Racism in schools: a teacher's perspective

By WR Terblanche

Between me and the other world there is ever an unasked question: unasked by some through feelings of delicacy; by others through the difficulty of rightly framing it. All, nevertheless, flutter round it. They approach me in a half-hesitant sort of way, eye me curiously or compassionately, and then, instead of saying directly, How does it feel to be a problem? they say, I know an excellent colored man in my town; or, I fought at Mechanicsville; or, Do not these Southern outrages make your blood boil? At these I smile, or am interested, or reduce the boiling to a simmer, as the occasion may require. To the real question, how does it feel to be a problem? I answer seldom a word. – W.E.B. Du Bois, 1897, Strivings of the Negro People

During 1995 or 1996 there was a TV show called Molo Fish. It was about the political awakening of a young boy in the 70s. I remember one show when he said, “The brilliance of apartheid was that it made the different oppressed groups hate each other.” We were not only forced to live separately but made to hate each other.

I wonder if this was purposeful or a natural manifestation. Maybe they knew that if we would live apart we would develop this suspicion we hold of each other. 1995 and 1996 were the years when things just started to change. Some of us were scared of what the ANC would do, some of us were happy to be free. I was happy and thought that we would live in the utopia so diligently promised to us by the leaders of the struggle.

Little did I know that it would take so long for us to rid ourselves of the shackles of apartheid. The worst place to be in South Africa if you want to witness this enduring refusal to change is in a school. Our education is often viewed as a failure because of low matric pass rates, but worse than this is the racism in schools. Instead of becoming agents of change, schools became custodians of division, self-appointed trustees of racism and hatred.

I remember when I wanted to become a teacher. My uneducated mother told me that a good teacher has to be patient and has to love children. She didn’t specify any particular race of children so I assumed she meant all children that would be entrusted to me have to be loved. I had a brief teaching experience at a white school but during most of my fifteen-year teaching career, I have taught at so-called coloured schools. These schools usually have a reasonable percentage of black learners. I have to say the racism towards these black learners is appalling.

I have heard learners being called names behind their backs like “badproppe”, “vinke” and “spoke” etc. I have seen learners overlooked for leadership positions. I have seen learners being overlooked for sports teams. I see the stereotypes, I hear the remarks, the ridicule and the absolute ignorance. Often I have to cool myself down, sometimes I have to fight back a tear, mostly I bow my head and leave.

You see, for these individuals racism isn’t an aberration from the norm. It is the norm. They believe black people are responsible for everything wrong in the world. They feel comfortable living a separated life, surrounded by likeminded individuals tucked away behind high fences and burglar bars. Validated by likeminded whites, they thrive on the mistakes of Malema and Zuma and pray for the day that God would step down from heaven and fix whatever is wrong in South Africa.

The education department makes it illegal for schools to refuse learners based on their race. I suppose this is done in good faith with the intention of providing learners the opportunity to learn where they want to and to encourage integration. But besides this, schools are left on their own. No one is taught, supported, or empowered on how to handle this integration. There is no human rights education for educators. Instead we are overloaded with nonsensical administration. We must make portfolios and fancy rubrics and work according to strange work schedules.

Instead of empowering educators to enlighten the youth, the leaders of tomorrow, we are allowed to teach – each one of us – with our own preconceived ideas of humanity, spreading falsities, prejudice and stereotypes at will.

To make matters worse, there is no institutionalised body to address racism in schools. Where do you go if your child experiences racism, or if you as an adult are discriminated against or if I want to report the numerous acts of racism I witness daily? A society that respects the rights of its citizens doesn’t tread lightly when the rights of minorities are violated.

In the end, something has to be done when the atrocities of the past are allowed to flourish in institutions that are supposed to educate the leaders of the future. According to Phil Hunsberger, an education equity consultant, in order to free schools from racism educators need to understand the “architecture of racism”. Hunsberger believes that oppression and racism thrive where a dominant group sustains power over a subordinate group. It’s called institutional racism. It’s not as overt and open as in the days of Verwoerd, but it is there. Often it is subtle, invisible and sometimes, unintentional, but always there.

Instead of saying directly, “How does it feel to be a problem?” some teachers pretend to teach, they pretend to like the learners, they pretend.

WR Terblanche is a teacher with 15 years of teaching experience. He holds an honours degree in special needs education. He wrote a mini thesis on underachievement in disadvantaged schools and plans to pursue a master’s degree in human rights education.