Education as a Tool to Reconcile Racism

The question came up in class as to whether or not education can be used as a tool to help mend the racial divisions of Apartheid. While I think education is a good start, there are problems with the current education system that keep it from being as powerful a tool as it could be.

Racial interaction happens on two important levels in schools:

1. Student to student
2. Staff to student

While many schools have changed drastically in terms of racial demographics, many schools still contain a majority. The schools in the townships that we have learned about have been primarily Black, while more expensive less accessible schools schools in more suburban areas continue to educate primarily White students.  I'm curious as to how students make sense of their identities and interactions with those of other races when placed in a school where there are only a handful of people who look like them in their peer group. Unless the teachers are comfortable facilitating difficult conversations around race and reconciliation, will Apartheid simply become a history lesson rather than a recent system that affects current systems like education and the economy?

I use the word "staff" as opposed to educators in the second category of interactions for a reason. Race matters for educators and support staff. We visited the Oprah Winfrey school (no we didn't see Oprah despite my prayers), and I couldn't help but notice that while a majority of students were Black, there were very few Black teachers or administrators. In fact, the staff that was painting one of the dormitories were entirely Black. One of the tour guides of another group was commenting on how she preferred White teachers because Black people in South Africa weren't as educated or talented.  She was Black.

My tour guide expressed that she wished she has more White students in her peer group because she was told by a few White students that she had met from a different school that the Black Economic Empowerment Act was reverse discrimination. Oprah's school is technically for those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, so there were only a few White students. This does somewhat fit the national populations considering there are far more Black people living in poverty than White. My tour guide didn't really understand that the school she was attending, and other programs like it, are more so to rewrite the systematic wrongs of Apartheid policy. Even though those policies went away, it will take decades for the system to function more equally.  To call Oprah's school or the Economic Empowerment Act reverse discrimination is to completely ignore historical wrongs.

I couldn't help but wonder how students at Oprah's school found mentors. Personally, I tend to seek out mentors that I have similarities with. Aside from Oprah herself, I was having a lot of trouble finding successful Black women with whom the students could look to for guidance. How many of those teachers and counselors really understand the students' struggles? And is success being defined as being more acceptable in White spheres? I wonder if that one tour guide would feel the same way about teachers in South Africa if she had more experiences with Black teachers in Oprah's school.

I have a lot more about staff-student interactions, but I need a little more time to process a recent experience. Until next week, but in the meantime please posts reactions and thoughts in the comment section!