In the last few weeks there has been a furore over the choice of languages in schools in South Africa
The debate can be summed up as this:
1. All 11 official languages should be given equal status in schools
2. The languages of the colonial era should not have promotion above African languages
3. Learners should be free to study in their home language as this allows them to perform better
I have an opinion on the three arguments above:
1. You may or may not be aware that there is a teaching crisis in South Africa. The truth is that we simply do not have enough teachers. Schools are under-resourced and the number of teachers qualifying simply cannot keep up with the demand, never mind go to reducing the deficit. There simply are not enough teachers to teach Math, Science, biology etc, never mind languages. If the government wants students to learn in their home language then they should be producing teachers for such a job.
2. I would like to clear up a misconception: Afrikaans is not a colonial language, it is an African language. It was created in South Africa, developed in South Africa, and is spoken nowhere else than in South Africa (well, in some parts of Namibia, but the last time I checked Namibia was in Africa). I am not sure how else one would define an African language other than the description I have given above. The government keeps saying that children should learn an African language but they say Afrikaans is not acceptable. The politicians in this country need to remove themselves from the emotion surrounding the Afrikaans language and apply the same principles to each African language.
3. I have a friend who teaches at a school for the deaf. I asked her for an opinion of whether or not it would be more beneficial for her students to just learn in sign language or whether they should learn in English. Her answer was that the students would grasp the concepts quicker if they were taught only in sign language but that if they were taught that way they would not be able to function in any other sector of society other than the deaf community. If we are to educate students who can function in an increasingly globalised world they will need to communicate in a universal language, and whether we like it or not, that language is English.
What are you views?
Very good Lance , now what do you think about that:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/Pay-without-work-for-KZN-teachers-20120126
Hi Lance,
ReplyDeleteYour mom pointed me to your blog as I was preparing a third year course on Ethics half of which would focus on racism.
Your views above are both informed & sensible.
1. In practice English is the primary lingua franca in SA. So put English at level one & the other 10 on the same level, level
It too is the primary lingua franca in the world, the language of business, science, education, etc. There are rival languages like Chinese, Spanish, German & French but due to our British past & Commonwealth present we move in largely English-speaking circles. So if we are to be part of the globalized world we need English. Tanzania decided to make Swahili the only official language to unite Tanzania. It worked to unite but at the cost of development. I always wondered why my Tanzanian students were generally poor till I discovered English was not an official language. They simply couldn't compete with the Kenyans & Zimbabweans.
2. Excellent point re Afrikaans being an African language. Incontrovertible. All this talk re African/non-African languages is nonsense; it is talk of the past not the future. English, while non-African in origin, is in usage an African language & has been Africanized. We South Africans speak English. English is spoken all over southern & East African, much of West Africa & parts of North Africa. Where a language comes from is irrelevant; to think otherwise is a linguistic form of racism. The point is we speak English & we need English to compete & survive in the world.
3. At primary school level to the best of my knowledge children do learn best in their home tongue & I'd have thought there should be enough teachers in each linguistic group to do that to say Grade 4 given that there are very few white teachers in black foundation phase schools or at least non-urban schools. They could then start English at Grade 2 (if there are teachers)& by say Grade 5 switch to English as the main teaching language. And if that is impossible due to lack of teachers & resources so be it. Children can without too much ado learn in another language. It is not best as it cuts them off from parental help but if they can make, assuming teachers who can speak English well, they may gain an advantage in learning English.