Values, Education and Democracy

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Statement of Professor Kader Asmal 3

Executive Summary 6

Introduction 9

Equity 15

Tolerance 21

Multilingualism 29

Openness 35

Accountability 41

Honour 47

Working Group members 53

Notes 54

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The Minister of Education, Professor Kader Asmal MP, requested in February 2000 the formation of a working group on values in education and, after a process of research and debate,

the presentation of a formal report of findings and recommendations. Herewith the report. It is presented as a starting point in what ought to become a national debate on the

appropriate values for South Africa to embrace in its primary and secondary educational institutions. It also has implications for the broader shaping of the quality of national character

to which we as a people in a democracy wish to aspire.

Members of the working group were appointed by the Minister of Education in their individual capacities, inthe belief that their background and expertise would add value to a discussion on

values in education. The views expressed in the Report do not represent the institutions to which we are affili-ated.

Professor Wilmot James (Chairperson)Dr Franz AuerbachMs Zubeida Desai

Dr Hermann GiliomeeDr Z Pallo Jordan MP

Ms Antjie KrogMr Tembile KulatiMr Khetsi Lehoko

Ms Brenda LeibowitzMs Pansy Tlakula

The publication of this report was made possible by the Royal Netherlands Embassy.

In 1994, South Africa captured the imagination of theworld when we plucked this country away from thebrink of imminent destruction. We succeeded in achiev-ing a peaceful transition to democracy when the proba-bility for protracted discord and violence was extremelyhigh. This was a supreme triumph.

The reward for these remarkable achievements was theadoption of our superb Constitution. This Constitutionushers in a new set of values that make an emphatic andfundamental break with the past.

It is boldly stated in the Preamble that the Constitutionseeks to: “heal the divisions of the past and establish asociety based on democratic values, social justice and fun-damental human rights; lay the foundations for a demo-cratic and open society in which government is based onthe will of the people and every citizen is equally protect-ed by law; improve the quality of life of all citizens andfree the potential of each person; and build a united anddemocratic South Africa able to take its rightful place as asovereign state in the family of nations”.However, we cannot expect that the intent and spirit ofthe Constitution will be realised without tremendouseffort and purposeful action. People cannot automati-

cally internalise the values embedded in theConstitution, the values that are essential to our impor-tant priority of nation-building. Three centuries ofoppression has left deep scars on the collective soul ofour people. Although we have made remarkableprogress, it would be extremely foolish to remain com-placent about the deep suspicions that continue to existin the country. It would be foolish to expect that thesevere corrosion of our human dignity would healquickly and without purposeful effort, active reconcilia-tion and focused attention to developing the values nec-essary to underpin our democracy.

The moral fibre and value systems of our people areconstituted and reconstituted in our schools, in ourplaces of worship, on the sports fields and at the work-place. Many other institutions and factors will influenceand shape the development of our value systems, but allwill agree that our schools, colleges, learning centres andinstitutions of higher learning have an extremely impor-tant role to play in supporting the development of ourvalue system and in establishing the regeneration of theethical fibre of our society.

Education systems throughout the world and through

REMARKS

REMARKS BY PROFESSOR KADER ASMAL, MP, MIN-ISTER OF EDUCATION

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the passage of time are not simply vehicles for the trans-mission of knowledge. In particular, the evolution ofpublic education institutions as we know them coin-cides with the birth of the nation states in the modernera, where public education was seen as an indispensableadjunct of nation building. It is for this reason that anydiscussion about the kind of values that ought to be cel-ebrated and cherished within our schools does not occurin a vacuum, but is inextricably linked to the type ofsociety we wish to build. Schools are the social institu-tions through which the principal identity of a nation isconveyed to successive generations of learners.

The last few decades, particularly since the SecondWorld War, have witnessed an unprecedented prolifera-tion of knowledge. The dynamic and increasinglysophisticated knowledge available has seen applicationsthat have impacted on almost every facet of human exis-tence. It has impacted on the way we understand theworld, the way we interact with others in the world andthe way we solve simple and complex problems aimed atimproving our lives. There have also been many darkmoments in our global history, when sophisticatedknowledge has resulted in applications that were used toinflict the most devastating violence during times of dis-cord. We have heard hours of testimony of how intellectualtalent was harnessed to perform some of the mostheinous acts in support of apartheid. Advances in med-ical science were used to maim and kill our own people.It is clear that education cannot be value-free. We havecollectively to develop and sustain values in our schoolsthat are conducive to democracy, to nation building, to

anti-racism and anti-sexism. We must ensure that neveragain will our education system actively promote valuesof racial hatred and intolerance. We need to promotevalues that will discourage the products of our educationsystem from engaging in activities that undermine thewellbeing of our people.

There cannot be a nation, there cannot be a democracyunless our education and processes of knowledge pro-duction and utilisation actively internalise values ofequity, tolerance, multilingualism, openness, accounta-bility and honour. There must be a bond that holds theparts together.

There is a big task ahead to develop the values on whichour democracy is being constructed and on which ourfuture depends. Values cannot simply be asserted; it willrequire enormous effort to ensure that the values areinternalised by all our people, by our institutions, andby our laws and policies. This is what we fought for.This is what our people deserve, not only because it ismorally right, but also because we can never have peacewithout it. This is an unavoidable responsibility foreveryone involved in education. I accept this responsi-bility on behalf of my department. I commend thisreport to all South Africans and call on you to acceptthis responsibility.

We must draw from those infinite qualities common toour diverse language, cultural, and religious traditionsthat will enable us to craft a new identity that defines usas a nation. We need to claim our diversity as a sourceof strength through which we can adopt a common set

of values that bind us together as South Africans undera single banner. This notion is aptly captured in themotto inscribed on our coat of arms – !ke e:/xarra//ke –which calls on us as a diverse people to unite.

This report lays an important basis for us to begin todiscern those values that we require our education sys-tem to promote, in order to create a truly inclusivenation. The recommendations outlined in this reportare intended to provide the Ministry of Education withan opportunity to open up a national dialogue on this

matter. The report will be distributed to all key role-players and social institutions within the education sec-tor, as well as to teachers and the larger public. I lookforward to the ensuing debate.

I end by expressing my deep gratitude to members ofthe Working Group for their hard work and effort inproducing this report in the interest of education inSouth Africa.

Professor Kader Asmal, MPMinister of Education

REMARKS

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The promotion of the values of equity, tolerance, multi-lingualism, openness, accountability and social honourat our schools is the central argument of the Report ofthe Working Group on Values in Education. These val-ues derive from our Constitution and Bill of Rights, aswell as considerations of educational philosophy. Theyare important for the personal, intellectual and emotion-al development of the individual. They are also influen-tial in determining the quality of national character towhich we as a people in a democracy aspire.

To begin with the Report is emphatic about the respon-sibility of schools to develop the intellectual abilities ofall learners. A democratic society flourishes when citi-zens are informed by a grasp of their history and currentaffairs; and when they are encouraged to explore ideas totheir fullest. Our schooling system must provide anenvironment that nurtures informed and thinking citi-zens.

Secondly, the Report is insistent that discrimination andprejudice on the grounds of race, gender and culture areprofoundly harmful to learning and to the developmentof the self-worth of individuals. Instead, the culture andethos of schools must be that they invite, welcome andinclude all learners – no matter their background – inthe formal and informal aspects of school life.Thirdly, the authors of the Report believe that schoolsshould provide learners with the tools to solve the prob-

lems that come with being human, throughout the cycleof life. This is about learning for life and the treatmentof problems as challenges to be solved through knowl-edge and understanding, rather than as burdens to beendured without solution.

The value of equity is considered a necessary historicalframe of reference for a discussion of specific values.Thus we wish to affirm the policy of giving priority toschools located in the most disadvantaged areas of ourcountry, where the majority of our population live, forinvestment in infrastructure and teaching quality. Theeducation and training of all of South Africa’s people iscritical for the country’s prosperity in the 21st centuryand, therefore, it is in everyone’s interests to ensure thatthis occurs.

The value of tolerance would be best promoted by deep-ening our understanding of the origins, evolution andachievements of humanity, on the one hand, andthrough the exploration and celebration of that which iscommon and diverse in our cultural heritage, on theother. It also requires taking a firm stand against racial,gender and other forms of discrimination at everyschool. The Report recommends that panels of histori-ans, archaeologists and human biologists be appointedto make recommendations regarding the strengtheningof history teaching and teacher training. Furthermore, itrecommends exposure to, and participation in the visu-

Executive Summary

UMMARY

al and performing arts (the latter including dance, the-atre and music), literary creativity (written and oral), andthe organisation of sporting activity. As a first steptowards supporting arts activity, the Report recom-mends that an artist-in-residence programme be startedat schools.

Regarding multilingualism, we propose that, as a medi-um of instruction, learners use the mother tongue or themother tongue and English. We also strongly encouragea policy of multilingualism in which learners acquireone of the following official languages: Sepedi, Sesotho,Setswana, siSwati, Tshivenda, Xitsonga, isiNdebele,isiXhosa and isiZulu. Ideally children should learn theofficial languages of the province in which their schoolis located. In the cases where more than three languagesare designated as official languages, parental choiceshould prevail.

The Report notes the lack of a strong reading and debat-ing culture in our country and our schools. A key valuethat ought to be promoted is a thirst for knowledge anda receptiveness to new ideas, the value of openness. It isabout the asking of penetrating questions and the will-ingness to debate ideas in order to arrive at quality con-clusions. Schools can make a contribution to developinga stronger reading and debating culture if these desirableactivities are strongly promoted by teachers, supportedby an infrastructure of libraries and communicationtechnology of which access to the internet is a key ele-ment.

The shift from apartheid education to education for

democracy requires a move from the value of authori-tarian discipline to the value of accountability. In thisrespect the Report underlines the importance of teach-ing as a vocation and not just a job. Through leadershipand value-based conduct, a fellowship between educa-tors, learners, administrators, trade unions and profes-sional associations ought to develop to ensure that qual-ity learning and teaching take place.

The final value is social honour. This is about cultivatinga sense of honour and identity as South Africans. It isabout a process where individuals are comfortable withboth a local or cultural identity and a national SouthAfrican one. The Report recommends that the nationalanthem be taught and sung, the national flag be promi-nently displayed and an oath of allegiance be declared.The Report offers a text for response and debate. TheReport also recommends that these be supported by theteaching of a civic history of the democratic SouthAfrica, with a focus on the Constitution and Bill ofRights.

INTRODUCTION

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It is necessary to repeat the proposition that a successfulnation is more than likely an educated one.1 An educa-tion system of value allows the talent of the nation’syouth in all its diversity to thrive and flourish. In ademocracy, public education is one of the major vehi-cles by which the values of a people are acquired by thechildren and young adults who make up our schools’population. It goes without saying that today’s childrenand young adults are tomorrow’s adults and leaders.

By values we mean desirable qualities of character suchas honesty, integrity, tolerance, diligence, responsibility,compassion, altruism, justice and respect. We wouldlike our young adults to possess these values and, there-fore, our schooling system must actively promote them.The promotion of values is important not only for thesake of personal development, but also for the evolutionof a national South African character. The definition wegive to values today is an avenue to imagining the futurecharacter of the South African nation.

A ‘values-in-schools-initiative’ does not occur in a vacu-um. In 1994 a democracy replaced decades of apartheidand centuries of one form of racial rule or another. Theprinciples of that heritage were a corruption of the veryvalues we wish to promote, for they denied the human-ity of the majority of our population. The democraticConstitution and Bill of Rights accepted in 1995,defined the rights of all South Africans to be exercisedin democratically responsive institutions, among a pop-ulation of considerable economic, racial and culturaldiversity.2 Our educational institutions must reflectthese rights, for they provide the frame of reference for

INTRODUCTION

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an educational philosophy of a democracy.3

There are at least three key elements to an educationalphilosophy. The first is to develop the intellectual abili-ties and critical faculties among all of the children andyoung adults in our schools. This is no small task, forthe philosophical emphases of apartheid were conform-ity, obedience to rules and the suspension of intelli-gence. A democratic society flourishes when citizens areinformed by a grasp of their history and of currentaffairs, where nothing is beyond question, where ideasare explored to their fullest extent and when there is anobligation on teachers to provide intelligent answers toquestions. Our schooling system must therefore providethe basis of having informed and thinking citizens.

Secondly, the educational philosophy of our democracyshould emphasise inclusiveness. It is necessary but cer-tainly not enough to discourage or outlaw harmful andillegitimate discrimination. It is equally important todevelop a culture and ethos in our schools, that activelyinclude all learners, irrespective of their background, inthe formal and informal aspects of a school’s life. Thisrequires an enhanced degree of linguistic and culturaldexterity, tolerance and appreciation of difference onthe part of teachers and administrators. Perhaps it is aquality that is difficult to define with any precision.Nevertheless, we desire that our schools be places wherelearning occurs in zones of comfort and safety andwhere learners feel that they belong to a community.

Thirdly, our educational philosophy should providelearners with the tools to solve the many problems that

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come with being human, throughout the life cycle. Webelieve that these tools are the same as the tools of sci-ence which, broadly understood, are to bring all knowl-edge of a problem, however tentative and imperfect, tobear on finding its rational solution. It is to treat prob-lems as challenges to be solved through knowledge andunderstanding, rather than as unbearable burdens to beendured without solution. The will and courage toapproach life in this manner does not simply reside inscience, but in the spirituality of humanity that definesour attitude to life.

These considerations about the role of education in ademocratic and open society frame the arguments andrecommendations that follow. They are presented as astarting point in what ought to become a nationaldebate on the appropriate values and mores for SouthAfrica to embrace in its primary and high schools. Theyalso have broader implications for how we envision thequality of national character to which we as a people ina democracy wish to aspire.

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EQUITY

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In the racial order that existed in South Africa it is notsurprising that education and training favoured whites.4

Schools were segregated and, while compulsory school-ing to secondary level had been introduced for whites inthe 1920s, it was only extended to Africans in the1990s, after the first democratic elections. Interveningin this period was Bantu Education, introduced by theapartheid government in the 1950s, with the explicitintention of subjecting all black African children ofschool-going age to an education that prepared themonly for unskilled and servile labour.5 Apartheid regula-tions made it very difficult for mission and privateschools for black Africans, the springboards for the edu-cated elite of Nelson Mandela’s generation, to function.6

Mathematics and science, when they were offered, wasby exception, and under unusual circumstance.

A racial hierarchy of schooling emerged. Whites becamethe recipients of the best education South Africa couldoffer, equivalent to first world standards, followed byIndians and coloured people, with black Africans last,afforded less than even third world standards. Eachgroup had their education administered separately.Teachers were trained at their respective racially organ-ised colleges and universities, financed by apartheid’swicked formula of providing the best for those alreadyprivileged and the worst for those who had little. In1994, the pre-democratic government was still spend-ing R5 403 per white learner compared, for example, toR1 053 for every black African learner in the Transkei.The cumulative consequence of this unequal system wasa desperately under-educated black African population.

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EQUITY

The figures are as unsurprising as they are alarming.Black Africans make up 92, coloureds 6, Indians 1 andwhites 0,2 percent of adults who have no formal educa-tion at all. Of those who have formal schooling, the levelof functional illiteracy is also alarmingly high. Most ofour undereducated population are to be found in themore rural and poorer provinces of the Eastern Cape,Mpumalanga, the North West and Northern Province.The majority – 61 percent – are women. 7

There is no question that matters have improved great-ly. Access to schooling for black African children has improved beyond expectations. Since 1994,2 500 schools have been renovated and 1 000 new onesbuilt.8 Curriculum 2005 lays the groundwork forimproved content, new materials and revised teachertraining. Curriculum 21 is a recent and welcome effort

EQUITY

Table 1Education levels of people over 20: 1995

African Coloured Indian White TOTALNo education 2 640 000 182 000 34 000 8 000 2 864 000Some primary 4 495 000 690 000 84 000 35 000 5 304 000Some secondary 7 413 000 1 001 000 448 000 2 632 000 11 494 000Some tertiary 822 000 102 000 74 000 952 000 1 950 000TOTAL 15 370 000 1 975 000 640 000 3 627 000 21 612 000

Source: CSS October Household Survey (1995).

to refine it. The increasing entry of black Africanmatriculants at colleges and universities is significant. Asingle educational administration now exists, althoughthe old bureaucracies and their staffs have not entirelydisappeared.

However, a report of the President’s Education InitiativeResearch Project shows that good ideas and initiativesare trapped in a system that often fails to work proper-ly, compromising quality on a large scale.9 The growthin sheer numbers should not conceal the fact that theschooling system struggles to enrol all eligible pupils,fails to retain the majority of them to secondary schoollevel and offers them a quality of schooling which variesfrom the good to the abysmal. The rapid expansion inparticipation in tertiary education by black Africans hasled to their enrolment mainly in the less technical fields,since most of the schools they have historically attendedfail to qualify them in mathematics and science.

It should be clear that the overriding imperative of pub-lic policy is to remedy inferior schooling. There is littlequestion that this is a massive undertaking and that suc-cess will be long term. Its historical importance lies inthe fact that the investment in the young talent of allSouth Africans is important for the individual growth ofevery person and will also bring returns in growth, pros-perity and wellbeing for the nation. We do not believethat the South African public adequately grasps thispoint. Enhanced investment in our poorly resourcedschools is in everybody’s interest.

A Council of Higher Education report cites the results

of a survey among 273 major employers where 76 per-cent of them reported a shortage of professional employ-ees. The same survey predicted that in the period 1998to 2003 job opportunities at the professional levelwould grow between 16 to 18 percent while those forunskilled employees would decline by 35 percent.10 Thedemands for professional skills in the market can in partbe met by an upgrading of quality schooling for theentire, and particularly, the black population.

An education system does not exist to simply serve amarket, important as that may be for economic growthand material prosperity. Its primary purpose must be toenrich the individual, and by extension then, the broad-er society. The achievement of educational goals requiresa more equitable distribution of resources, opportunitiesand enhanced social honour for the people who run oureducational system. The need for equality of opportuni-ty is a perspective that educators must bring to bear onthe learning environment. It is a perspective that all sec-tors of society – business, government and civil society– must support in how they allocate resources, set pri-orities and define an ethos.

We make these remarks about equity in order to framethe discussion that follows. We make them also to affirmthe policy of investing in the infrastructure and qualityof teaching in schools located in the most disadvantagedareas of our country, where the majority of our popula-tion lives. We believe that to prosper in the 21st centu-ry requires the education and training of all of SouthAfrica’s people and that, therefore, it is in everyone’sinterests to ensure that this occurs.

EQUITY

TOLERANCE

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It is not surprising that South African schools are large-ly segregated. Many schools, though, are enrollinglearners from increasingly diverse backgrounds.Aggregate figures for 1997 suggest that 28 percent ofour schools have learners from more than one popula-tion group, while 72 percent were, at that time, homo-geneous. The figures for provinces are provided in table2.

The figures tell us something about the extent to whichschools have moved away from apartheid-style raciallybased segregation. They tell us nothing about the lin-guistic, religious, cultural and national diversity oflearners and teachers. Because knowledge of the demo-graphic character of our schools’ population is necessaryfor policy, we recommend that these areas be includedin the next annual schools survey. Yet, with or withoutthat knowledge, an approach to how diverse schoolpopulations are to be managed and supported, in andoutside the classroom, ought to be developed. Webelieve that the approach ought to be anchored in thevalue of tolerance.

By tolerance we do not mean the shallow notion of put-ting up with people who are different, but a deeper andmore meaningful concept of mutual understanding,reciprocal altruism and the active appreciation of thevalue of human difference. The notion of ubuntu is oneexample of such a value. To reach that state of humanconsciousness requires not only a truthfulness about thefailures and successes of the human past but the activeand deliberate incorporation of differences in the moraltraditions, arts, culture, religions and sporting activity

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in the ethos and life of a school.

We are persuaded that the teaching of history is centralto the promotion of all human values, including that oftolerance. History is one of the many memory systemsthat shape our values and morality, for it studies, recordsand diffuses knowledge of human failure and achieve-ment over the millennia. There is good and bad history,parochial, national, continental and global history.

LERA CE

Table 2Number and percentage of schools with learners from more than one populationgroup, per province, 1997

Schools Heterogeneous Homogeneous# # % # %

Eastern Cape 5 446 456 8 4 990 92Free State 2 758 649 24 2 109 76Gauteng 1 896 918 48 978 52Kwazulu-Natal 5 352 748 14 4 604 86Mpumalanga 1 823 409 22 1 414 78Northern Cape 445 248 56 197 44Northern Province 4 022 193 5 3 829 95North West 1 942 486 25 1 456 75Western Cape 1 608 745 46 863 54

TOTAL 25 827 4 847 28 20 440 72

Source: Department of Education, Education Statistics in 1997. Please note that 1 650 schools did not respond to the question about heterogeneity in the annual school survey.

History is a wide subject and there are many choices tobe made as to what kind of history ought to be offeredat schools. We are interested in a history that excels inthe truth about human failures and achievements, in atleast three crucial respects.

Firstly, we do not believe that the history of human evo-lution is properly understood and taught in our schools.One consequence of this is the perpetuation of mythsabout the permanence and meaning of so-called racialdifference.11 It is conventional wisdom in the scientificcommunity that human beings constitute a singlespecies having evolved and survived by the successfuland constant adaptation to the threats of the environ-ment. One instrument of our successful survival as aspecies is our diversity. Our human biological differ-ences are our survival apparatus and diversity is there-fore good for us, a source of our perpetuation.

There is a large literature on the subject, but the essen-tial points are the same.12 Our outward appearance hasnothing to do with our abilities; physical appearance isdetermined by less than 1 percent of our genetic struc-ture; appearance cannot be scientifically grouped intotypes, or races or sub-species; differences in appearancewere handed down from generation to generationbecause they help us survive; and the last 300 years or soof human history have done more by virtue of unprece-dented human mobility than any other period, to blurand reshape the distinctions of physical appearance.

Secondly, a general and comprehensive history of all thepeople who happen to reside in South Africa, who in

turn are connected to the people of Africa, Asia andEurope, can encourage openness, an understanding ofour diverse past and a mutual grasp of and respect forcultural origin. More than any other discipline, goodhistory put to good use taught by imaginative teacherscan promote reconciliation and reciprocal respect of ameaningful kind, because it encourages a knowledge ofthe other, the unknown and the different.

Thirdly, a history of past abuses of human rights doesnot by itself prevent but can serve as a powerfulreminder of the folly of repetition. About this matter wemust not be naive. Human beings have the remarkablecapacity to repeat the mistakes of the past. It is the com-bination of memory and democratic politics that min-imise the risk of repeating past errors.13 But the memo-ry base must be there. This is why it is so important torecognise the importance of the record left by the workof the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. This iswhy knowledge of genocide in the 20th century is soimportant and why resistance to holocaust denial mustbe fierce.

We recommend that the Department of Educationappoint appropriate panels of historians, archaeologistsand human biologists to examine the teaching of histo-ry and human evolution at schools, teacher training inthe historical and human biological disciplines and tomake recommendations as to how best to strengthen theteaching of these disciplines. Academic history, archae-ology and human biology are innovative fields in SouthAfrica today. They are well developed and published,and there is no reason at all why they cannot be the

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bases of more powerful interventions in the quality ofhistory at schools. Curriculum 21 provides an opportu-nity for such an intervention.

We are also persuaded that more should be done toequip and provide support to teachers to communicatewith and encourage learners from diverse cultural back-grounds. A key aspect of this is multilingual competenceand we devote the next section of the report to this mat-ter. The curriculum, educational materials, support aidsand the attitude of teachers must be sensitive to andappreciative of difference, in an environment where anethos of nurturing, encouragement and confidencebuilding prevails.

Outside of the classroom, a variety of extra-mural activ-ities ought to be encouraged and supported, to reinforcewhat happens in the classroom. The power of the per-forming and visual arts, and literature, as an active cele-bration of diversity, should not be underestimated. Theyare creative practices that invite great youthful enjoy-ment, promote the regularity of creative discipline andintegrate individuals on the basis of talent. Participationin the performing arts (music, dance, theatre and otherdisciplines), the visual arts and crafts (drawing, sculp-ture, design, multimedia, weaving, and so on) and liter-ary creativity (written and oral) at schools are part of anexciting learning experience. But they are also potential-ly powerful instruments of promoting tolerance throughexposure to, and a sharing of, diverse cultural traditionsand experience.

A multi-cultural approach to the arts ought to be active-

ly developed. It is desirable if provincial departments ofeducation interact with arts and culture bodies to devel-op diversity programmes in these areas; develop part-nerships with local and provincial governments to securefunding for innovative programmes in schools-basedarts activities; and interact with performing and visualarts divisions at technikons, colleges and universities forin-service and pre-service training of performing andvisual arts teachers. A modest but important start wouldbe an artist-in-residence programme at schools.

Sport is another vital area in which tolerance can be pro-moted. Some people argue that sports can be seen as rit-ualised aggression for men and benign passivity forwomen. That might be so. But the good thing aboutsports is their rule-based character, being a legitimatevehicle by which physicality finds expression within anaccepted regimen of norms and rules. In team-basedsports, success requires individual talent married withco-operation. In a sense, sports, like art, can and shouldimitate life. And given the popularity of sport withSouth African youth, sport is an area that schools mustuse to develop shared traditions and activities. Whilecertain sports have traditionally been the preserve ofparticular groups – rugby at white schools, soccer atblack schools, for example – media exposure to nation-al teams and their successes has succeeded in unitingpeople across traditional barriers. The promotion ofdevelopment programmes and access to resources inpoor areas have also assisted in blurring those divisions.Provincial departments of education can assist in this byencouraging sports development programmes that bringpupils from schools in different areas together and work

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towards ensuring a more even distribution of sportingresources and opportunities through innovations liketwinning schools and implementing provincial pro-grammes and competitions.

We are finally convinced that the value of tolerance isbest promoted if a tougher line is taken on discrimina-tory practices. It is profoundly undesirable to have prac-tices that undermine the sense of worth of any individ-ual. Discrimination against learners on the basis ofappearance or sex that have the intended or unintendedconsequence of excluding them from certain types ofknowledge or social activities, breed alienation and frag-mentation. We take it as given that the Department ofEducation will act against any overt form of illegitimatediscrimination, whether on the grounds of visible dif-ference, gender, language preference, disability or anyother social characteristic, because these are antitheticalto constitutional principles and harmful to learning.

More difficult to deal with are discriminatory practicesthat might masquerade under the pretensions of culture.One such practice that we are aware of is initiation ritesor ceremonies, better known by the Afrikaans colloqui-alism, ontgroening (to, literally, de-green). Ontgroeningappears to be a long-standing practice at some schools,where new learners are expected to suffer deprivationand tolerate humiliating behaviour as part of theirsocialisation into the authoritarian discipline of theschool.

In this regard we would like to uphold a distinctionbetween orientation and initiation. Orientation is a

desirable and voluntary early exposure to the manner inwhich a school is governed and functions. Initiation isan undesirable and coercive subjection of new learnersto authoritarian discipline. The latter is clearly contraryto an ethos of tolerance and ought, therefore, to be dis-couraged.

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MULTILI

Apartheid attempted to divide the South African popu-lation by casting an ethnic frame over black people anduniting an ethnically diverse population into a single,so-called white-race, group. In language terms, thiseffort translated into the furthering of Sepedi, Sesotho,Setswana, siSwati, Tshivenda, Xitsonga, isiNdebele,isiXhosa and isiZulu as so-called tribal oral languagesand English and Afrikaans as official, state supported,languages of communication, record and business.14

English is a global language of communication, literature, science, business and diplomacy. Throughmuch effort, Afrikaans evolved from an oral language toa developed literary and scientific language supported bysizeable white economic power. Unlike English, it isspoken in South Africa and Namibia only, though it ispossible to communicate conversationally with Dutchand Flemish speakers. Our other official languages havelittle such comparable scientific, business or in the caseof English, diplomatic heritage.

The Constitution of 1996 grants equality of status to 11official languages, which are Sepedi, Sesotho, Setswana,siSwati, Tshivenda, Xitsonga, Afrikaans, English,isiNdebele, isiXhosa and isiZulu. In practice, Englishhas in democratic South Africa become the nationallanguage of politics and record. It remains the languageof diplomacy and international commerce. Afrikaans isa well-used language of politics in the Western Cape,Northern Cape and the Free State. Sepedi, Sesotho,Setswana, siSwati, Tshivenda, Xitsonga, isiNdebele,isiXhosa and isiZulu are unevenly used in a variety ofpublic fora and they have some place in the public

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broadcaster, the South African BroadcastingCorporation.

The question, of course, is what must happen in lan-guage terms at our schools. The language-in-educationpolicy of the Department of Education recommendedin 1997 that learners should study by way of either theirhome language or English and their home language. Inthis way it should be possible for all learners to learn byway of their most familiar language. This is a rightenjoyed in practice today by English and Afrikaansspeakers alone. The implementation of this policyrequires provincial-level action, to which end we wouldlike to provide some guidelines.

There are two main values we wish to promote in thearea of language: firstly, the importance of studyingthrough the language one knows best, or as it is popularly referred to, mother tongue educa-tion; and secondly, the fostering of multilingualism. Wedo believe that an initial grounding in mother-tonguelearning is a pedagogically sound approach to learning.We also believe that multi-cultural communicationrequires clear governmental support and direction.

It is often assumed that by using English as a medium ofinstruction, learners will gain access to opportunities inthe world of work and leisure. The value of English asthe main language of the formal sector of the urbaneconomy hardly needs elaboration. Sepedi, Sesotho,Setswana, siSwati, Tshivenda, Xitsonga, isiNdebele,isiXhosa and isiZulu are valuable because they offeraccess to by far the largest number of consumers in

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many sectors of the market. Afrikaans is valuablebecause it is the language of most employers in manyparts of the rural areas and because Afrikaans-speakersform the language community with probably the largestbuying power in the consumer market.

Known parental preferences suggest that a dual-mediumapproach is likely to be more acceptable to parents andlearners compared to the use of the mother tongue asthe medium of instruction. At the same time, the teach-ing of English as a subject is in need of dramaticimprovement if we demand that learners acquire it. Itwould obviously help no end if teachers who are profi-cient in English teach learners. The quality of Englishoffered to teachers in pre-service and in-service trainingcourses and to learners as part of Curriculum 2005requires significant improvement. Curriculum 21 offersjust such an opportunity for the improvement ofEnglish language teaching.

When it comes to communication, the onus historical-ly has been on Sepedi, Sesotho, Setswana, siSwati,Tshivenda, Xitsonga, isiNdebele, isiXhosa and isiZuluspeakers to master English and Afrikaans. There hasbeen very little pressure on English- and Afrikaans-speakers to acquire one of the nine other official lan-guages. South Africa is a multilingual country with 11official languages. In order to be a good South Africancitizen one needs to be at least bilingual, but preferablytrilingual. It would therefore not be unreasonable toexpect English- and Afrikaans-speakers to acquire atleast one of the other nine official languages as part oftheir linguistic repertoire.

Our recommendation would therefore be that all learn-ers acquire at least one official language other thanEnglish and Afrikaans as a subject throughout theirschool years. Which language this is likely to be oughtto be determined at a provincial level. Such a step wouldadd considerably to reconciliation processes and thepromotion of a common South African citizenship. It isalso likely to lead to pressure on the relevant govern-ment authorities to make learning and teachingresources available in Sepedi, Sesotho, Setswana, siSwati,Tshivenda, Xitsonga, isiNdebele, isiXhosa and isiZulu.

The implications of these recommendations are: firstly,the reorganisation of teacher training to accommodatethe new language policy; secondly, the introduction ofappropriate short courses in the provincially determinedsecond or third language with in-service learning oppor-tunities at universities and technikons; thirdly, theimprovement in the training of language teachers;fourthly, the enhancement of the resources and partner-ships available to develop Sepedi, Sesotho, Setswana,siSwati, Tshivenda, Xitsonga, isiNdebele, isiXhosa andisiZulu, in relation particularly to the Pan South AfricanLanguage Board (PANSALB), the publishers, lexicogra-phers, terminologists and materials developers; andfifthly, the development of quality and appropriate read-ing materials.

A language-in-education policy must perforce be sup-ported by initiatives in the wider society. We believetherefore that multilingual proficiency must be reward-ed in other institutions. The public sector as a major

employer needs to give preference to citizens who are atleast trilingual. Promotion in the civil service should inpart depend on mastering accredited courses in at leastone language other than English or Afrikaans, appropri-ate to a province or region. Similarly, private sectorcompanies who are multilingual in their practices needto be affirmed, in the same way that companies thatemploy women and black people, are given preferentialtreatment when it comes to government contracts.Educational, training and non-governmental institu-tions in the training of employees and potential employ-ees in the service sector should require that they be ableto communicate at the very least in a language otherthan Afrikaans or English.

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Well-rounded educational development requires theadvancement of the intellect and the emotional matura-tion of the individual. A strong foundation in both pre-pares children and young adults for the changingdemands of modern life. Our schooling system there-fore has the responsibility of refining the intellectualdevelopment of every learner in an environment that isstimulating and emotionally supportive. It also has theresponsibility of providing an approach to solving prob-lems that will be useful throughout the life cycle.

Curriculum 2005 provides a theoretical grid thatdefines the substantive areas of knowledge a learnermust master. It is up to the teacher, though, to make theexperience for learners a quality one, to link areas ofspeciality and mould these into a well-rounded processof educational development. In our environment thereis a special responsibility to promote numeracy and lit-eracy in the scientific, humanities and social sciencedivisions of Curriculum 2005 in our poorer and mostdisadvantaged schools. We welcome the intervention ofCurriculum 21, which will provide substance to the the-oretical orientation of Curriculum 2005.

We would like to emphasise the value of numeracy andthe scientific approach to problem-solving, as essentiallife-skills. The ability to count, that is, to be arithmeti-cally capable, is necessary for any person to functionproperly as a social being. Elementary numeracy isneeded to maintain household accounts, to negotiatedaily transactional business and to communicate withthe ever-changing circle of individuals in the daily rou-tine of life. The ability of parents to have numerically

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informed communication with children is critical.

A command over elementary science adds value. A graspof environment patterns, the basic physics of the cos-mology, human biology and the engineering logic of thebuilt environment enhance the ability of the individualto function and to exercise a mastery over his or her fate.Many individuals by virtue of native intelligence andintuition can achieve success in life without the benefitof science, but most of us simply get by. The importanceof mathematics and science cannot be overemphasised.

We do not live by numbers and science alone. We expectSouth Africans to know their history, culture, literature,economy, law and society. We desire to have a popula-tion that is both numerate and literate. We thereforebelieve strongly in the development of a national grid ofadult learning opportunities, using our existingresources and infrastructure of universities, technikonsand colleges and schools, to enhance the numeracy andliteracy of our largely under-educated adult population.The creation of a National Literacy Agency by theDepartment of Education is absolutely welcome andnecessary.

The issue runs deeper, though. We are bereft of a strongreading culture. Comparatively speaking, newspaper cir-culation in South Africa is relatively small. Books are outof the economic reach of the average person. Theabsence of tax concessions for imported reading materi-als makes it increasingly difficult for our national insti-tutions to have adequate holdings of books and journals.In recent years more libraries have been built in previ-

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ously unresourced areas. But even existing libraries arenot as well used as they could be. There needs to be astrong drive to educate learners and the broader publicabout library use and to ensure that libraries become,and are recognised as, user-friendly community hubs ofeducation, information and entertainment. The lattercould include story-telling, writing workshops andmeet-the-author opportunities.

It is not simply resources that determine a culture ofreading, though, but attitude, interest and orientation.Poorer countries like India or Nigeria have well-devel-oped reading cultures. A strong reading culture beginsin the home where children are imbued with a love ofreading through seeing parents enjoying reading andthrough having books and newspapers available in thehome. Provincial education departments, schools,school governing bodies, non-governmental organisa-tions, and so on, can cooperate on interventions to placereading materials in the home.

The internet has increasingly become an exceptional toolfor education and accessing information. Schools thatcannot afford this technology are excluded from benefit-ing from an important innovation. Support from theprivate sector, particularly corporations in the field ofinformation technology and telecommunications,should be harnessed to help place these resources inschools and to educate learners and teachers in their use.Policies will need to be developed to determine accessand ensure responsible use of this technology.

We are also bereft of a strong debating culture. It prob-

ably is rooted in our apartheid past, where rote learningand the slavish repetition of information were rewardedby a bureaucratic examination system; where askingprobing questions was discouraged; and where anauthoritarian attitude to learning and social conductwere expected of educators. Debate occurred at unusualand exceptional schools and in the many spaces prisedopen by democratic politics, but a culture of question-ing and debate has yet to become a norm in the life ofour schools today.15

We would therefore like to emphasise the importanceand power of debate in advancing the intellectual devel-opment of the individual. The ability to ask penetratingquestions is a skill that has to be encouraged and devel-oped. To conduct good research on a topic of interest,using library materials, the internet and personal inter-views, is a skill of lifelong value and benefit. The abilityto conduct an informed and productive debate addsvalue to the quality of public understanding and thepublic discourse, as it does to arrive at a good decision,whether it is in the household, the school, the company,the government, and so on.

It is one of the most difficult qualities to define, but theissue principally has to do with the value of being openand receptive to new ideas; with developing the abilityto ask good and penetrating questions; with insisting ongood evidence for arguments; and with being willing todebate ideas in order to arrive at quality decisions.16 Werecommend that schools introduce debating societiesand that the Department of Education supports thesewith a system of national awards to encourage and

recognise ability and talent in this area.

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Public perception of schooling is often assumed to benegative. Much of this is based on individual and anec-dotal examples and on some academic studies of dys-functional schools.17 Strikes and the threat of strikes byteachers in their unions underline a public perceptionthat some educators have lost a sense of vocation when itcomes to the teaching of the nation’s youth. The habit ofblaming the teacher as some generic culprit for the ills ofschooling has undermined the spirit of those who dodevote their lives to education and training.

The truth of it is that the public perception of school-ing and the degree of dysfunctionality of schools havenot been tested. Systematic research on the problems ofeducation is a poorly-developed and resourced field. Theresulting generalities in observation and uninformed,counter-productive and damaging criticism, put thegood teachers with the bad and the effective principalswith the ineffective. Good teachers, principals andadministrators need affirming to support the ideal ofeducation as vocation and its associated norms and val-ues as a public and national service.

A vocation is a mission in life and not just another job.When the vocation is the education of the young, theresponsibility of guiding the development of our uniqueemotion and intellect is awesome. Exercising thatresponsibility requires a strong sense of commitment tosome core norms of behaviour and conduct. As in poli-tics, the reduction of education to the market and jobs,important as that may be in some respects, commodifieseducation. Schooling is for individual growth, not themarket.

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Every parent knows that children grow and develop bestwhen they feel secure, are part of a routine and experi-ence a stable social life. Instability is not good forgrowth. It is important therefore to uphold and insist onstructure, and for educators and learners alike to valuestructure. Punctuality is a sign of respect for one anoth-er. Absenteeism without demonstrably legitimate med-ical or other reason is a dereliction of duty. The moni-toring and scrutiny of homework set regularly are anestimable recognition of the worth of the learner. Everyteacher knows that to do this properly takes effort afterhours.

Teachers and administrators must be leaders and set theexample. Children learn by example, consciously orunconsciously. What parents or teachers do is muchmore important than what they say they do. If teachersdo not want learners to be absent they must not beabsent. If teachers expect homework to be completed,they must complete their homework. As the dedicatedteacher well knows, a relationship of trust and fellow-ship develops when educators and learners become part-ners in the vocation of schooling.

The positive conduct of teachers must be reinforced bythe conduct of parents. School governing bodies createdby legislation are the vehicles by which the synergiesbetween teachers and parents are established. There isconcern about how well school governing bodies areworking. Parents serving on such bodies do not alwaysunderstand their role, and teachers all too frequently seegoverning bodies as nuisances to be tolerated rather than

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as useful accountability structures. The Department ofEducation is to be commended for injecting new ener-gy into the powerfully democratic ideals that lie behindschool governing bodies.18

The challenge is to make school governing bodies alegitimate and working institution of civil society. Inbecoming this, they need to be supported by the morelong-standing institutions of association: the churchesand mosques, temples and synagogues, sports clubs andleisure bodies, civic associations and political parties,non-governmental organisations and local authorities.Sharing in the experiences and problems of governanceand accountability in a transitional society like ours willenrich the quality of parental support work in educa-tion.

We would like to emphasise the importance of institu-tionalising lines of accountability. Children and youngadults are the responsibility of parents and teachers, whoin turn are accountable to school governing bodies andthe educational authorities, who in turn are accountableto the citizens of the democratic society. Ours is a tran-sitional society on the move from an authoritarian her-itage, where the rules of punitive sanction are replacedby the rules of democratic accountability. Adjustmentsin social conduct by learners, educators, parents and thecitizenry are required to lend stability to recently estab-lished democratic rules.

Numerous efforts have been made in schools and terti-ary institutions to negotiate codes of conduct which alleducators and learners will accept as fair and binding.

For the most part, such efforts have floundered in acri-monious, politicised negotiations or simply throughpervasive non-compliance. We recommend that theDepartment of Education develop a binding social con-tract that is consistent with the philosophical underpin-nings of Tirisano (working together), between educa-tors, administrators, parents, trade unions and profes-sional associations. This contract should comply withthe normative presumptions central to the notion ofeducation as vocation operating in an environment ofdemocratic accountability and good governance. Thisdocument can be the basis of such a social contract.

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The primary purpose of a school is to provide an envi-ronment where teaching and learning takes place. Partof the learning experience involves an anticipation ofthe responsibilities of adulthood, including those of cit-izenship in a democracy. A good citizen is an informedcitizen, someone versed in the values and principles ofthe Constitution and Bill of Rights, the history of SouthAfrica and what it means to exercise democratic free-dom with the restraints of personal moral character. Thewell-rounded South African of the future is someonewith a historical consciousness, an open and inquiringmind, is trilingual, and has a healthy respect for theobligations of citizenship.

As a people we come from a divided past and dividedloyalties. Before 1994 there was by definition no com-mon loyalty to the state or to national symbols. Thestate and its symbols were partial to a white minorityand seen and contested as such. Since 1994 we havesought to build universal state legitimacy by democrat-ic rules and motivate the public to find a common alle-giance to national symbols. The effort is projected asone of nation building, led in the first phase of it by for-mer President Nelson Mandela.

The pursuit of narrow and xenophobic nationalism andpatriotism have left many scars on the recent history ofhumankind and all too frequent recurrences of genocideblights the history of Europe, Asia, Africa and theAmericas. In many countries the pursuit of narrownationalism has destroyed educational systems, by mak-ing schools the instruments of state ideology and thewishes of political leaders. It is for these reasons that

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schools are often caricatured as mere instruments of theideological apparatus of state.

Because of this history, we have developed a cautiousand tentative approach to nation building in the politi-cal sphere. The effort has been more to reconcile andfind common ground between all of our citizens than toaggressively assert our South African-ness against out-siders and the ‘other’. Leadership has been much morecautious in their approach compared to some membersof the public, judging by xenophobic responses toimmigration. We do believe that caution and circum-spection are appropriate in dealing with potentiallyexplosive and emotive matters like nationalism andpatriotism.

For the average person, the limits of one’s immediateculture are the limits of employability, social acceptance,dignity, social honour and citizenship. Beyond theseimmediate limits of community, the average person canbe handicapped. It is personal investment in educationthat gives us access to opportunities.19 Education in theculture beyond the immediate neighbourhood, or city,or area, or country, or continent, means increased free-dom and liberty from local handicap.

Democracy in South Africa is an effort to increasinglymake available the opportunities of the national com-munity to the individual living in their local settings. Ithas not been an effort to suppress the local or parochial,but to link it through common citizenship to thenational. President Thabo Mbeki articulates a visionthat locates citizenship in a common South African

HO OUR

ancestry and links our future to that of the regenerationof the continent of Africa. It is an effort therefore toextend the limits of the imagination to a widening senseof community beyond one’s immediate circumstance.

A distinction can be drawn between a liberal and civic-republican notion of citizenship. In the former the indi-vidual exercises his or her democratic freedom as anautonomous person and worries about social conse-quences after the fact. In the latter, the individual exer-cises his or her democratic freedom first through a groupor community and worries about individual conse-quences later. The former can be seen as unbridled indi-vidualism and the latter the subjection of the individualto the community.

20Neither is desirable in its extreme

form. Our effort should be to find an appropriate bal-ance between these two traditions.

This effort includes our sense of honour and identity asSouth Africans. The majority of South Africans alreadyembrace the symbols of a national identity, such as theflag, the national anthem and the recently unveiled coatof arms. We have invested a great deal of pride in ournational sporting teams and see their successes and fail-ures as our own. Our political institutions are nationalones and not designed to serve the interests of any onegroup. Our schools are also a national resource, notbelonging to any one group of people but to all.

It is therefore appropriate that the symbols of nationalidentity and a South African social honour be celebrat-ed at our schools. In this respect we recommend that thenational anthem be taught and sung at schools, at cere-

monies or on occasions best defined by schools them-selves. We suggest, though, a minimum requirement,which is at the opening of the first and last schoolassemblies of every school term. We also recommendthat the national flag be displayed in a prominent place,such as the entrance lobby of a school or above the stageframe in the assembly hall. Such symbolic rituals shouldbe supported by the teaching of civic responsibility anda civic history of the democratic South Africa, with afocus on the Constitution and Bill of Rights of 1996.

We also believe that the ritual of declaring a pledge ofallegiance or vow at weekly school assemblies will serve asa reminder of the fundamental values to which SouthAfricans in a democracy aspire. We offer the followingtext as illustration of the spirit that we believe ought tobe conveyed and would invite responses as to its suitabil-ity in various contexts:

I promise to be loyal to my country, South Africa,

and to do my best to promote its welfare

and the wellbeing of all of its citizens.

I promise to show self-respect in all that I do

and to respect all of my fellow citizens

and all of our various traditions.

Let us work for peace, friendship and reconciliation

and heal the scars left by past conflicts,

and let us build a common destiny together.

Dr Wilmot James is Professor of Diversity Studies andholds a joint appointment between the GraduateSchools of Business and Humanities at the Universityof Cape Town. Dr James holds a PhD from theUniversity of Wisconsin.

Dr Franz Auerbach is a retired educator and holds aPhD from the University of Natal. He is active ininterfaith activities and works for the SA Jewish Boardof Deputies.

Ms Zubeida Desai is currently the Deputy Chairpersonof the Pan South African Language Board (PANSALB)and a senior lecturer in the Faculty of Education at theUniversity of the Western Cape.

Dr Hermann Giliomee is an historian and formerly Professor of Political Studies of the Universityof Cape Town. Dr Gilliomee holds a DPhil from theUniversity of Stellenbosch.

Dr Z Pallo Jordan is a Member of Parliament in theNational Assembly. He served as Minister ofEnvironmental Affairs and Tourism in the Mandelacabinet. Dr Jordan holds a PhD in history from theUniversity of London.

Ms Antjie Krog is an author, poet and journalist. Hermost recent book is the acclaimed Country of MySkull.

Mr Tembile Kulati is the Special Advisor to theDepartment of Education.

Mr Khetsi Lehoko is a Deputy Director-General in theDepartment of Education. Formerly a primary school teacher, he joined the Department ofEducation in 1995.

Ms Brenda Leibowitz is the Director of the NationalCentre for Curriculum Research in the Department ofEducation.

Ms Pansy Tlakula is a member of the South AfricanHuman Rights Commission. She has a background inlaw.

WORKING GROUP MEMBERS

1Lesley O’Connell & Nancy Birdsall, ‘Race, Human CapitalInequality, and Income Distribution in South Africa, Braziland the United States’ (Washington DC, unpublished paper,2000).

2 The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (Cape Town,1996).

3 See Robert Orrill, ed., Education and Democracy (New York,1997).

4 This section draws from Jeffrey Lever & Wilmot James, ‘TheSecond Republic: Race, Inequality and Democracy in SouthAfrica’ in Three Nations at the Crossroads: Brazil, SouthAfrica, United States (Atlanta, 2000).

5 See Peter Kallaway ed. Apartheid and Education (Cape Town,1984).

6 Edgar Brookes, Native Education in South Africa(Johannesburg, 1930); IB Tabata, Education for Barbarism(Durban, 1959).

7 Shirley Robinson, ‘Demographics and Quality of Life’ inWilmot James & Moira Levy, eds. Pulse: Passages inDemocracy Building (Cape Town, 1998) p62.

8 Ian Goldin & Chris Heymans, ‘Moulding a New Society: TheRDP in Perspective’, in Gitanjali Maharaj ed. Between Unityand Diversity (Cape Town, 1999) p110.

9 Nick Taylor & Penny Vinjevold, eds. Getting Learning Right:Report of the President’s Education Initiative ResearchProject (Johannesburg, 1999).

10 Council on Higher Education, Annual Report (Pretoria,1998/99) pp8-9.

11 See Saul Dubow for an acount of the power of scientificracism in South African history, Dubow, Illicit Union;Scientific Racism in Modern South Africa (Johannesburg,1995).

12 A useful early statement on the findings of biological scienceis JS Jones, ‘How different are the human races’ Nature 293(1981). See Robert Miles, Racism (London, 1989); KwameAppiah, ‘Racisms’ in T Goldberg ed, An Anatomy of Racism(Minneapolis, 1992); Jaret Diamond, Guns, Germs andSteel; the Fates of Human Societies (New York, 1998). Seealso the fascinating findings of the Human Genome Projectin various issues of Science.

13 See Heribert & Kanya Adam, ‘Divided Memories:

How emerging democracies deal with the crimes of previousregimes’ in W. James & L. Van de Vijver, eds., Lazarus andthe TRC: Life After the Death of Apartheid (Cape Town,forthcoming).

14 See Kogila Moodley’s elegant summary of the history andcomplexities of language in South Africa. Kogila Moodley,‘African Renaissance and Language Policies in ComparativePerspective’, Politikon Vol 27 no 1, 2000.

15 Anthony Sampson provides a vivid account of the debatingculture that developed on Robben Island. See Sampson, Mandela: The Authorised Biography(Johannesburg, 1999).

16 See Karl Popper, The Open Society and Its Enemies (London,1948).

17 See Taylor & Vinjevold, eds, Getting Learning Right.18 Ministry of Education, ‘Conference on School Governance’,

14-15 April 2000. See Anne McLennan, ‘The Challenge ofTirisano’ (University of the Witwatersrand, unpublishedpaper, 2000).

19 See Ernest Gellner, Conditions of Liberty (London, 1994)pp106-7.

20 See Mamphela Ramphele, ‘Citizenship challenges for SouthAfrica’s young democracy’ (2000, unpublished paper forth-coming in Daedalus, The Journal of the American Academyof Arts and Sciences); Stephen Ndengwa, ‘Citizenship andEthnicity: An examination of two transition movements inKenyan politics’, American Political Science Review vol 9 no2 pp599-615 (1997); Dipankar Gupta, ‘Survivors orSurvivals – Reconciling citizenship and cultural particu-latisms’, Economic and Political Weekly, vol 34 no 33(1999); and Mahmood Mamdani, Citizen and Subject;Contemporary Africa and the Legacy of Late Colonialism,(London, 1997).

NOTES

Values, Education and Democracy

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