Only one speaker at the Values, Education and Democracy Conference held in Cape Town in February tackled questions of racism and equity in school education in a concrete way. He was John Powell, Professor of law at the University of Minnesota and Director of the Institute of Race and Poverty.
He reminded us that, according to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), governments have an obligation to create and maintain adequate access to education. Nevertheless, the following statistics were provided at the World Conference on Education for All in 1990:
more than 100-million children, including at least 60-million girls, had no access to primary schooling
more than 960-million adults are illiterate and functional illiteracy is a significant problem in all countries, industrialised and developing;
more than one-third of the world’s adults have no access to the printed knowledge, new skills and technologies that could improve the quality of their lives
more than 100 million children fail to complete basic education programmes; millions more satisfy the attendance requirements but do not acquire essential knowledge and skills.
Powell went on to compare the way both American and South African education policies have been used to disempower blacks. “Because governments in both South Africa and the United States sought to maintain subordinate status for blacks, the education blacks have received in both nations has been and still is inferior.”
In both countries there continues to be inadequate funding of education for blacks. This makes it difficult for blacks to progress economically, since the lack of adequate education results in their being unable to compete in the labour market. Powell argues that “the right to an adequate education translates into the right to work and earn a living.”
Allthough legislation and policies have changed since 1994, there is still a huge backlog in amenities across a range of contexts in South Africa. Many township and rural schools lack running water, toilets and telephones.
Close to half the schools in the country need major repairs and many are overcrowded and understaffed. All of these factors, Powell reminds us, have a direct impact on the quality of the education that is delivered.
In the light of these realities, Powell suggests that affirmative action is an important tool for improving participation in a democracy. He believes that it can distribute resources and opportunities in a more equitable way. “Affirmative action changes the racial hierarchy by taking away what some have come to view as entitlements, and giving what was not available to others. Achieving equity today requires unequal treatment to remedy yesterday’s inequities.”
While the affirmative action debate continues to rage both here and in the United States, it is perhaps necessary to adopt another approach – what Powell calls transformative action. This notion focuses not only on the goals of achieving racial justice and a robust democracy but also describes the process of working towards these goals.
Transformative action says we must not only be concerned with bringing about a more racially just distribution of resources, but we also need to ensure that everyone participates in defining and shaping our society.
According to Powell, transformative action helps us to see “that racial inequality does not flow from the individual intellectual failings of some and the merit or skill of others. It forces us to identify the structural causes (social, economic and political) and institutionalised nature of racial inequality.”
The power of dialogue in these matters cannot be underestimated. “But”, cautions Powell, “there can be no meaningful dialogue between a master and a servant.” True dialogue depends on equal power relations between those engaging in dialogue. True dialogue is facilitated by the integration of the workplace, schools, neighbourhoods and public spaces. The interaction that results from this integration is the key to mutual respect and understanding, a fundamental requirement of a meaningful democracy. Transformative action must strive “to water the roots, not the branches”. It is not simply about transferring resources to previously disadvantaged individuals. Rather it is about the provision of meaningful access to the “institutions and mechanisms by which society cultivates the human capital that makes individuals attractive for admission and employment”.
Practical suggestions for taking transformative action against racism in schools recommended by Powell include:
training teachers to conduct genuine discussions and dialoguein dealing with racism
providing forums for learners to talk about issues of race
providing forums for parents to talk about ways of achieving non-racialism;
examining the curriculum to see how knowledge has been and continues to be used to segregate and create divisions
highlighting the fact that living in a democracy requires that inequalities need to be continually challenged.
— The Teacher/M&G Media, Johannesburg, May 2001.