I think most readers will be familiar with that unbearable screech which sometimes blasts out of a concert’s or meeting’s sound system. Well, that screech is caused by the feedback into the sound system of some of the amplified sound already produced by the system. Because the sound wave of the feedback is in phase […]
education
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UKZN crisis – a letter to management
As has been reported in several media sources, the University of KwaZulu Natal (UKZN) faces another crisis, several contract staff members have not been paid for up to four months of work. Many of those who have been paid have not been paid in full. UKZN management has consistently denied or downplayed the issue, as […]
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Apartheid nostalgia, education and agency
By Athambile Masola The media coverage about the shambolic state of education in South Africa (with a recent focus on the Eastern Cape) is disturbing. The views vacillate between inspiring hope for change and declaring doom over the future of the thousands of young people whose right to basic education is being flouted in the […]
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Dispelling a stereotype: Women in the Arab Gulf
By Richard Ferraris Stereotypes. The fast food of our intellectual age. They are available on every corner and appeal to every taste. In the developed world, it has become fashionable to cite the example of the stereotypical oppressed Muslim woman, which lends credence to a Western view that must inevitably triumph. The Muslim woman. Veiled. […]
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A sausage machine called education
The red ball bounces across the classroom while about fifty pairs of kiddies’ eyes stare enthralled, counting the number of bounces, seven, eight, nine… The ball starts to roll and team three in the class roars out, “ELEVEN!” They had guessed eleven bounces and therefore their team gets points. I am teaching them numbers, and […]
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Debating universities’ admissions policies
By Khethelo Xulu Reading what other young people in the country think about the future and the direction the country is taking is thought-provoking. As a young citizen of the country, I usually follow and participate in such debates. The most recent debate I have engaged in centers on universities’ admissions policies. An article about […]
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“Refugee”: a dirty word in South Africa
We hate refugees. We burn them out of their homes. We chase them away. We burn down their businesses. We tell them go back to where you came from. Bloody refugees. We really don’t like them. So when Helen Zille comes here and tells us that kids from the Eastern Cape are refugees, we get […]
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Oppression, disabilities and our children
Long, long ago we knew we needed words for what is truly precious in the times of oppression — and there were, and will be, many times. No one knows how, but we fashioned the following word: 滫. We took one of the characters for water, 氵and added to that a character used for the […]
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Do schools kill creativity?
By Athambile Masola As a new teacher, I have a vested interest in education and I’m always wondering about how to be innovative. I recently had a SMART Board and a data projector installed in my classroom. I was astonished as my learners entered the classroom agog, declaring, “Ma’am your classroom’s been pimped … upgraded!” […]
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Saving our children by sobering them up
By Liezille Pretorius Dear Comrade Angie Motshekga, The problem I wish to address with you is the issue of alcohol misuse in schools. It is my opinion that the current contention around the alcohol-free schools campaign is flawed because it doesn’t take into account the child’s unique socio-economic/politic circumstances. In this letter I show that […]
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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 […]
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What is the purpose of our education?
By Mario Meyer Tony Blair once said: “Ask me my three main priorities for government, and I tell you: education, education and education.” It is well documented that the South African education system at large, and its primary and secondary public schooling system in particular, is in a state of chronic crises. A large majority […]