Wednesday, 14 May 1986: A South African Black Higher Education Quandary

Home of Woolfie & Irene Joffa, Bloemfontein, Orange Free State

This morning, I visited the Bloemfontein campus of the controversial Vista University.  It is controversial because, in effect, it’s for black students only.  Thus, many people dismiss it as just another government tool to perpetuate apartheid in education and whitewash the unequal treatment of South African blacks.

Vista was founded in 1982 “to cater primarily for the university needs and problems of local Black matriculants” [high school graduates], according to their promotional literature.  There are campuses in five black South African townships (their neighboring white cities are in parenthesis):  Manguang (Bloemfontein), Mamelodi (Pretoria), Sebokeng (Vereeniging), Soweto (Johannesburg) and Zwide (Port Elizabeth).  There is also a correspondence course center in Pretoria.  There are currently some 2500 full-time students (414 here on the Manguang campus) and another 11,700 correspondence students.  There are no on-campus housing or sports facilities. 

I spent about 45 minutes with Etienne Mullins, one of the two geography staff members at this campus (both are white).  Mr. Mullins holds an M.A. from the University of the Orange Free State, an Afrikaans-medium university in Bloemfontein.  He is a human geographer and is currently finishing his doctorate.  Although Etienne’s first language is Afrikaans, he is very conversant in English as are most educated Afrikaners.  Etienne taught at the University of the North’s Qua Qua campus (Qua Qua is a small black South African “homeland” bordering the northern tip of independent Lesotho) before coming here three years ago when the campus first opened.  He spoke of the pros and cons of working at the Manguang campus.

His classes are small (often only 10 to 15 students) which offers him a great opportunity for personal contact and dealing with individual problems.  And the problems are many, as the black students’ high school preparation is relatively poor.  He spends the first year getting his students from a Standard 6 (8^th grade) level to matric (high school grad) level (by white school standards).  This year’s entering class was the largest he’s had so far.  And out of these 56 students, only 20 survived the first year.  The others flunked out, dropped out, or switched majors.  Three of the students who had started in geography three years ago when the campus opened finished this year.  All three are now at the white University of the Orange Free State working on their honors (4-year) degrees.

Since most of the Vista grads go on to teach in black high schools, the geography program emphasizes knowledge that will be applicable in the classroom.  However, second and third year students get exposure to “practical” geography as well, particularly city and regional planning.  Geography as a college major is better understood and more respected in South Africa than in the U.S.  Etienne is anxious to see how his grads fare when they hit the job market.  Based on their experiences obtaining and keeping employment, he will fine-tune his course offerings.  

In addition to black students’ inferior high school preparation, there are language and perceptual problems to be tackled as well.  Courses are taught in English which is not the first or even the second language of most students.  They have learned Tswana or South Sotho at home.  Then English and Afrikaans at school.  In addition, most speak a bit of Xhosa and maybe some Zulu.  Christ, I have enough trouble with English as my only language (not counting my college French which I hardly ever use anyway).  Think of the difficulties with comprehension these poor blokes must have!  Add to this the culturally-based differences in black Africans’ spatial perception (If you’ve ever asked most Africans on the street for directions, you’d see what I mean.)  Etienne solves some of these difficulties through liberal use of examples, using his hands a good deal while talking, and drawing illustrations on the blackboard.  

A few weeks ago, I went on a field trip with fifth year geographic education students at the University of the Witwatersrand.  John Earle, the head of the department’s geographic education program, and I discussed black universities in South Africa.  John feels that by teaching at a black university in South Africa, one acknowledges the reality of apartheid by working within the system.  Anyone who teaches at one of these schools is effectively blackballed from ever teaching anywhere else.  I brought this up with Etienne, and he doesn’t seem to feel that he will be blackballed by other geographers.  He has had some papers accepted for publication and is planning a sabbatical in Australia.  Of course, if he ever switches to a white university, it will probably be an Afrikaans-medium institution.  They would, of course, be less likely to blackball him for working within the apartheid system.  In addition, faculty at black universities are apparently paid well.  The opportunity for advancement is greater here than at a white university.  And, according to Etienne, there is often more time to work on publishing. 

Etienne says his views about blacks have become much more liberal since he started working at Vista.  He spoke enthusiastically about the ease of getting his students into classroom discussions.  Part of that may stem from a mutual interest in learning about each other’s cultures.  For example, he might make a diagram on the blackboard showing what he as a white man feels are essential components of his house and property.  Then one of the students will diagram his needs for a home.  A lively discussion would ensue to compare the differences and similarities.  Etienne showed me a London Series on Geography book he had been reading entitled, Living Under Apartheid (edited by David M. Smith).  He brought it out as soon as we were introduced to show me he is a “good guy”, I suppose!  I asked him later if any South African geographers had been involved in the formulation of apartheid and the black homelands.  He proudly replied that the creators of apartheid had all been economists or politicians.  It’s only been recently that geographers have become involved in government planning agencies.

I wondered just how safe a white man feels working at a black institution in the middle of a black township.  Etienne said they have had no problems at the school.  He supposes that if one was scared of blacks to begin with, he would have problems here.  I didn’t get the impression that this particular township is all that dangerous for white visitors.  We stopped several times to ask for directions on the way to the school and found all the people we encountered to be pleasant. 

After Etienne and I bid adieu, Woolfie Joffa (my very gracious host here in Bloemfontein and president of the local Rotary Club) and I had a tour of the rest of the campus.  Our guide was Mrs. Celia Theart, a charming Afrikaner and the campus public relations officer.  We learned that the campus is comprised of about six modest but modern and clean buildings on several acres.  The administration building has a switchboard, computer room, Xerox 9400 copier (the huge model), and several administrative people, some of whom are black.  The faculty of about 25 includes only three blacks – not surprising as there are probably few qualified black college-level instructors in South Africa.  The campus is actually only a temporary facility.  They have purchased land in a better part of the township for a permanent campus. 

Celia showed us the library.  I looked at the geography section – pathetic in comparison with even the poorest American junior college.  Perhaps it serves their modest purposes.  There were about 30 or 40 titles of new texts which are used by the students as supplementary readings.  That’s all!  There are several copies of each title.  I looked at one titled, The Geomorphology of Southern Africa.  It was nicely illustrated.  Woolfie suggested that Rotary could do a book drive to improve the library’s collection.  The library just started receiving National Geographic this year and Woolfie is sure the Rotarians will be able to put together several years of back issues. 

Top:  Vista University campus near Bloemfontein.  Bottom:  The modern library at the University of the Orange Free State.  Can you guess which is the white facility and which is the black one?

 

Celia spoke of the dedication of the students.  We noticed them in the library and in several unused classrooms diligently studying.  She talked with several of them while we were touring the campus and seemed genuinely concerned about them.

Of course, I hit her with a few political questions such as:  Why create separate universities for blacks?  Why not bring more black students into the white universities instead?  Doesn’t Vista unnecessarily duplicate services that could be better provided by an existing white school?  Celia said she is very liberal for an Afrikaner and personally rejects apartheid.  Yet, this is the reality they are stuck with.  She has decided to work here because she wants to be involved in improving black education.  When you consider that most Vista students go on to be teachers, she feels the school is performing a very important service given the poor quality of primary and secondary black education in the country.  She feels that many of these students would not attend the University of the Orange Free State even were it opened up to more blacks.  UOFS is on the other side of the city and is not prepared to handle the remedial needs of Vista students.  At Vista, most of the students can walk to campus and get special attention for their leaning issues.  After all, it’s a start.

Is Vista performing an important community function much as community colleges in America’s inner city ghettos and Native American reservations?  Or is it simply another tool of apartheid to perpetuate separation of the races?  Perhaps the latter was the intention of the government’s more cynical bureaucrats and politicians.  I’d give them a “D” for setting up a second-rate facility.  But I’d give the staff and students and “A” for making the best of a less-than-perfect situation.  The alternative is to say, “Screw it.  Let’s not do anything to support black education in South Africa until blacks have control over their own destinies in general and education in particular.”  Should the South African system be reformed as quickly as possible?  Or, is the only fair solution to boycott it, destroy it, and rebuild the country from scratch?  The answers you’d get on the streets of American and in the halls of the U.S. Congress and White House are far too simplistic to do justice to the South African people, black and white.  I’ll withhold my judgment until I’ve had several more months in this very complicated and fascinating country.