Afrikaans schools, discriminatory?

dj_jyno said:
It would actually be discriminatory if Afrikaans schools were not present in communities where the majority of the community are primarily Afrikaans-speaking. Don't have any links handy, but recent studies have found that children obtain better academic results when educated in their mother tongue.

I went to an Afrikaans school and study at an English university. The option of going to Stellenbosch was on the table, but I chose not to.
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Which is actually common sense, if you really think about it.
 
Sly21C said:
I think a debate is needed regarding schools in South Africa whose medium of instruction is Afrikaans.

Isn't it time for schools whose medium of instruction is Afrikaans to change it to English? We live in a racially divided country already and having schools that still have a medium of instruction in Afrikaans definitely excludes people/children of other race groups. Blacks and Indians will definitely view Afrikaans schools as a sign that they are not wanted, that they must go to other schools. In my view, Afrikaans schools are nothing more than a way to keep people from other race groups away who otherwise don't speak Afrikaans.

People might say that the Education Department allows schools to teach in Afrikaans and therefore those schools are not discriminating. People might also say that if someone wants a school with English as a medium of instruction, then they must go to wherever they came from and find a school that offers English as a medium of instruction. All those reasons might be valid, but at the same time it doesn't do much to cover the fact that Afrikaans schools' may aim in this day and age is to keep away certain people from certain race groups.

Something else that bothers me a bit is that even model C high schools whose medium of instruction is English, make it compulsory for all students to take both English and Afrikaans from Grade 10, why is that? Why can't the only language that is compulsory be English? Why Afrikaans? That is what happened to me while attending a model C high school. I was "forced" to take Afrikaans in addition to English. The last time I uttered a word in Afrikaans was the year I matriculated, so what is the use of being taught Afrikaans if one will not use it later in life?

Most black students would gladly choose Afrikaans over Zulu/Sotho because it's easy to pass Afrikaans, but I think the time has come for the education department to change their policy of making students have 2 languages, students must be given the option of doing one language subject, i.e. English. If students want to do more than one language subject then they can choose Afrikaans if they wish. I am against students being "forced" to take Afrikaans, I believe in freedom of choice.

Mind you, this is not an attack on the Afrikaans language, culture, its people and history. I merely want a debate about this. I think we should also watch our emotions, logical debates usually work. I'm also looking to be educated if I don't know something regarding issues I raised above.
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Your post started out as a troll post until I read further, then I saw some valid points.

I maintain that primary schools should focus on the area's mother tongue, with mandatory English as a pass requirement. High School should focus on English all together. I don't see the point in forcing someone to learn Afrikaans if it's not their mother tongue...and in my foolish youth I disliked having to learn Xhosa equally. In hindsight I would love to have paid more attention in Xhosa class (kuba ndingumlungu :() but that is based on my enjoyment of languages - not something that should be forced onto everyone.

The best thing that could've happened to me was going from an Afrikaans primary school to a predominantly English high school. 80% of my subjects were taught in English, including Math. This helped me immensely when I went on to study at an English institution.

When I was in primary school we had 40 kids in 1 class (pre-94 elections nogal). That's almost double the usual going rate. So no, Afrikaans schools shouldn't be abolished because there are more than enough Afrikaans bums to fill the seats and I do not think they discriminate either. It would be equally (if not more) difficult for an Afrikaans kid to attend a Xhosa/Zulu school in his area. Sadly it's just not practical to have 11 schools next to each other to cater for each language.
 
I think we need better information in this thread. If I recall correctly, I wasn't forced to be in an Afrikaans school, but had the choice of English, Afrikaans, Deutsch, Chinese and Tswana. I can only speak Afrikaans and English, so I chose an Afrikaans school. I also had the choice to take English as a second language, or Tswana, or French. I chose English, as I'm reasonably comfortable in the language.

In cases where a child cannot choose, I can agree with discrimination. If a child can choose, where's the discrimination?

I think the OP is a bit ignorant on the subject matter of his thread. Maybe someone with more knowledge of the current choices in schools and subjects could inform us better?
 
The question is: in 17 years there has no progress been made in building schools for these languages.

The answer might be that people like to send their children to English schools to give them an advantage over people that will choose Zulu and Xhosa as their first and second language.
Afrikaans is a native language let’s not forget that. People in the Northern cape, Western and eastern cape will be very upset if you take their home language away.

What will the reaction be if you close all Afrikaans schools and they just start their own?


Nobody is forcing anybody to go to an afrikaans school. You have a choice.
 
Let me clear something up right away. In a dual medium / model C / government school, it's the choice of the governing body over which languages are instructed to be taught. In my school for instance, the primary medium is English and we offer the choice of either Afrikaans and Zulu. You are not forced to take Afrikaans if you are White and you are not forced to take Zulu if you are Black. It's that way in most schools. If for some reason, the school does not offer an african language, it's because the governing body has not been propositioned to include it. Many people are quick to complain that this is racist, but when it comes to GB participation, this is where the real problem lies. You want an African language to be the primary medium of instruction, you make it happen via a democratic vote at the AGM, you don't complain on your lonesome.
 
Why do you not say that about schools taught in Zulu/Xhosa? What if a white/indian or coloured wants to go to a rural school? Should they not also be english then?
 
S7wede said:
Let me clear something up right away. In a dual medium / model C / government school, it's the choice of the governing body over which languages are instructed to be taught. In my school for instance, the primary medium is English and we offer the choice of either Afrikaans and Zulu. You are not forced to take Afrikaans if you are White and you are not forced to take Zulu if you are Black. It's that way in most schools. If for some reason, the school does not offer an african language, it's because the governing body has not been propositioned to include it. Many people are quick to complain that this is racist, but when it comes to GB participation, this is where the real problem lies. You want an African language to be the primary medium of instruction, you make it happen via a democratic vote at the AGM, you don't complain on your lonesome.
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When I was at school we used to have English and Afrikaans and Xhosa (Eastern Cape). But this thread is BS and trolling. If Afrikaans schools are discriminatory so are the schools in the township for teaching in African languages.
 
This reminds me of a quote of C.J. Langenhoven, he was once told he was racist for wanting the courts in Afrikaans during the 2nd language movement. His response" if my politics is racist, then why is your racism politics"
 
Nicodeamus said:
This reminds me of a quote of C.J. Langenhoven, he was once told he was racist for wanting the courts in Afrikaans during the 2nd language movement. His response" if my politics is racist, then why is your racism politics"
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Brilliant!!!!!!!!

Give this man a Bells.
 
rofl yawn .....

such a troll thread and you guys actually fall for it .. :P
 
GoofySmurf said:
rofl yawn .....

such a troll thread and you guys actually fall for it .. :P
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How so? Don't you feel parents should be given a choice as to what second language to learn? Beit Afrikaans, Zulu, Mandarin etc.

Primary language should depend on the majority. In Durban, there are probably about 5 English schools for every 1 Afrikaans school (even more the further in land you go)

On the reef you have a lot more Afrikaans speakers (regardless of skin colour) so it only makes sense there are more Afrikaans schools than English ones.
 
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Fudzy said:
How so? Don't you feel parents should be given a choice as to what second language to learn? Beit Afrikaans, Zulu, Mandarin etc.

Primary language should depend on the majority. In Durban, there are probably about 5 English schools for every 1 Afrikaans school (even more the further in land you go)

On the reef you have a lot more Afrikaans speakers (regardless of skin colour) so it only makes sense there are more Afrikaans schools than English ones.
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What Sly is saying is that there must be no Afrikaans schools at all because they are discriminatory for teaching in Afrikaans. If you can't see the fail in that bit of ignorance................
 
For me there are two issues:
The first issue is having schools with Afrikaans as a medium of instruction, I'll reserve my comment on this issue for now. I've read some very valid arguments.

The second issue is a school with English as a medium of instruction, no problem there. The contentious issue for me comes when a student gets to Grade 10 and are are compelled to take Afrikaans in addition to English as a subject. I have a problem with this because most black people that attend a model C school almost never use Afrikaans after matriculating. Ofcourse there are a few black individuals who use Afrikaans long after matriculating, case in point is Lindiwe Mazibuko. My intention in mentioning Mazibuko is not to make my post or thread political, she's one of the most well known blacks people that speaks Afrikaans well. I still think though that students must be given a choice in not selecting Afrikaans if they do not want to study it. people telling me that students must go to another school is tantamount to discrimination in my book. I believe that the education department must also change their policy and allow pupils to have a choice of only studying one language from Grade 10 onwards.
 
Ronjay said:
What Sly is saying is that there must be no Afrikaans schools at all because they are discriminatory for teaching in Afrikaans. If you can't see the fail in that bit of ignorance................
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I wasn't agreeing with the OP in the slightest, just justifying why some schools are use Afrikaans as a main language. He does have a point regarding the second point, regarding choice of second language.
 
Fudzy said:
I wasn't agreeing with the OP in the slightest, just justifying why some schools are use Afrikaans as a main language. He does have a point regarding the second point, regarding choice of second language.
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Ah, OK. :o
 
Sly, I agree with your 2nd point to an extent.

You should not be forced to take a specific 2nd language, but I definitely think it's beneficial to take one of your own choice as long as either your 1st or 2nd language is English.

So go to school, learn in a language of your choice and take English - or ... learn in English and take a 2nd language of your choice.

There's no valid reason to expect people to learn Afrikaans against their will. Having said that, you're only putting yourself at a disadvantage for not taking English. Even some of my relatives who are Afrikaans and cannot speak English are severely disadvantaged compared to others.
 
Is this an example of how you plan to infiltrate and change the youth league from within - by taking people's choice away?
 
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