The Freedom Charter of
the ANC was grounded by the clause that South Africa belongs to all who live in
it, black and white, and no government can justly claim authority unless it is
based on the will of the people… the rights of the people shall be the same regardless
of race, color or sex. (Wooden, p. 115).
A common theme that I observed in working at Emafini and then visiting other schools is the great disparity within the same
system. In the US we also experience
this dynamic and the consequences of how it impacts student learning and
achievement. I can’t help but to reflect on this everyday as we work with the
learners at Emafini. There reality is drastically
different than the learners attending The Gray.
Access to resources and instructional technology are practically non-existent
at Emafini. At The Gray, learners have
access to a full library filled with books, parent volunteers, and computer
labs with access for each learner, and classrooms with whiteboards. At Emafini the learning experience is
consumed with a make-shifted library with limited texts for students,
classrooms with blackboards that need to be replaced, no instructional
resources available for teaching and learning, and classrooms with poor
lighting and unclean.
The ANC demanded that
all apartheid laws and practices shall be set aside and called for equal access
to health, education, and legal rights.
The vision of future South Africa as strongly rooted in democracy and
multiculturalism, but the commitment to social and economic transformation had
less clear directives (Wooden, p. 116)
I have never believed that educators had to have the newest
instructional technology supports or newest resources in order to teach
effectively and demonstrate positive student progress. However, I will say that when basic
educational resources are not equitably provided for all students it is very
discouraging. The learners at Emafini
are not afforded an equitable education as their Gray counterparts. Much like the US, learners are expected to
demonstrate the same level of competency as their peers regardless of the
access to instructional resources, which support student learning. We know that student exposure and
experiences play a huge factor in their learning. The learners of Emafini have limited
opportunities outside of their school community to develop some of the skills
that other students from more affluent communities would be afforded. We experience the same dynamic in the US and
try to address this though school trips, exhibits, events, and create options
for students to level the learning experience for all students. Although this is a constant challenge for
many schools, we recognize the importance of student’s prior experiences and
background knowledge are in helping them build on new learning.
Despite diversity,
most viewed South Africa as a dual economy with two distinct societies: a white
urban and capitalist agrarian system on one hand and a rural impoverished and
stagnating African sector on the other.” (Wooden, p. 2)
The learners at Emafini are challenged with lack of funding
for resources, equipment, and facilities maintenance. The learning atmosphere is almost the polar
opposite of The Gray. The teaching expectations
for student learning are the same. It is
very reminiscent of the US time period of integration after de-segregation. Many school districts were charged with
creating “separate, but equal” educational institutions. However, many faced some of the same perils
as Emafini…separate but NOT equal.
Emafini is a predominately black school that now has a colored Principal.
At The Gray, the majority of the student body consists of white students. Parent support included volunteering and financial
donations. Students are expected to pay
tuition to attend which also supplements the limited government funding that is
received by all schools. The detriment
for Emafini is that it still suffers from the effects of apartheid. Parents are not financially able to pay
tuition to help supplement the school’s limited funding. Parent support at Emafini is seen in forms of
volunteering in various unpaid positions within the school building. The governmental agencies are aware of these
discrepancies but do not make previsions to accommodate the differences between
schools.
After 1945 white
supremacism began to wane as many colonies began the move towards independence,
but in South Africa discrimination became even more entrenched. (Wooden, p. 73). South Africa developed into a systematic and
legalized discrimination shaping the economic, social and political structure
of the whole country in a more pervasive way than anywhere else. (Wooden, p.
73)
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