several times) since 1990, by normally well-respected publishing houses such as
Student teachers are compelled to read and learn by rote what Sasco representative and education student Stephanie Allais has described as “paranoid drivel”, because it is the only book they are required to read.
One such example comes from Education for the Student Teacher: 3 in the Longman Teacher Training Series, first published in 1992, with its present impression printed last year. This book and other similar ones are used in many of the the teacher training colleges which churned out black teachers into what was the DET
PA Duminy, with several other authors, teaches the would-be teachers about communism and education with the philosophy prevailing prior to the party’s
According to Duminy and his co-authors: “Truth is anything and everything which serves the communal
In a section called “The communist view of education”, the authors declare: “The communist views the child solely as a social being. The child is not regarded as an individual” and “… according to the communist outlook, the child is an objectifiable instrument to be used for communism’s own purposes if necessary”.
After proposing that, “for the communist, the essential characteristic of education is the definite, purposeful and systematic influencing of the mind of the child”, the authors state categorically the following:
“In such an atmosphere, which does not promote individual interests, it is understandable that interpersonal trust is not regarded as very important. More often, a climate of distrust between individuals exists. Likewise, the education environment is not characterised by interpersonal trust. Children and teachers often distrust one another, because they regularly question the loyalty of each to the principles of the communist party.”
Then, stated as a matter of incontestable fact, the authors state, while dealing with Christianity and education: “Jesus Christ, the son of God, came as true God to the earth to found Christianity. Various human beings, as Christian believers under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, contributed towards the formulation of the educational theory of Christianity.”
After proclaiming the virtues of the Christian outlook on life (in which the child is a unique creation of God and not the result of the process of evolution), the authors conclude: “The Christian aim of education is to be balanced in all respects. It attempts to achieve a balanced emphasis of individual and societal needs and not stress one at the cost of the other.”
The further astonishing claim is made that “Christian education also aims to provide opportunities to all; for example, the blind, the deaf and the gifted …”
The book devotes the same attention to something the authors describe as the liberal view of education. This section contains such gems as: “As a free and intellectual being, the child’s freedom should never be threatened by the will of adults, by the majority will or by any other repressive forces.”
With a brief reference to the the fact that the country was about to be radically reshaped between 1992 (when the first edition was printed) and 1994 when the last impression was printed, the book describes in, Chapter 7, the South African education system. It has a brief introduction which states: “The South African education system is unique and complex in that it consists of four subsystems of education running parallel to one another, catering for the diversity of the population.”
The book then describes the homelands as “black states”, gives a handy map of “South African black states” which was all but outdated before the end of 1993 and then describes briefly the history of whites, blacks, coloureds and Indians as though Verwoerd had written the piece himself.
For instance: “The coloureds constitute a heterogeneous population group, which includes Griquas, Malays, Khoikhoi, and others who trace their origin to the miscegenation of blacks and whites.”
In Education 3, written by Fourie, Oberholzer and Venter, the following assertion is foisted on black would-be teachers: “… the English-speakers’ religious/ideological views mean that they expect that education should make a contribution towards the inculcation of individualism, an attitude of competitive rivalry and the acquisition of secular knowledge. As against this, the Afrikaans-speakers are not primarily interested in good examination results, and in getting the winning edge in sports. They are more concerned that education should support their children to become the persons God demands them to be.”
This book was printed in 1993. The “present” system of education, this textbook tells its readers, is “the product of 75 years of thought and work in education. It has been shaped by historic realities and the needs of disparate communities, cultural groups and geographical areas”.
Dealing once again with the disturbing question of communists, Fourie and colleagues state: “How the universe originated is an annoying question for the communist and one to which he pays only passing attention.” It then makes assertions which bear a startling resemblance to those of Duminy and his pals.
Then, having whacked the communists, neo-Marxists and other creepy crawlies, the authors state: “Man was created by God. A personal relationship between the Christian and God is possible through the mediation of Jesus Christ … The Christian educator has to help the child to constitute his world by ascribing meaning to it — meaning which is based on Christian values and