LEAP school and South African education

So this week, we started going to the various volunteering sites that we will be helping out throughout the year. There are several choices of various organizations to volunteer with, including the Ark, a refuge for drug addicts, school for children, home for orphans, rehabilitation center, and so much more all in one location; the TB hospital, where kids aged from a couple days old to mid-teens⎯and also a few adults, come for treatment for various stages and strains of the Tuberculosis disease; and schools and sports programs at children’s homes. However, the organization I chose to volunteer with is called the LEAP School of Science and Math, which is a surprisingly well-developed and structured school where children pay a yearly school fee, wear school uniforms, and have (this is of course relatively speaking) a fair amount of resources at their disposal, including some computers, desks, supplies, food, etc.

I am positive a lot of you might be wondering why, out of all these options, I might have picked to donate my time to such a, by comparison, seemingly well-to-do school when there are so many schools especially in the townships of South Africa that have little more than the ground and a stick to write their lessons with nor an adequate building other than a small shack or a mud hut. My answer to this has a lot to do with my recent train of thoughts and manner in which I am trying to formulate my understanding of this complex country and its even more perplexing history. The organizer of our involvement at the LEAP school, Bones, has really had a big impact in developing these concepts in my mind, and I honestly look up to and admire him very much for his openness, his philosophies on education, teaching, politics, and life within and also outside of South Africa. I would try to sum these thoughts up, but I feel it would only be a severe injustice, because hearing him speak with such passion, power and conviction is really more of an experience, and it does not lend itself very readily to brief summation. Therefore, I will just give a little of my thoughts, keeping in mind that I am drawing some of these beliefs and ideas from conversations with him, as well as has been current content and discussion in many of my classes.

Yes, it is true that South Africa has had a, for genuine lack of a more fitting word (and sorry for anyone offended by the bad language), but a seriously fucked up past. There is no other way to put it. Apartheid truly affected every human being in South Africa on the whole: mind, body, soul, spirit, socially, physically…on every level imaginable. I mean, just try to think for a minute that one day, the government decides that you can no longer live in your home, go to school where you do, ride certain buses, go in certain shops and areas, or even go to certain cities, solely on the basis of the color of your skin. Imagine the confusion, resentment, hatred, sorrow this would invoke towards the oppressors, and more devastatingly, upon oneself. Although apartheid has since been terminated, it is obvious that so many of the side effects it produced are still rearing their ugly heads⎯as is evident in a trip to the townships, in the separation that occurs at night clubs, in job and income disparities, etc. One of the systems though, that has been most tragically affected is the education system. Black students were forced to learn in what was considered the “Bantu education system”, whereby complete racial segregation occurred in all institutions of learning. The ideology behind this “Bantu education” was that blacks were culturally “different,” and therefore needed to be separated and educated in a “different” manner. Blacks went to black schools, and whites went to white schools. You can just envision the gross disparities that existed, given the governmental regime and its outlook on the situation, as well as the particulars of the apartheid laws, between a typical “black” school and any given “white” school. Thus, black education was, and frankly still is, far behind that of the privileged white education. For this reason, even now, more whites finish primary and secondary school, are accepted into university, and go on to further education and better job opportunities simply because they have had more opportunity to learn and grow and be intellectually stimulated at a more accelerated rate. Blacks were left behind in this process, and have not been given adequate resources, opportunities, and attention paid to correcting this injustice.

As shocking and egregious as this may seem and in reality is, there are a few different ways to approach dealing with this situation. One way is the victim approach: to sit around and feel sorry for the circumstances and for oneself, talking about how unfair it is, and how much blacks have been oppressed and kept down, and to sit around and wait for others (ie, the government, etc.) to come and change it. While this all is very true, I personally do not believe this to be the best way to go about it. The other way is the proactive approach: to say yes, we have been severely screwed over in our past, but what can we do to take a stand and create change in the system? How can we actively ensure that we are doing all we can to use what we have (however meager it might be) to get ahead on our own and succeed for ourselves? How can we morph and challenge the stereotypes and myths surrounding black education to change the direction that the system has existed in for so long and continues to operate within?

This is really what the LEAP school is all about: progressive action and working for positive change; not feeling sorry and shitty about the past inequities nor focusing on negativity, but instead on what we as a people, community, race, country can do for ourselves and stimulate and inspire in others to follow suit. Not only the system, but the workers within it as well; getting teachers excited about the changes and really loving teaching and coming up with new and innovative ways to teach that encompass all of the students without letting any fall through the cracks. This will prove an exceedingly difficult task, because as I have witnessed even in working in the Los Angeles School system, many teachers nowadays are only about getting tenure then going through the motions day after day, with hardly any deviation from the standardized CRAP curriculum and not teaching the material in a way that allows the students to relate to it and apply it to their own lives. LEAP is all about problematizing and reworking these ideas, and for this reason, I have been motivated with extreme passion to dedicate my time to better understanding and aiding in realizing this dream for the education system and the children of South Africa. The least I can do is to try to make a dent by bringing to the table my knowledge, ideas and resources in combination with those of my peers and others working at the school.

I came to South Africa with this certain mentality partially influenced by the western perceptions of Africa that I have discussed in my previous post, where a small part of me thought that I wanted to help “save” Africa, and work in these severely tragic and underdeveloped areas with destitute people. It is not to say that there is no value in this, nor that I won’t be spending some time doing that myself. But I just think there is so much more to Africa as a continent and South Africa as a country that we tend to overlook and that is overshadowed by theses negative associations. I see real, tangible change and straight-up revolution in what is going on at LEAP, and that is really what inspires me to no end. I wish my words could even begin to portray the extent of my feelings and excitement, but I fear instead my babbling may be cheapening it. Therefore, I will stop here, but I encourage anyone interested in what I am trying to convey and the topic at hand to email me with questions, comments, or anything, because this is something that I am truly exhilarated about and would love to talk to anyone about. Also you can click HERE to go to the LEAP school website, which unfortunately seems out of date, but nonetheless informative.

As I spend more time at the school, I hope to develop stronger feelings and opinions, and I will definitely keep you guys posted. As far as what I will actually be doing in my time at LEAP, we will be assigned 3-5 young children, grades 9-12, to partake in a mentor relationship, whereby we assist the children with schoolwork and project, sit in with them on their classes, participate in extracurricular activities, and sometime just hang out and be a presence in the child’s life, trying to get to know them on a more personal basis. It really is whatever you make of it and whatever you are willing to put into it. Most of the kids come from a township called Langa, and many of them travel very far distances to get to this school. It really is an incredible opportunity for these kids who otherwise would have nothing near the caliber of this school and its education system. It is not only a school focused on learning subjects, but is trying to make active, global, aware, conscious citizens out of the adolescents who matriculate through their doors. LEAP has a “code of conduct” for student, as one student today was explaining to us, that is more geared towards conduct for life, one rule including being “open-minded and willing to talk and discuss”, which this student explained is something that is culturally different and fairly difficult for her to come to terms with, but that she is accepting the challenge. It’s funny, when she mentioned that she was a little unsure and how much she liked the school’s code of conduct, I was expecting a shallow complaint such as not liking the school uniforms or the food, but instead I received that pieces of unexpectedly insightful commentary. Anyway, I said I would stop myself from going on and on, and here I am again. So…I’m sure I’ll be writing on this again soon. I look forward to any insight on this that anyone might have. Thanks, and much love.

**Also, check out the new "Links I Love" part of my blog where I'll be posting links to sites that I find interesting or informative, and I just uploaded some more fun photos as well!