As Bad as They Say?: Three Decades of Teaching in the Bronx

Appendixes

Appendixes Appendix A Letter from M. Rasool Reprinted with permission of M. Rasool, South African teacher 4 November 1994 Dear Janet, I have been informed by the American Federation of Teachers that you and your class have been matched in the Classroom-to-Classroom programme with myself. For both my students and myself, it is indeed a real pleasure to forge new relations with fellow colleagues in the USA. Before I begin the task of discussing the programme itself, I think it would be appropriate for me to tell you something about South Africa and its people. I am sure that you have already learnt that South Africa has finally rid itself of the shackles of apartheid (racial segregation) with the holding of non-racial, democratic elections for the first time in its history this year. We now have a non-racial, democratic government and constitution in place at the political level. However, the country is still a deeply divided one with many of the old apartheid structures and practices still in place. The white minority continue to reap the benefits of the economy. In addition, although the new government has committed itself to deracialising the education system, separate schools for whites and blacks remain. On a more positive side, the process of social South Africa rids itself of the remaining vestiges of apartheid. After all, societal transformation is not something that occurs overnight. There is also a feeling of national reconciliation and forgiveness that is running through the hearts 145 146 Appendix A and souls of most South Africans—no better typified than in the character of our state president—Nelson Mandela. This is good and remarkable in view of the horrors that we black South Africans have been subjected to under centuries of apartheid rule (or misrule). We South Africans are fast learning to forgive and forget. I live in the region (province) of KwaZulu/Natal. The area has a cosmopolitan population (like the rest of SA) but the majority of people are of the Zulu indigenous group. I am of Indian descent—my forefathers came to SA in the 1860s to work as laborers in the sugar plantations of the then British Colony of Natal. I live in the resort city of Durban along the east coast of SA. It is small by New York standards, but large by South African standards. As I mentioned earlier, education in SA is still racially divided. Historically , education has been segregated into 4 compartments: White, Indian, Coloured (mixed race) and African. The White group has received the best education funding—they have the best resourced schools, highly qualified teachers and the best opportunities for moving into tertiary education and high paying jobs. On the other hand, African education is the worst off: poorly resourced schools, lowly qualified teachers, lack of provision, etc. I must admit that Indians and Coloureds, although, part of the historically oppressed group, have had marginally better treatment in comparison to their African counterparts. Therefore provision of education for Indians is somewhere between black and white education. This was the nature of apartheid, to divide the oppressed so that they would keep on fighting with each other instead of attacking the source of oppression. As I mentioned earlier, moves are afoot to deracialise education and we can expect to be teaching in racially mixed classrooms in the foreseeable future. This is going to be a real challenge for teachers, since pupils will be coming from different backgrounds—either historically advantaged or disadvantaged. I teach in a formerly Indian residential area of Phoenix. This is a township with a population of about 300,000 people—it is about 25 kilometres from my home which happens to be near the CBD. Phoenix is an area which houses the lower socio-economic group in the Indian community (in general most Indians have done well in South Africa). I would imagine that this area is no different from other such areas in the rest of the world. Unemployment and alcoholism is rife, not to mention drug abuse. Since a number of children come from troubled homes, Letter from M. Rasool 147 these problems tend to infiltrate the school set up. No doubt, the problematic backgrounds of a number of my pupils have affected their interest in school and performances adversely. There are...